SOLVED "Activation of network failed" misleading error message

[pedand]

Hello All
I am definitely not an expert in Linux and I have been fumbling around this challenge for a while. I hope someone has some good advice.
Until last week i have been used Linux Mint version 19.x, but with an annoying beauty flaw. On average every two minutes I get the error message: "Connection failed. Activation of network failed". But in reality the WiFi works fine, I just get this error message and have gotten used to it.
But now I got a new PC (without the problem) and I will give the old one to my sister-in-law, preferably flawlessly. I have therefore installed Linux Mint 20.3 from scratch, everything works fine except that the exact same error occurs again.

Best regards
Pedand

System:
Host: peter-HP-EliteBook-840-G3 Kernel: 5.4.0-121-generic x86_64 bits: 64
compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.2.7 Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una
base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: HP product: HP EliteBook 840 G3 v: N/A
serial: <superuser/root required>
Mobo: HP model: 8079 v: KBC Version 85.58
serial: <superuser/root required> UEFI: HP v: N75 Ver. 01.03
date: 12/04/2015
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 35.7 Wh condition: 36.3/36.3 Wh (100%)
model: Hewlett-Packard Primary status: Unknown
Memory:
RAM: total: 7.65 GiB used: 826.8 MiB (10.5%)
RAM Report:
permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-6500U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Skylake rev: 3 L2 cache: 4096 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
bogomips: 20799
Speed: 900 MHz min/max: 400/3100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 901 2: 901
3: 949 4: 900
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel Skylake GT2 [HD Graphics 520]
vendor: Hewlett-Packard EliteBook 840 G3 driver: i915 v: kernel
bus ID: 00:02.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 2560x1440~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 520 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.6
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio
vendor: Hewlett-Packard EliteBook 840 G3 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus ID: 00:1f.3
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-121-generic
Network:
Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: e1000e
v: 3.2.6-k port: efa0 bus ID: 00:1f.6
IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: fc:3f:db:8d:f5:46
Device-2: Intel Wireless 8260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: efa0
bus ID: 02:00.0
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: a4:34:d9:55:be:69
Device-3: HP HP lt4120 Snapdragon X5 LTE type: USB driver: cdc_ether
bus ID: 1-3:3
IF: enx869854d4a92c state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 16.56 GiB (6.9%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: LITE-ON model: L8H-256V2G-HP size: 238.47 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 233.24 GiB used: 16.55 GiB (7.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C mobo: 0.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb https://mirrors.dotsrc.org/linuxmint-packages una main upstream import backport
2: deb http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:
Processes: 195 Uptime: 10m Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0
Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 inxi: 3.0.38


iwconfig

lo no wireless extensions.

wlp2s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"Peter_5GHz"
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.56 GHz Access Point:
Bit Rate=866.7 Mb/s Tx-Power=22 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on
Link Quality=61/70 Signal level=-49 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:21 Missed beacon:0

enx869854d4a92c no wireless extensions.

enp0s31f6 no wireless extensions.

[JeremyB]

Try

Code: Select all

sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf

Then reboot

[pedand]

Thank you Jeremy for helping with this. I have tried:
sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
followed by re boot, unfortunately without any result
Best Regards
Pedand

[Drugwash]

Happened to me too for a long time in 19.2, and still happens albeit much more rarely recently.
My hunch is it has something to do with multiple network devices and the fact that not all of them have Internet access and/or some of them are disabled.
Certain applications or x-lets (in Cinnamon) might require Internet access and when the main connection (the wi-fi in your case?) may temporarily be unavailable they might try to connect to alternate network devices; when that happens and the alternate devices do not have Internet access that error message may pop up.

At least that is how I explained the issue to myself. Dunno if that is the real explanation or not.
As to what you may do to work around it:
- disable any unneeded network devices in BIOS if possible
- disable unneeded devices in the Network Manager applet (might automatically be reenabled upon each boot which is extremely annoying)
- check running applications, see if any of them has network interface options and manually select the desired one instead of multiple interfaces or auto mode

[pedand]

Thanks Drugwash for your input.
Unfortunately, I'm too inexperienced to dare to mess with Bios

[Drugwash]

There should be some help available right there, depending on maker/version/etc. Sometimes the default value is indicated too. A look shouldn't hurt.
It's just about disabling or enabling the built-in network (ethernet) interface/card. If it's not and will not be used in the future it should be disabled if only to spare resources.
Anyway, it's just an idea. Maybe others will come up with different/better ideas. Either way good luck!

