Ubuntu
gnome-shell package

Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" question mark when connected

Bug #1722256 reported by Ignacio
192
This bug affects 41 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
GNOME Shell
New
Unknown
OEM Priority Project
Confirmed
Medium
Unassigned
gnome-shell (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260

Wifi connection status icon on the top bar shows a "?" even when connected to a wifi network.
---
ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
DisplayManager: gdm3
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-09-28 (11 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64 (20170926)
Package: gnome-shell 3.26.1-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-12.13-generic 4.13.3
Tags: artful wayland-session
Uname: Linux 4.13.0-12-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True

See original description
Revision history for this message
In , Chris Murphy (dr4-b5gpiyla-tff) wrote :

Created attachment 304401
screen shot

control-center-3.16.2-1.fc22.x86_64

There is a question mark icon in the upper right corner that turns out to be for the wired connection. A ? used in this manner suggests the system is confused about something, and wants me to know that it's confused, hoping I can do something about it. So I'd expect there'd be a notification or a way to get more information about what the confusion is about.

Revision history for this message
In , Chris Murphy (dr4-b5gpiyla-tff) wrote :

Created attachment 304402
journal for this boot

Revision history for this message
In , Bugzilla-x (bugzilla-x) wrote :

The menu bar is part of gnome-shell. The "?" you're seeing though means that the connectivity check failed.

[ 3920.153840] f21v.localdomain NetworkManager[826]: <info> Connectivity check for uri 'https://fedoraproject.org/static/hotspot.txt' failed with 'Peer failed to perform TLS handshake'.

It's either a Fedora infrastructure problem, or a NetworkManager one. Reassigning to NetworkManager.

See bug 750268 for a follow-up on the icon not being self-explanatory enough.

Revision history for this message
In , Thomas Haller (thaller-1) wrote :

This is the same as downstream bug https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1176316

Revision history for this message
In , Jan Vlug (jan-vlug) wrote :

I have a similar problem with an unexplained question mark for a wireless connection that works fine.
I seem to have this issue when I'm behind a proxy (both for wired and wireless network connections).

Revision history for this message
In , Thomas Haller (thaller-1) wrote :

(In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #2)
>
> [ 3920.153840] f21v.localdomain NetworkManager[826]: <info> Connectivity
> check for uri 'https://fedoraproject.org/static/hotspot.txt' failed with
> 'Peer failed to perform TLS handshake'.

In this case, the connectivity check failed because of the SSL connection.

It is anyway a bad idea to use https for connectivity checking.

We fixed that upstream in bug 747866 and commit
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/?id=2a3a4eb16f9119bf434a28adc94c2684da8fd5e4

Note that this is largely a configuration issue. So, users must rectify their configuration, or (if the distribution installed configuration snippets) the distribution must fix the configuration file.

For downstream/Fedora, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1176316 this will be done.

Closing BZ as fixed.

Revision history for this message
In , Bugzilla-x (bugzilla-x) wrote :

(In reply to Thomas Haller from comment #5)
> (In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #2)
> >
> > [ 3920.153840] f21v.localdomain NetworkManager[826]: <info> Connectivity
> > check for uri 'https://fedoraproject.org/static/hotspot.txt' failed with
> > 'Peer failed to perform TLS handshake'.
>
> In this case, the connectivity check failed because of the SSL connection.
>
> It is anyway a bad idea to use https for connectivity checking.

Why? It protects the user's privacy, at least a tiny bit.

> We fixed that upstream in bug 747866 and commit
> http://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/
> ?id=2a3a4eb16f9119bf434a28adc94c2684da8fd5e4

If by "fixed" you mean "worked around", then yes.

> Note that this is largely a configuration issue. So, users must rectify
> their configuration, or (if the distribution installed configuration
> snippets) the distribution must fix the configuration file.
>
>
> For downstream/Fedora, https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1176316
> this will be done.
>
>
>
> Closing BZ as fixed.

This really isn't fixed.

