Connecting to my University's Network

[gigapixels Veteran]

I have quite a bit of experience with Linux, at least enough that I can generally figure any issue out and don't have to ask too many questions, and I currently have Ubuntu installed so I can easily work with my school's development environment.

The school has two wireless networks available: one for guests with no authenticaton (just a prompt for an email address when you first connect), and one for those with school IDs.

The authenticated network is using WPA2 Enterprise, with Dynamic WEP key management and MSCHAPv2 authentication. There is no certificate file at all and we just put in our "UCMNetID" (our ID for use with all the electronic services) and our password.

It all works fine in Windows (I'm dual-booting), but I cannot get it working on Ubuntu. I've re-entered the correct information multiple times, so I'm not simply getting it wrong, and I've even tried Wicd as well just to see if NetworkManager was the problem.

I'm back using NetworkManager now, and I do like that program, so if I could keep it and still solve this problem, that would be great. However, I'm more concerned with simply getting on the correct wireless network here at the school.

And, while trying to figure this problem out, I updated the drivers for my wireless adapter (from linuxwireless.org, iwl4965) and that completely brought my networking to a halt last time. I'm actually on a new installation now because of that.

Thanks in advance :)

[markwolfe Veteran]

Well, I wouldn't have mucked with drivers unless you verified it could not connect to an open wireless network.

Sounds like it is just a key issue, but I'm not sure.

[Fish]

Maybe try Wifi Radar. I had problems ages ago with Ubuntu 7.04 and its version of network manager. Wireless was flakey to say the least. I had much better success using Wifi Radar than Network Manager. I haven't needed it with 8.04, so I can't say for sure how much better than Network Manager it is now, but its worth a shot?

Also, there's a thread somewhere on Ubuntuforums detailing how to get the latest version of Network Manager (to be included in Ibex) to work in 8.04. Apparently there has been many further improvements.

[gigapixels Veteran]

Well, I wouldn't have mucked with drivers unless you verified it could not connect to an open wireless network.

Sounds like it is just a key issue, but I'm not sure.

I reinstalled Ubuntu after messing with the drivers because that caused all of the wireless managers to not even detect any wireless networks. Either way, all I've done on this installation is try out Wicd instead, but I have replaced it with NetworkManager again. Both work on regular, open networks as well as ones secured with a basic WEP key. It's this setup specifically that they're both having difficulties with.

Maybe try Wifi Radar. I had problems ages ago with Ubuntu 7.04 and its version of network manager. Wireless was flakey to say the least. I had much better success using Wifi Radar than Network Manager. I haven't needed it with 8.04, so I can't say for sure how much better than Network Manager it is now, but its worth a shot?

Also, there's a thread somewhere on Ubuntuforums detailing how to get the latest version of Network Manager (to be included in Ibex) to work in 8.04. Apparently there has been many further improvements.

Thanks for the info, I'll probably try Wifi Radar out and see how it does.

[gigapixels Veteran]

Ok, just an update:

Well after reading up a bit it seems that my driver (iwl4965) just has some issues in the 2.6.24 kernel even if I update the driver to the latest version. I have updated to 2.6.26 (with the .5 patch) and I also updated to the NetworkManager 0.7 SVN version. Everything's working great here at home, but I haven't tested it out at school yet. But I'm hopeful because my wireless connection actually seems to work a lot faster here than it did before, so that tells me that I did something right :p

I'll be trying it all out today, so wish me luck!

[markwolfe Veteran]

Luck!

[gigapixels Veteran]

And here I am, posting from the university's secured wireless network!

It didn't work at first, but when I switched the PEAP Version from 1 to 0 it got on extremely quickly!

Woohoo!

[rson451]

I like stories like this. You worked yourself to get the solution you needed rather than anyone handing you the fix (not that I wouldn't have helped if I knew what was wrong). Good job :)

[gigapixels Veteran]

Well thanks :blush:

It really bugs me when there's a problem I can't fix on a computer, and I'm a pretty quick learner, so I can usually figure out and fix any problem I run into... eventually. And it's just a lot of fun to tinker with Linux anyway :laugh: