pia can't establish connection to the vpn server

[Cyberdrift]

I have been talk to the pis customer service for a few days and can't seem to make any progress with this. The pia app says it can't establish connection to the vpn server contact customer support.

I have tried openvpn and wireguard, all the ports, UDP, and TCP, using multihop, and sent them the logs. Nothing seems to work.

Then they told me the command to try and purge it (sudo dpkg --purge piavpn) and reinstall and it get interesting. When i tell it to purge it come back with ( dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove piavpn which isn't installed). I tried the command with the app both running and closed it cant find it.

A friend told me to try (dpkg --list | grep pia) also tried (dpkg --list | grep priv) to look for the package. There was no package listed for pia or private internet access but the app is installed and running.

The last reply i got from pia asked if i could just use the browser extensions but that isn't good enough for me so thats where I am stuck at atm.

I installed from kubuntu 24.04.1

kde plasma version: 5.27.11
kde frameworks version: 5.115.0
QT version: 5.15.13
kernel version: 6.8.0-45-generic (64-bit)
graphics platform: X11

I did not have any problems with pia using 22.04 or even when I upgraded to 24.04. Then I botched a video card driver install and did a fresh install from 24.04.1 and have had this problem ever since. Even tried a fresh install from24.04 had the same problem.

[claydoh]

Private Internet Access is not installed via deb file, but from a downloaded script that puts its executables and files on /opt.

I don't know who told you to use deb-related commands to remove it?? Especially their own support people
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/download

https://helpdesk.privateinternetacce...ng-the-pia-app
https://helpdesk.privateinternetacce...pp-uninstaller
https://helpdesk.privateinternetacce...h-the-terminal

I also suggest moving/deleting your local user config files at ~/.config/privateinternetaccess/ before reinstalling.
~/.local/share/privateinternetaccess/ may have some logs that *might* be helpful

Long time user of PIA, but I have not had issues with it at all. It has been set-and-forget, plus occasional updating.

[oshunluvr]

I too have been using PIA for years. I simply followed the directions on the PIA website and it works.

Sounds like you got a poorly trained support agent.

[Cyberdrift]

Hi Thanks for the help. Used the terminal commands from your link and the first first time threw i think i misspelled my PW it said somethingsomething not allowed (sorry forgot to screen shot it)

The next time it seemed to go smooth I didn't seem any output from the konsole other than the promt for the PW but piavpn was gone from the ~/opt folder
and the other files i found in ~/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@100service/app.slice/app-pia\x2client@autostart.service
and ~/sys/fs/cgroup/system.slice/piavpn.service were both gone after

Then I reinstalled it and still had the same problem.


here is the rep's reply telling me to try the purge


(Anj, Sep 20, 2024, 1:59 PM GMT+8:
Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Please try to do a clean installation. Use the following command to uninstall the PIA app:

sudo dpkg --purge piavpn

After uninstalling the app, please restart your computer and then follow these steps to reinstall the PIA app: https://helpdesk.privateinternetacce...ng-the-pia-app

Looking forward to your response. Regards,
Anj
Private Internet Access Support
)

I didn't have this issue when I let Discover update from 22.04 to 24.04. But then I messed up a VC driver install and could not get past a blank screen ( I am not real knowledgeable at using the terminal). So I did a fresh install using the 24.04.01 ISO and this problem started. Then I fought with it awhile then did another fresh install with the 24.04 iso with no improvement.


Now since I replied to PIA that just using the browser extensions would not be enough because I wanted everything covered by the vpn not just my browser they have ghosted me for the last 2 days. ( I miss the days when you could call and talk to tech support rather email)

I may just reinstall the 22.04 iso, install pia and let discover update to 24.04 again and see if that gets it to work again.

[Cyberdrift]

I tried on another dual boot device with the same result it had just recently got a fresh format with Kubuntu 24.04 but it rarely gets booted into kubuntu. So I tried running a live usb (both Kubuntu 24.04 and 22.04) then installing pia and neither one of those could connect. I tried a 3rd desktop running a live usb and a laptop with a full install of Kubuntu 24.04. The 3rd desktop could not connect but the laptop connected fine.The 3 desktops are all AMD. 2 with 5000 series AMD CPU's and MSI B550-a pro motherboards, and the 3rd with a 2000 series AMD CPU and a Asus rog strix x470-f gaming motherboards. The laptop that I got to connect had an intel CPU. The 2 5000 series AMD desktops and the laptop also ran Windows and could connect to pia fine under windows.

[Cyberdrift]

It took them 6 days to reply this time. But this was the last reply from PIA.

Aedan, Oct 2, 2024, 3:20 AM GMT+8:
Hi,

This is an update regarding the issue you've reported to us.

Please accept our apologies if we were not able to immediately respond to your support request as we are receiving a higher volume of requests than usual.

We just want to let you know that this is a known and reported bug and our engineers are already working on it.

We'll email you back once the issue has been sorted.

We appreciate your patience. Regards,
Aedan
Private Internet Access Support