Network Manager disables immediately after start on SuSE 11.4

s-phi-nl · January 3, 2012, 4:38am

When I start KNetworkManager with either

/etc/init.d/network restart

or

rcnetwork restart

Network Management is disabled almost immediately after it is started. The output from both commands, with the “Connecting …” line omitted, is:

Shutting down network interfaces:
    eth0      device: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
    eth0                                                                                           done
    wlan0     device: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8191SEvA Wireless LAN Controller (rev 10)
              No configuration found for wlan0 
              Nevertheless the interface will be shut down.
    wlan0                                                                                          done
Shutting down service network  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .                                           done
Starting the NetworkManager                                                                        done

Sometimes, particularly but not always when I have disabled the wireless using the system tray icon, it does recognize the auto ethernet plugged in before it disables: that is what I am using to write this post.

I have tried removing and editing /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state: currently in it, NetworkingEnabled=true.

The pertinent lines of /var/log/NetworkManager seem to be (with my apologies for the length):

Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (eth0): DHCPv4 state changed preinit -> reboot
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP4 Configure Get) scheduled...
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP4 Configure Get) started...
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   address 130.71.61.252
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   prefix 24 (255.255.255.0)
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   gateway 130.71.61.1
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   nameserver '130.71.128.14'
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   nameserver '130.71.128.13'
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   nameserver '130.71.128.12'
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info>   domain name 'stolaf.edu'
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 5 of 5 (IP Configure Commit) scheduled...
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP4 Configure Get) complete.
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 5 of 5 (IP Configure Commit) started...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Clearing nscd hosts cache.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (eth0): device state change: 7 -> 8 (reason 0)
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Policy set 'Auto eth0' (eth0) as default for IPv4 routing and DNS.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) successful, device activated.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (eth0) Stage 5 of 5 (IP Configure Commit) complete.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/autofs' exited with error status 1.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) starting connection 'StolafEncryt'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 3 -> 4 (reason 0)
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 4 -> 5 (reason 0)
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): access point 'StolafEncryt' has security, but secrets are required.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 6 (reason 0)
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 6 -> 4 (reason 0)
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 4 -> 5 (reason 0)
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): connection 'StolafEncryt' has security, and secrets exist.  No new secrets needed.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'ssid' value 'St. Olaf'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-EAP'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'password' value '<omitted>'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'eap' value 'PEAP'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'fragment_size' value '1300'
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 NetworkManager[26821]: <info> Config: added 'phase2' value 'auth=MSCHAPV2'

The last 20 lines of /var/log/messages are:

Jan  2 21:23:45 linux-bg34 kernel:  4130.663042] InitializeAdapter8192SE(): Set MRC settings on as default!!
Jan  2 21:23:45 linux-bg34 kernel:  4130.663044] HW_VAR_MRC: Turn on 1T1R MRC!
Jan  2 21:23:47 linux-bg34 avahi-daemon[1561]: Registering new address record for fe80::ca0a:a9ff:feb3:876c on eth0.*.
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 dhclient: Listening on LPF/eth0/c8:0a:a9:b3:87:6c
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 dhclient: Sending on   LPF/eth0/c8:0a:a9:b3:87:6c
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 dhclient: Sending on   Socket/fallback
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 dhclient: DHCPACK from 130.71.61.1
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 dhclient: bound to 130.71.61.252 -- renewal in 37824 seconds.
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 avahi-daemon[1561]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 130.71.61.252.
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 avahi-daemon[1561]: New relevant interface eth0.IPv4 for mDNS.
Jan  2 21:23:48 linux-bg34 avahi-daemon[1561]: Registering new address record for 130.71.61.252 on eth0.IPv4.
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 kernel:  4134.178511] martian source 130.71.61.252 from 130.57.4.15, on dev eth0
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 kernel:  4134.178515] ll header: c8:0a:a9:b3:87:6c:00:1d:e5:b9:d4:00:08:00
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 SuSEfirewall2: Setting up rules from /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 ...
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 SuSEfirewall2: using default zone 'ext' for interface wlan0
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 SuSEfirewall2: Error: iptables-batch failed, re-running using iptables
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 SuSEfirewall2: Error: ip6tables-batch failed, re-running using ip6tables
Jan  2 21:23:49 linux-bg34 SuSEfirewall2: Firewall rules successfully set
Jan  2 21:23:56 linux-bg34 kernel:  4141.424940] eth0: no IPv6 routers present

If you would like any more data, please ask.
Thanks.

eng-int · January 3, 2012, 4:48pm

Just guessing, because I did not really understand all that.

I do not use GNOME, so cannot help with the “desktop application/widget”, but

Your system may be using “Traditional/ifup” configuration, which would disable “User/Network Manager” configuration setting.

Use
YaST >> Network Devices >> Network Settings >> Global Options
and select User Controlled with NetworkManager if you want to use a “desktop application or widget”. Otherwise you can configure with YaST.

Generally for cable or fixed connections “Traditional” is more convenient, and “User” configuration method preferable for wireless or mobile connections.

s-phi-nl · January 3, 2012, 5:51pm

Thanks for your reply. I should have been clear that I am using KDE and KNetworkManager, not GNOME.

When I open up Network Settings with YaST, it tells me that my system is using NetworkManager, not ifup. I very briefly tried switching it to ifup to fix the problem, but the WLAN controller was not configured and I did not know how to configure it, so ifup did not seem to work any better than NetworkManager (during my very brief check). I can certainly switch to using ifup if that would allow me to manage my network, but I would want to know how to configure the wireless controller.

nrickert · January 3, 2012, 5:54pm

I’m a bit confused by your post.

Firstly, “knetworkmanager” is started when you login to KDE. Using “/etc/init.d/network restart” does not start or restart knetworkmanager. It should restart the master NetworkManager daemon, and “knetworkmanager” should recognize that. However, if something is going wrong with that, then try uninstalling “knetworkmanager” and install the plasmoid networkmanager applet in its place. From all reports, the plasmoid networkmanager works better.

eng-int · January 3, 2012, 6:28pm

Further to nrikert’s comment. I am currently using openSuSE-11.4 and KDE-4.7

I find no KNetworkManager provided by ant package in th 11.4 or KDE: repositoriries.
There is a NetworkManager-kde4, which I do not use – it’s not very good.
I use plasmoid-networkmanagement, and did the same with KDE-4.6

s-phi-nl · January 3, 2012, 6:30pm

That seems to have fixed the problem – thanks!

For future reference, I ran:

sudo zypper rm NetworkManager
sudo zypper in plasmoid-networkmanagement

And then added network manager to the bottom panel according to the directions on this page.