[ABANDONED] Repeated requests for network authorization

[Don]

I have several wireless networks, including one guest network. I have given one of the 5G networks highest priority. I can sign into it, but after a short while I get kicked off it and signed onto the guest network, or I get a popup asking for reauthorization (network password). Anyone have ideas what's happening? Is there something I should post to help diagnose? Thanks.

[Don]

Additional information: The wireless network adapter seems spontaneously to go down. I ran iwconfig and then ran sudo ip link set <network id> up, and then I got back on. That at least suggests to me that the adapter has become unreliable. I have tried it with different cables, and that seems not to be the problem.

[jlittle]

If you tell us the hardware involved, there might be specific recommendations. To find out sudo lshw -class network is one way. Some wifi chips are infamous.

There might be an improved driver available for your hardware. My desktop is one such. Some laptops use an M.2 slot for the wifi chip so it can be replaced.

[Don]

Thanks, John. Here is the result of sudo lshw -class network:

*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 6
bus info: usb@1:3
logical name: wlx00c0caa60d4a
serial: 00:c0:ca:a6:0d:4a
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8812au driverversion=v5.13.6-15-gc40b977e2.2021
0629 firmware=52.14 ip=192.168.50.94 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11AC

The device is an Alfa AWUS063ACH. I'm pretty sure it's the latest driver; I downloaded it from Github a couple of weeks ago, and I don't see a later version available.

[claydoh]

Some wifi chips are infamous.

driver=rtl8812au

Yup anything with 'rtl' can be infamously infamous
Which specific driver variant did you build and install?

[Don]

I think the version is driverversion=v5.13.6-15-gc40b977e2.2021--at least that's what I read in the lshw printout. It sounds like the best thing to do is just to get another adapter; they aren't all that expensive. Any recommendations? TP Link seems to get pretty good reviews.

[claydoh]

But from which git repo? There are different variants.

Any recommendations?

Brand is not the issue per se, it is the chip. TP link have some good stuff, but likely will have some Realtek chip, especially for USB adapters. So investigating which chip a prospective dongle has will be needed for any USB device, really.
Some are good, some are flaky. I avoid them.

Are you tied to USB connections for this? is it a PC or laptop?

Intel Wifi will Just Work, but won't be found in USB dongles. PCI cards and the m.2 style only
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-WAVLI...st_sto_dp&th=1
This is one of many that include an intel card, though this one I have, I did not pay that much for it a few months back. A bit high.
Similar:
https://www.amazon.com/Cudy-Bluetoot...ef_=ast_sto_dp

These all have this style of card inside
https://www.amazon.com/WISE-TIGER-AX...qid=1666190689
This is what comes in semi-recent laptops desktops for wifi. I find attaching the antennas finicky for my fat shaky fingers, though. So I sometimes cheat, like with the first link

[Don]

Claydoh, you have punctured the fragile bubble of my existence! I didn't even know there were multiple github repositories; I just thought there was github, plain and simple. (Now, on the other hand, I know who's plan and simple.) At this point, I'm not sure which repo it was, though it may have been aircrack. So I suppose I can try other repos' versions and see whether the problem persists.

I'm on a PC, and I have available PCIe slots but not an m.2 slot. I would prefer a USB, but I can go the slot route. For the moment I think I'll try shifting to a different repo's driver.

Thanks for all the help and the education.

[claydoh]

Open source code can be forked, or simply copied and modified.
Or competing projects

Aircrack is sort of focused on hacking
there is also this one
https://github.com/morrownr/8812au-20210629
I may have used this in the past.

Both are actively developed

[Don]

I may have discovered the problem, or at least the possible problem. I ran dkms status, and there are two drivers installed:
rtl8812au/5.13.6, 5.15.0-50-generic, x86_64: installed
rtl8812au/5.13.6, 5.15.0-52-generic, x86_64: installed
Is it possible that the trouble I'm having is that the drivers are fighting with each other? If so, I think it's the second one that I need to remove, because uname -r gives me 5.15.0-50. If that's at least something to try, what is the syntax for the command to remove the second one?

[claydoh]

You have more than one kernel installed (5.15.0-50 and the current 5.15.0-52). Part of the building process, DKMS, builds a module for each kernel you have, even if they are only minor revisions of the same 5-15.0 release.
This is necessary, so you have a driver on each kernel installed. There is no competition or conflicts.
You could boot to the previous version via the grub menu and test if it performs better for some reason, though I suspect this is may be unlikely, unless your problems started happening in the past ~day or so, when the kernel update came in.

[Don]

Problem solved (or at least avoided). I got a new adapter, which uses the MT7621U chipset. Works out of the box because the driver for that set is now part of the kernel. Thanks to all for sticking with me.