MASTER - not all required ppp options get set on command line which makes ppp use bad values from /etc/ppp/options* (WAS: CDMA (cellular modem) connection drops often with network-manager)

maybe its obvious, but could you please verify that your connection is still as stable with chat?

Not sure what you mean to "verify that your connection is still as stable with chat" but I will restate the problem as follows:

I booted up my up-to-date intrepid system, and connected by selecting "Auto CDMA network connection" from the network manager applet menu. The connection worked but it dropped within about two minutes (and NM popped up a "disconnected" notification bubble). Then I went to a shell window and connected by doing "sudo pon verizon" to start ppp by hand, and that worked too, and I remained connected for at least half an hour of using the net.

This is not just a one-time thing... it is very repeatable and obvious that connecting using NM doesn't stay connected for long, and connecting with "pon" rarely drops unless I go through a dead spot in coverage.

As another data point, I do notice that the connection does seem to be established a little faster with NM than with pon, but I don't have an explanation for that.

maybe its a ppp timeout thing?

I can confirm this.

I am seeing the same thing with a Verizon Wireless PC5740 card. I can use the Auto CDMA Connection option in Network Manager and I do get connected and am able to use the Internet, but in about 3 to 5 minutes the connection is terminated. I am using Intrepid with all current updates.

I found a workaround that works for me. I tried turning lcp-echo on and off on Network Manager, but that had no effect. What I finally did that worked was to manually edit the file /etc/ppp/options and comment out the line that reads:

lcp-echo-failure 4

Commenting the above line solved the problem for me.

FWIW, as suggested by Wayne Towe, editing my /etc/ppp/options so that it has

    lcp-echo-failure 0

instead of

    lcp-echo-failure 4

makes my CDMA connection stable as well.

I have this problem as well with a verizon EVDO modem. The problem is that, with my service, I do not get responses back from echo commands. Therefore commenting out either the lcp-echo-failure (or setting it to zero) and/or set the lcp-echo-interval to zero will stop the echo commands and therefore keep the modem from dropping the connection.

However, on the PPP tab of the mobile broadband connection editor, the "echo" checkbox is unchecked. To me, this would mean that lcp-echo-failure and interval would be set to zero. I believe checking or unchecking this box has no apparent effect on the /etc/ppp/options file. This (to me) seems like the bug here.

we need the similar patch we have in the -pptp package in https://edge.launchpad.net/~network-manager/+archive ... so that those options are not taken from /etc/ppp/

this is also a network-manager-pptp issue and contributes to bug 259168 (Network Manager unable to connect to PPTP VPN) there.

initiating SRU for pptp part.

uploading network-manager-pptp_0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu1.8.10.1_source.changes to ubuntu/intrepid-proposed

uploading network-manager-pptp_0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu2_source.changes to ubuntu/jaunty

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager-pptp - 0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu2

---------------
network-manager-pptp (0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu2) jaunty; urgency=low

  * LP: #259168 Network Manager unable to connect to PPTP VPN (bad NT-Domain
    escaping); we improve ppp domain in username encoding
    - add debian/patches/lp259168_ppp_nt_domain_escaping.patch
  * LP: #268667 MASTER - not all required ppp options get set on command line
    which makes ppp use bad values from /etc/ppp/options*; we explicitly set
    good values for: nodefaultroute, lcp-echo-failure and lcp-echo-interval
    - add debian/patches/lp268667_ppp_default_options.patch
  * LP: #292681 crash when running auth-dialog and secret in keyring;
    we use the proper memory functions in this patch (dupe-of LP: #284212
    VPN connection fails: "unable to find valid VPN secrets")
    - add debian/patches/lp_292681_keyring_memory_free.patch
  * LP: #290468 VPN fails, "/usr/bin/nm-ppp-starter missing"; we remove
    obsolete conffiles in .preinst now
    - add debian/network-manager-pptp.preinst

 -- Alexander Sack <email address hidden> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:22:51 +0100

Accepted into intrepid-proposed, please test and give feedback here. Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

rev 2962

upload SRU: network-manager_0.7~~svn20081018t105859-0ubuntu1.8.10.1_source.changes to ubuntu/intrepid-proposed

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager - 0.7~~svn20081018t105859-0ubuntu2

---------------
network-manager (0.7~~svn20081018t105859-0ubuntu2) jaunty; urgency=low

  * fix LP: #292054 - Some drivers take too long to associate (Was:
    network-manager 0.7 always asks for WPA passphrase); we workaround
    this driver/wpasupplicant bug by giving association more time
    (e.g. 60sec instead of 25sec)
    - add debian/patches/lp292054_tune_supplicant_timeout_60s.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #256905 - dbus policy file (nm-avahi-autoipd.conf) not properly
    deployed in package; install nm-avahi-autoipd.conf
    - update debian/network-manager.install
  * fix LP: #282207 - [Sierra] NM 0.7 does not set APN for AT&T 3G connection;
    apply fix from Jerone Young
    - add debian/patches/lp282207_set_apn_at_syntax.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #268667 - not all required ppp options get set on command line
    which makes ppp use bad values from /etc/ppp/options; we backport upstream
    fix
    - add debian/patches/lp268667_more_ppp_default_options.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #291564 - ifupdown network manager does not blacklist/unmanage
    mapped devices in managed=false mode; thanks to Stephan Trebels for the
    patch
    - add debian/patches/lp291564_ifupdown_unmanage_mapping_and_iface.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #291902 - ifupdown plugin should not export any parsed connection
    configuration when running in managed=false mode; we fix this by exporting
    empty connection list in unmanaged mode
    - add debian/patches/lp291902_IFUPDOWN_dont_export_connection_in_unmanaged_mode.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * belt-and-braces fix LP: #290468 VPN fails, "/usr/bin/nm-ppp-starter
    missing"; we remove obsolete conffiles in -pptp .preinst; in case user
    modified them they will be renamed to .dpkg-bak; this patch takes care that
    NM doesn't consider files in /etc/NetworkManager/VPN that don't have a
    .name filename suffix.
    - add debian/patches/lp290468_only_consider_name_suffix_VPN_service_files.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #303142 - 3G [Option] some modems take a while time to register on
    network (CREG); we use g_timeout_add instead of _idle_add to give the
    modem some rest during registration phase.
    - add debian/patches/lp303142_more_time_for_automatic_registration.patch
    - update debian/patches/series