[sleeper12]

Thank you Jeremy for helping with this. I have tried:
sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
followed by re boot, unfortunately without any result
Best Regards
Pedand

Does iwconfig still show power management as on?

[pedand]

It says Power Management:off

peter@peter-HP-EliteBook-840-G3:~$ iwconfig
wlp2s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"Peter_5GHz"
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.56 GHz Access Point:
Bit Rate=866.7 Mb/s Tx-Power=22 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=60/70 Signal level=-50 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:35 Missed beacon:0

lo no wireless extensions.

enp0s31f6 no wireless extensions.

enx6eb0d0117615 no wireless extensions.

[Coggy]

I had this a while ago with my Mum's PC. I wish I could remember the detail now. I think it was something to do with it trying to bring up a USB network connection (to an old inkjet printer) and that I configured Network Manager to not try to bring up the USB interface (left the Ethernet one enabled of course).

[pedand]

Thank you very much Coggy, I think you got a clue here.
I actually has disabled the USB network in the network manager earlier, but the error continued to appear (properly after a reboot). So I had already ruled this out as being the cause of the error.
But your reply meant I had to check the Network manager again. To my surprise the USB Network was enabled. I therefore disabled the USB network. Afterwards i tested for half a hour and did not se any error message.
After a reboot I checked the Network Manager again and to my surprise the USB network was enabled again!

So now my troubleshooting question has now changed to: How do I prevent USB networks from switching from disabled to enable after reboot?

[Drugwash]

Told ya!

- disable unneeded devices in the Network Manager applet (might automatically be reenabled upon each boot which is extremely annoying)

How do I prevent USB networks from switching from disabled to enable after reboot?

Actually the question is: how to prevent any kind of network that was previously disabled on purpose by the user from being inadvertently and annoyingly reenabled upon (re)boot.
Let me know when you find an answer to that.

[pedand]

@Drugwash: You certainly did, I just did not have the necessary knowledge to understand it

[Drugwash]

We live - we learn.
(and then we get old, senile and forget everything. what was I sayin'...? )

[pedand]

I fumbled around a bit to see if I could move on. Your instructions made me take a closer look at the settings under USB Ethernet.
I had not previously noticed the small cog wheel under USB Ethernet (I did even not know then, that this was a USB network issue)
In the USB Ethernet menu I chose "Reset" and there I found an option like this: "Forget" Remove all details about this network and don't try connect automatically (I got Danish language at my PC, so this is my translation, the originally English text is probably different.)
But after a reboot the USB Ethernet is back and so is the problem
I have also been thinking about whether one can run some sort of batch file at startup that simply disables USB Ethernet. Not an elegant solution but why not?

[Drugwash]

You can try creating a connection for that USB device and edit it to disable "Automatically connect to this network when it is available" (and also disable "All users may connect to this network") in the General tab.

Unfortunately can't help with command line scripts - I'm more of a GUI/mouse guy (what would you expect after a quarter century of Windows... ).

[sleeper12]

Does this make any difference:

Code: Select all

 sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi && sudo modprobe iwlwifi && sudo systemctl restart network-manager.service 

[pedand]

Hello Sleeper12
Unfortunately, this did not lead to any improvement.
I also tried different combinations with your code and disable USB network. The only thing that has worked so far is to disable USB networks, but it only works until the next reboot.

[pedand]

Hello Drugwash
I can not find / recognize the screendum you are referring to. Can you help me a little along the way?

[Drugwash]

Sorry, that is a screenshot of an already existing connection profile. To create a profile for the USB device:

Then if you want you can check all details fo the newly created profile by going to Network Connections and selecting the corresponding profile - it should look similar to the screenshot in my previous comment. Don't forget I'm on Mint 19.2 so there may be slight GUI differences if you're running a newer Mint.

[pedand]

Now I think it has become exciting. I tried to the best of my ability to follow Drugwash instructions, but every time I tried to create a new profile the list of profiles was still empty.
I rebooted again and suddenly the 6-8 profiles I had made earlier were now visible (with the settings recommended by Drugwash).
But USB networking was again enabled (as usual after reboot).
To clear up the mess, I started deleting profiles from below. When I had deleted 2-3 profiles, the remaining profiles disappeared and the USB network was disabled.

And now the most amazing part: I have not seen either the USB network or the error message since!

I have rebooted several times and used the PC normally - still no errors!

I do not understand what happened, but I sit here and cross my fingers that I never see the error again.
It has been annoying since 19.3 to the total new 20.3 installation.

Again a big thank you to the Linux Mint community, it's wonderful to meet such sacrificial people