Revision history for this message
In , Thomas Haller (thaller-1) wrote :

(In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #6)
> (In reply to Thomas Haller from comment #5)
> > (In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #2)
> > >
> > > [ 3920.153840] f21v.localdomain NetworkManager[826]: <info> Connectivity
> > > check for uri 'https://fedoraproject.org/static/hotspot.txt' failed with
> > > 'Peer failed to perform TLS handshake'.
> >
> > In this case, the connectivity check failed because of the SSL connection.
> >
> > It is anyway a bad idea to use https for connectivity checking.
>
> Why? It protects the user's privacy, at least a tiny bit.

there is nothing private about the connectivity-check request. Especially does the HTTP header not contain fields beside:

  GET /static/hotspot.txt HTTP/1.1
  Host: fedoraproject.org
  Connection: close

Revision history for this message
In , Thomas Haller (thaller-1) wrote :

(In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #6)
> (In reply to Thomas Haller from comment #5)
> > (In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #2)
> > >
> > > [ 3920.153840] f21v.localdomain NetworkManager[826]: <info> Connectivity
> > > check for uri 'https://fedoraproject.org/static/hotspot.txt' failed with
> > > 'Peer failed to perform TLS handshake'.
> >
> > In this case, the connectivity check failed because of the SSL connection.
> >
> > It is anyway a bad idea to use https for connectivity checking.
>
> Why? It protects the user's privacy, at least a tiny bit.

it's a bad idea, because it works bad with detecting captive portals.

And a portal might not handle SSL connections at all (which means we would detect "no-connectivity", instead of "portal").

If the portal does handle SSL connections it present an invalid certificate and the connection fails again (and to NM it's again not clear that this indicates "portal").

Also, we warn now about HTTPS use: http://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/?id=eab32a5252e82361a563154cd8bfc3949aaad119

Revision history for this message
In , Bugzilla-x (bugzilla-x) wrote :

(In reply to Thomas Haller from comment #8)
> (In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #6)
> > (In reply to Thomas Haller from comment #5)
> > > (In reply to Bastien Nocera from comment #2)
> > > >
> > > > [ 3920.153840] f21v.localdomain NetworkManager[826]: <info> Connectivity
> > > > check for uri 'https://fedoraproject.org/static/hotspot.txt' failed with
> > > > 'Peer failed to perform TLS handshake'.
> > >
> > > In this case, the connectivity check failed because of the SSL connection.
> > >
> > > It is anyway a bad idea to use https for connectivity checking.
> >
> > Why? It protects the user's privacy, at least a tiny bit.
>
> it's a bad idea, because it works bad with detecting captive portals.
>
> And a portal might not handle SSL connections at all (which means we would
> detect "no-connectivity", instead of "portal").
>
> If the portal does handle SSL connections it present an invalid certificate
> and the connection fails again (and to NM it's again not clear that this
> indicates "portal").
>
> Also, we warn now about HTTPS use:
> http://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/
> ?id=eab32a5252e82361a563154cd8bfc3949aaad119

I'd rather have a fallback to HTTP in those cases where HTTPS fails, to ensure the problem is actually with the network and not with the connection, rather than actually hit HTTP in the wide internet all the time when connected.

Revision history for this message
In , Jan Vlug (jan-vlug) wrote :

A question marks occurs also when you are behind a proxy, because the proxy settings are not being used when testing the connectivity. See this issue in the Fedora Bugzilla for more details:
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1184406

Revision history for this message
In , Jan Vlug (jan-vlug) wrote :

See also:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=738694

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Confirmed. But also...

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command only once, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:
apport-collect 1722256

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport by using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

Revision history for this message
Ignacio (iguarna) wrote : Dependencies.txt

apport information

tags: added: apport-collected artful wayland-session
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Ignacio (iguarna) wrote : GsettingsChanges.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Ignacio (iguarna) wrote : JournalErrors.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Ignacio (iguarna) wrote : ProcCpuinfoMinimal.txt

apport information

Revision history for this message
Ignacio (iguarna) wrote : ProcEnviron.txt

apport information

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote : Re: Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" when connected

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue you are reporting is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug to the developers of the software by following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you have done so, please tell us the number of the upstream bug (or the link), so we can add a bugwatch that will inform us about its status. Thanks in advance.

Revision history for this message
Max Waterman (dwater) wrote :

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in gnome-shell:
importance: Unknown → Medium
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Sebastien Bacher (seb128)
Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Artem Chekunov (scorp-dev-null) wrote :

The problem was solved for me when I set `dns=default` in NetworkManager.conf

```
cat /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile
; dns=dnsmasq
dns=default

[ifupdown]
managed=false

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no
```

P.S. It also solve other DNS problems for me.