 -- Alexander Sack <email address hidden> Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:47:07 +0100

Accepted network-manager into intrepid-proposed, please test and give feedback here. Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 01:43:57PM -0000, Martin Pitt wrote:
> Accepted network-manager into intrepid-proposed, please test and give
> feedback here. Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed
> for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!
>
> ** Changed in: network-manager (Ubuntu Intrepid)
> Status: In Progress => Fix Committed
> Target: intrepid-updates => None
>

Martin, afair you can verify this by using your 3G dongle. e.g. we had
to apply the patch for the CREG thing and also add lcp- options to
/etc/ppp/options wen we evaluated your CREG bug.

With this fix the options in /etc/ppp/options shouldnt be needed
anymore. Thanks!

 - Alexander

I reset /etc/ppp/options to the original values. I tried connecting three times, the second time with "disconnect/connect", the third time with unplugging/replugging the USB stick. I confirm that connection works reliably now.

I enabled NM_SERIAL_DEBUG for this test, log attached. I still get a couple of "CREG: 0,2" messages (two per second), I don't know whether that's intended, but it's not millions any more, and connecting works fine.

So from my POV this is fixed.

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager-pptp - 0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu1.8.10.1

---------------
network-manager-pptp (0.7~~svn20081015t024626-0ubuntu1.8.10.1) intrepid-proposed; urgency=low

  * LP: #259168 Network Manager unable to connect to PPTP VPN (bad NT-Domain
    escaping); we improve ppp domain in username encoding
    - add debian/patches/lp259168_ppp_nt_domain_escaping.patch
  * LP: #268667 MASTER - not all required ppp options get set on command line
    which makes ppp use bad values from /etc/ppp/options*; we explicitly set
    good values for: nodefaultroute, lcp-echo-failure and lcp-echo-interval
    - add debian/patches/lp268667_ppp_default_options.patch
  * LP: #292681 crash when running auth-dialog and secret in keyring;
    we use the proper memory functions in this patch (dupe-of LP: #284212
    VPN connection fails: "unable to find valid VPN secrets")
    - add debian/patches/lp_292681_keyring_memory_free.patch
  * LP: #290468 VPN fails, "/usr/bin/nm-ppp-starter missing"; we remove
    obsolete conffiles in .preinst now
    - add debian/network-manager-pptp.preinst

 -- Alexander Sack <email address hidden> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:22:51 +0100

This bug was fixed in the package network-manager - 0.7~~svn20081018t105859-0ubuntu1.8.10.1

---------------
network-manager (0.7~~svn20081018t105859-0ubuntu1.8.10.1) intrepid-proposed; urgency=low

  * fix LP: #292054 - Some drivers take too long to associate (Was:
    network-manager 0.7 always asks for WPA passphrase); we workaround
    this driver/wpasupplicant bug by giving association more time
    (e.g. 60sec instead of 25sec)
    - add debian/patches/lp292054_tune_supplicant_timeout_60s.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #256905 - dbus policy file (nm-avahi-autoipd.conf) not properly
    deployed in package; install nm-avahi-autoipd.conf
    - update debian/network-manager.install
  * fix LP: #282207 - [Sierra] NM 0.7 does not set APN for AT&T 3G connection;
    apply fix from Jerone Young
    - add debian/patches/lp282207_set_apn_at_syntax.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #268667 - not all required ppp options get set on command line
    which makes ppp use bad values from /etc/ppp/options; we backport upstream
    fix
    - add debian/patches/lp268667_more_ppp_default_options.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #291564 - ifupdown network manager does not blacklist/unmanage
    mapped devices in managed=false mode; thanks to Stephan Trebels for the
    patch
    - add debian/patches/lp291564_ifupdown_unmanage_mapping_and_iface.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #291902 - ifupdown plugin should not export any parsed connection
    configuration when running in managed=false mode; we fix this by exporting
    empty connection list in unmanaged mode
    - add debian/patches/lp291902_IFUPDOWN_dont_export_connection_in_unmanaged_mode.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * belt-and-braces fix LP: #290468 VPN fails, "/usr/bin/nm-ppp-starter
    missing"; we remove obsolete conffiles in -pptp .preinst; in case user
    modified them they will be renamed to .dpkg-bak; this patch takes care that
    NM doesn't consider files in /etc/NetworkManager/VPN that don't have a
    .name filename suffix.
    - add debian/patches/lp290468_only_consider_name_suffix_VPN_service_files.patch
    - update debian/patches/series
  * fix LP: #303142 - 3G [Option] some modems take a while time to register on
    network (CREG); we use g_timeout_add instead of _idle_add to give the
    modem some rest during registration phase.
    - add debian/patches/lp303142_more_time_for_automatic_registration.patch
    - update debian/patches/series

 -- Alexander Sack <email address hidden> Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:48:34 +0100