WIFI connectivity issues with WPA2 enterprise and Lubuntu 13.10 and up

[Andre Rodovalho]

Hardware:

toshiba-tecra-a9-s9021v:
Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN

Toshiba Tecra A10:
Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN (1x2)

Toshiba Tecra A11:
Intel what??

Toshiba NB 200:
Atheros what??

Toshiba NB 250:
Atheros Link AR5B95 Series

Toshiba NB 350:
???

2014-10-25 13:56 GMT-02:00 Marc Tremblay <mtremblay at lbpsb.qc.ca>:

>  Hi Barry,
>
>
>  Do you remember what version of Ubuntu your wife was using back then? We
> are able to connect without a problem with V12.04 LTS but cannot connect
> with anything more recent.
>
>
>  I hate to say it but I think you might be on to something. This really
> scares me because our IT dept is just looking for a reason to say that
> Ubuntu is not reliable. It took a lot to get this project accepted and be
> able to convert our older technology to Ubuntu. We are talking about
> potentially converting hundreds of devices.
>
>
>  I found a thread on the Ubuntu support forum that I will share with all
> of you on Monday.
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Barry Titterton <titterton.barry at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 25, 2014 3:52 AM
> *To:* Marc Tremblay
> *Subject:* Re: WIFI connectivity issues with WPA2 enterprise and Lubuntu
> 13.10 and up
>
>  On 24/10/14 13:50, Marc Tremblay wrote:
>
>  Hi Israel and Andre,
>
>
>  The connectivity issue occurs on all of our laptops no matter what make
> or model. In general at our school board the older laptops and netbooks we
> are converting are Toshiba Tecra A9, A10 and A11's. The Netbooks are NB
> 200's, 250's and 350's. We also have Dell laptops and HP laptops in smaller
> numbers.
>
>
>  In every case, If I install any derivative of ubuntu based on 12.04 LTS
> I am able to see my school boards network and then put in the WPA2
> enterprise configuration with user credentials and I get a connection right
> away.
>
>
>  If I install any derivative of ubuntu that is *newer* than 12.04 I can
> sometimes see our network but when I try connecting, it just loops and
> continues to ask for the username and password for the network.
>
>
>  Yesterday I installed Lubuntu 12.04 on a Toshiba Tecra A9. After the
> installation I see the little WIFI icon in the lower left hand corner and i
> am able to connect to the network. I then installed Lubuntu 14.4 and then
> did not see the WIFI icon at the lower right hand side.
>
>
>  I am honestly no expert at this but it does not seem to be a hardware
> issue since the same problem occurs no matter what machine we are using.
> Would it still be helpful to send you the network controller info?
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
>
> Hi Marc,
>
> Can I ask you to look at the other end of the system? Who, or what,
> supplies the wi-fi signal to the school buildings?
>
> The reason I ask is that my wife had a similar problem a couple of years
> back at her university in the UK: her laptop would not connect to the uni'
> wi-fi on AES Enterprise after an upgrade to the uni' hardware. The
> university had out sourced all of its IT requirements and support services
> to a Microsoft re-seller company in the UK, who announced that they would
> only provide support for students that used Microsoft software on their
> machines! They then installed a new wi-fi network that, for a while, ran in
> parallel with the old wi-fi network. My wife was the only person on the
> course using Ubuntu (or any form of linux), and she was the only person who
> could not connect to the new system. The symptoms were exactly as you have
> described. She could still connect to the old wi-fi network, but that was
> being phased out. I found a friendly sys admin who took her case to the
> university authorities.
>
> Unfortunately I cannot remember the details of what happened to cause the
> problem, or how it was solved, I just know that one day her laptop could
> connect to the new system. I can remember the sys admin saying that the
> Microsoft reseller had used a non-standard version of the AES Enterprise
> set-up on its servers, which was tuned for MS Windows machines, but may
> give problems to non-MS machines which used a strict version of the
> standard (vendor lock-in anyone?). It was something to do with the timing
> being wrong on the 'handshake' of the connection. I don't know if the MS
> re-seller adjusted their servers to the correct standard, or whether an
> update to Ubuntu made it compatible to the non-standard MS settings. Sorry!
> So it might be worth you having a look at the 'supply' side of the wi-fi
> network, which may be where the problem lies.
>
> Regards,
>
> Barry T
>
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