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Thanks for that. I'm seeing this bug on maybe 2/3 laptops I've tried with Ubuntu 18.04.

tags: added: bionic
Revision history for this message
Casey (sometimescasey) wrote :

Confirming that adding dns=default to /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf solved the problem for me as well - thank you Scorpius!

Revision history for this message
Ken VanDine (ken-vandine) wrote :

This was affecting me on 17.10 as well. Added dns=default did resolve it. Without that there was no nameserver being set.

Revision history for this message
In , Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Also tracking in Ubuntu bug:
https://launchpad.net/bugs/1722256

I'm seeing inconsistent behaviour between different machines on the same network. Plus no other desktop environment besides Gnome exhibits the problem, so it's a bad look regardless of the cause.

Yuan-Chen Cheng (ycheng-twn)
Changed in oem-priority:
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: New → Confirmed
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
summary: - Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" when connected
+ Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" question mark when connected
Revision history for this message
Anonymous (dermart) wrote :

Same problem here on Ubuntu 18.04. However adding dns=default to the [main] section of /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf makes it worse. 1. The question mark shows even if connected 2. DNS does not work anymore.

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
description: updated
no longer affects: gnome-shell
tags: added: disco
removed: artful
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Could those having the issue add their journalctl log after triggering the bug?

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
affects: gnome-shell → gnome-shell-legacy-bugs
no longer affects: gnome-shell-legacy-bugs
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in gnome-shell-legacy-bugs:
importance: Unknown → Medium
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Farzad Aqajani (farzad98a) wrote :

I recently realized that the problem with the Wi-Fi icon will be resolved by adding a VPN configuration from Network Settings and connecting to it.
After that, the problem will be fixed forever. Even without connecting to the VPN.
Also, after logging off, the problem will not come back.
But restarting and shutting down the system will bring the problem back.

Revision history for this message
Sandor Rozsa (gsrozsa) wrote :

Questionmark changes back to normal after updating the system through update manager, but it happened to me at least twice, so it was not a fix that solved some connectivity issue, since the update went fine both times.

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
affects: gnome-shell-legacy-bugs → gnome-shell
Revision history for this message
praesepe (praesepe) wrote :

Is this related ?

"...a Connectivity Checking feature was introduced. Ubuntu 17.10 and onwards, you are presented with a question mark in network status whenever a Captive Portal is detected. This new feature works by pinging the http://connectivity-check.ubuntu.com URL, time to time, in order to detect a captive portal."
https://vitux.com/disable-connectivity-checking-on-ubuntu-for-public-wifi-captive-portals/

Revision history for this message
Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote :

Sounds related, and maybe that's where the bug is. Although it's not an Ubuntu-specific issue...

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260

That said, I haven't seen this bug in a long time. If you do see it, what release are you using?

Revision history for this message
Sandor Rozsa (gsrozsa) wrote : Re: [Bug 1722256] Re: Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" question mark when connected

Hi,

I am using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Cheers
Sándor

Daniel van Vugt <email address hidden> ezt írta (időpont: 2019.
júl. 11., Cs 3:50):

> Sounds related, and maybe that's where the bug is. Although it's not an
> Ubuntu-specific issue...
>
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260
>
> That said, I haven't seen this bug in a long time. If you do see it,
> what release are you using?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1722256
>
> Title:
> Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" question mark when connected
>
> Status in GNOME Shell:
> Confirmed
> Status in OEM Priority Project:
> Confirmed
> Status in gnome-shell package in Ubuntu:
> Triaged
>
> Bug description:
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260
>
> Wifi connection status icon on the top bar shows a "?" even when
> connected to a wifi network.
> ---
> ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu2
> Architecture: amd64
> CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
> DisplayManager: gdm3
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
> InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-09-28 (11 days ago)
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64
> (20170926)
> Package: gnome-shell 3.26.1-0ubuntu1
> PackageArchitecture: amd64
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-12.13-generic 4.13.3
> Tags: artful wayland-session
> Uname: Linux 4.13.0-12-generic x86_64
> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
> UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
> _MarkForUpload: True
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell/+bug/1722256/+subscriptions
>

Revision history for this message
Sandor Rozsa (gsrozsa) wrote :

I will gather more info next time I see this.

