Connection Failed: Bad Password

[Konstanty]

I recently updated an IBM A22m laptop that had been running 32-bit Ubuntu 10.10 to Mint 12 LXDE. So far, things seem to be going smoothly, with the glaring exception of the wireless networking. I access a wireless access point with WEP authentication (it's not mine, so admonitions that "WEP sucks" won't help). This worked perfectly for two years under Ubuntu 10.10, and still works perfectly for my four Macs. But when I try to connect from the newly-Mintified laptop, all I get is "Connection Failed: Bad Password," even though the password is correct. The wireless card is an Orinoco Gold PCMCIA card.

I've been combing the web, researching this problem for three days, and haven't come up with anything that works. Entering the passphrase in hex doesn't help, nor does using any of the other options, such as Preshared Key, WEP (0-9/A-F), etc. I've uninstalled Network Manager (and yes, I've completely uninstalled it) and installed Wicd, and it hasn't changed a thing. The system sees the wireless network (and reports 100% signal strength), but I cannot connect to it.

This worked fine under Ubuntu 10.10, and I'm at a loss as to why Mint isn't cooperating. After three days of banging my head against this problem, I've finally come here to ask for advice. Can anyone help? The output from mintWifi is included below. Thanks.


lsbcmnds : driver installed
net5211 : driver installed
eth1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"<name>"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457 GHz Access Point: None
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Sensitivity:1/0
Retry limit:8 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/70 Signal level=-122 dBm Noise level=-122 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:12
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:03:47:74:13:b4
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3672 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3640 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2970093 (2.9 MB) TX bytes:637440 (637.4 KB)

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2d:8e:f7:ba
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:3 Base address:0x100

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:714 (714.0 B) TX bytes:714 (714.0 B)

;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached

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* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
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* II. querying ndiswrapper...
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* III. querying iwconfig...
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* IV. querying ifconfig...
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* V. querying DHCP...
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* VI. querying nslookup google.com...

[Konstanty]

No one? From all my internet searching, I had the idea this problem was not all that uncommon. I'd hate to abandon Mint, but a laptop that can't access the network isn't much good.

[xox101]

I know you said you completely uninstalled network manager but I wonder if it was completely uninstalled as I had problems with my wireless connection as well and noticed that sudo apt-get remove and then purge network manager still left wicd struggling to get a connection. Finally got wicd working properly by doing a fresh install wired and not trying network manager for a wireless connnection at all. Then as soon as possible I removed network manager and installed wicd.

It seems that network manager if used for a wireless connection leaves stuff behind after uninstalling even if the purge attribute is used.

And network manager has problems in Mint12, Ubuntu 11.10/12.04. Do a search for "slow wireless ubuntu 12.04" to see what I mean.

Also strange that a lot of the posters having problems with network manager are using IBM/Lenovo laptops.

[Konstanty]

Thank you, XOX, I will try what you say.

Just to make sure I understand, you're suggesting:

1: Reinstall wicd (wired)

2: Remove Network Manager again? (Since I don't have it installed now, should I reinstall it first?)

I want to make sure I get this right.

Also strange that a lot of the posters having problems with network manager are using IBM/Lenovo laptops.

I guess so. What I find stranger is that although this problem seems fairly widespread, Canonical doesn't appear to have made much of a priority of it.

[Konstanty]

Okay, I tried the suggestion. No change. I still get "Bad Password" every time I try to connect.

[Konstanty]

Still watching this forum, still trying solutions that have worked for others. Still no wireless.