Rózsa Sándor <email address hidden> ezt írta (időpont: 2019. júl. 11., Cs
15:42):

> Hi,
>
> I am using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
>
> Cheers
> Sándor
>
> Daniel van Vugt <email address hidden> ezt írta (időpont: 2019.
> júl. 11., Cs 3:50):
>
>> Sounds related, and maybe that's where the bug is. Although it's not an
>> Ubuntu-specific issue...
>>
>> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260
>>
>> That said, I haven't seen this bug in a long time. If you do see it,
>> what release are you using?
>>
>> --
>> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>> report.
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1722256
>>
>> Title:
>> Wifi connection status icon shows a "?" question mark when connected
>>
>> Status in GNOME Shell:
>> Confirmed
>> Status in OEM Priority Project:
>> Confirmed
>> Status in gnome-shell package in Ubuntu:
>> Triaged
>>
>> Bug description:
>> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=750260
>>
>> Wifi connection status icon on the top bar shows a "?" even when
>> connected to a wifi network.
>> ---
>> ApportVersion: 2.20.7-0ubuntu2
>> Architecture: amd64
>> CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
>> DisplayManager: gdm3
>> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 17.10
>> InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-09-28 (11 days ago)
>> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" - Alpha amd64
>> (20170926)
>> Package: gnome-shell 3.26.1-0ubuntu1
>> PackageArchitecture: amd64
>> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.13.0-12.13-generic 4.13.3
>> Tags: artful wayland-session
>> Uname: Linux 4.13.0-12-generic x86_64
>> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>> UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
>> _MarkForUpload: True
>>
>> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-shell/+bug/1722256/+subscriptions
>>
>

Revision history for this message
Jan Vlug (z-j) wrote :

I had not seen this issue for a long time. But now I see it again.
Note that I am using Fedora 30 instead of Ubuntu, but this could very well be a non-distribution dependent issue, therefore I'm reporting here instead of opening a new issue in another bug tracker.

The question mark appeared after I had been fiddling with the wireless connection settings in an attempt to connect to a Ziggo Wifispot via WPA2-enterprise (in the end I did not manage to connect).

After that I connected to another wifi (that is now fully functional), I see the question mark.

Some output from nmcli monitor:
'Aquaris X5 Plus' is now the primary connection
wlp3s0: deactivating
Networkmanager is now in the 'connected (local only)' state
wlp3s0: disconnected
Networkmanager is now in the 'connected (site only)' state
'Linksys WRE (Johan)' is now the primary connection
wlp3s0: using connection 'Ziggo3F1518C'
wlp3s0: connecting (prepare)
wlp3s0: connecting (need authentication)
wlp3s0: connection failed
wlp3s0: disconnected
wlp3s0: using connection 'Aquaris X5 Plus'
wlp3s0: connecting (prepare)
wlp3s0: connecting (configuring)
wlp3s0: connecting (need authentication)
wlp3s0: connecting (prepare)
wlp3s0: connecting (configuring)
wlp3s0: connecting (getting IP configuration)
wlp3s0: connecting (checking IP connectivity)
wlp3s0: connecting (starting secondary connections)
wlp3s0: connected
Networkmanager is now in the 'connected (local only)' state
Networkmanager is now in the 'connected (site only)' state
'Aquaris X5 Plus' is now the primary connection

Revision history for this message
In , Jan Vlug (jan-vlug) wrote :

I just made a comment in Launchpad, which on second thought probably could have better been made here.

See: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1722256/comments/35

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)
tags: removed: disco
Revision history for this message
Heather Ellsworth (hellsworth) wrote :

Updated the bug link

Changed in gnome-shell:
importance: Medium → Unknown
status: Confirmed → Unknown
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in gnome-shell:
status: Unknown → New
Rex Tsai (chihchun)
tags: added: oem-priority
Revision history for this message
Mohit Pathak (aystic) wrote :

I tried "nmcli monitor" to monitor the wifi
I noticed that it changed from

----------------
Networkmanager is now in the 'connected' state
Connectivity is now 'full'
----------------

to

----------------
Networkmanager is now in the 'connected (site only)' state
Connectivity is now 'limited'
----------------

and then the internet stopped working and a ? icon replaced the wifi icon

I am using Ubuntu 22.10, Kernel: 5.19.0-23-generic

Changed in gnome-shell (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → Confirmed
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