I generally set ceni to run in"roam" mode, and open wpa_gui to keep an eye on the networks I come into range of during the day. Almost every day, after a hour or two of running the app, it will lock up and stop working. Sometimes reconfiguring ceni makes it work again, but a reboot is the best fix.

However, today it seems I can't keep it working for more than a few minutes at most. Every time it fails today, wpa-gui is showing:What does that mean? And is there anything I can do to prevent it?

Might help, might not


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I use Wicd instead of Ceni in ALL of my installs, even core. I used to get 100% cpu usage on my eeepcs when starting ceni
and slow lockup till ceni loaded so I never bothered with it.

Didn't really help, but thanks for the effort. I don't think Ceni is what's causing the problem, and while Wicd is a pretty GUI network manager, it doesn't seem to be as powerful as the CLI Ceni. They each have their pluses and minuses.

But the last couple of days, I removed the wireless adapters configuration from Ceni, and have just been using wpa_GUI alone (well along with wpa_supplicant), and it seems to be working better. But the wpa_GUI still will crash every now and then. I probably had to reboot half a dozen time throughout the day today to set things right.

I'm sure this is not an AntiX issue, and I don't have the knowledge to determine just what is happening, or which application is at fault. Might even be trying to use wpa_GUI in a way that it was never meant for. It's getting the job done for me, just a little annoying to have to reboot so often.

Neil wrote:Didn't really help, but thanks for the effort. I don't think Ceni is what's causing the problem, and while Wicd is a pretty GUI network manager, it doesn't seem to be as powerful as the CLI Ceni. They each have their pluses and minuses.

But the last couple of days, I removed the wireless adapters configuration from Ceni, and have just been using wpa_GUI alone (well along with wpa_supplicant), and it seems to be working better. But the wpa_GUI still will crash every now and then. I probably had to reboot half a dozen time throughout the day today to set things right.

I'm sure this is not an AntiX issue, and I don't have the knowledge to determine just what is happening, or which application is at fault. Might even be trying to use wpa_GUI in a way that it was never meant for. It's getting the job done for me, just a little annoying to have to reboot so often.

Here is another avenue to consider: in the past, I've run into situations where (unintentionally) more than one wireless firmware driver was activated. In at least one of those cases, the network would activate, but it wouldn't be long (minutes, or sometimes even seconds) when a competing firmware driver would wake up to a signal, knock the other driver out and restart. The result was that my network was bouncing up and down like a yo-yo until I discovered that there were two wireless firmware drivers trying to service the same network.

There are multiple solutions to this scenario, should it turn out to be what is causing your problem:

One is to blacklist all but one of the drivers, another is to remove all other drivers.
Sometimes if both the ndiswrapper that can provide wireless firmware drivers from Windows-supported systems and the native Linux driver is present, such a conflict can occur. I've also seen it when multiple versions of Broadcom firmware drivers have been loaded; only one of them should be used. That possibility could be there with the FREE Intel drivers vs. proprietary ones too, but that's a little less likely.

This may not be your problem, but if it is, it can be tedious and difficult to locate unless you know what to do. Search for Debian Wireless Wiki or go to
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to get more tips. There are links on that site that will give you more ideas, depending on the equipment that you use. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me!

Thanks for the tips, Brian. I don't think what you describe is happening here, though. As long as I stay put in one location, everything works fine, for hours on end. Thus my reasoning that these applications were designed for a site survey, and then to connect to a network. But, I like to leave it running when I'm on the move, and I think what is happening is the system is trying to connect to networks that come into range, and then as I move out of range before an IP address is assigned it gets confused and eventually locks up.

Still don't know for sure, but will be doing some more reading on the matter when I can find the time.

Sorry that doesn't help. Worth a try anyway. Maybe it will help someone else.

I don't see much mention of wpa_GUI on the web. Is it still being developed / supported? And is there anywhere I should look for wpa_GUI specific help? I can't seem to find a FAQ or forum devoted to it.

Neil wrote:I don't see much mention of wpa_GUI on the web. Is it still being developed / supported? And is there anywhere I should look for wpa_GUI specific help? I can't seem to find a FAQ or forum devoted to it.

While I have not really searched around for it, I have not seen much mention of wpa_GUI on other sites; I do not think it is very commonly used. Even here, the majority of people choose either ceni if they prefer working from the console or wicd (which works either from the console or a graphical user interface). I think the reason we have kept different wireless interfaces is that 1. They are relatively small in size and 2. We've had a few people who have had success only with certain tools, and given the modest size, at least until recently we've been able to keep several of them in the full version of our software.

Not much help, sorry about that. Perhaps someone else familiar with wpa_GUI will respond.

Yeah, I've narrowed down the cause of my problem to wpa_gui, because the other tools (ceni and wicd) continue to work after a wpa_gui crash.

Thing is, wpa_gui is the perfect tool for the job I want to do...if only I could keep it running without crashing every few minutes. Ceni and wicd are great network managers, but neither does what I want to do right now.

My wpa_gui in WICD

__{{emoticon}}__ @ rokytnji __{{emoticon}}__ You are joking right?

The wicd GUI is not the same thing as the wpa_gui app.

Neil, with ceni, I would concede that, at least as far as I can determine, there is no way to automatically switch between wireless access points when you are roaming. Ceni is, however, capable of remembering a fixed access point and manually switching to something else when you are on the move. Some people like it because it is light and fairly straightforward to modify.

It MAY be possible to get wicd to automatically connect to a roaming access point, but I generally do not work that way, so if there's a way, I am not much help there. For me, I set wicd to automatically connect to a couple of the access points I use in the places I go, however, and it does that quite easily.

The reason, of course, that we include multiple tools is that different people have different needs. I hope that you are successful in finding what works best for you.

(Yes, Roky enjoys a good joke!) __{{emoticon}}__

Neil wrote: __{{emoticon}}__ @ rokytnji __{{emoticon}}__ You are joking right?

The wicd GUI is not the same thing as the wpa_gui app.

I am the jokster on this distro team. I make up for ignorance with being the class clown.
Though it does look like rc and jdmeaux1952 are gonna usurp my position. __{{emoticon}}__

OK...glad to know roky is a joker...I don't want to offend anyone. [whew!]

And I've used Ceni and/or WICD for years just as you describe, Brian (and still do). Until I discovered what wpa_gui would do. Now, I don't really"need" to use it. I just like what it does...when it's working.

I'm going to try using wpa_gui on a different OS next week to see if it does the same thing, or not.

Neil wrote:OK...glad to know roky is a joker...I don't want to offend anyone. [whew!]

I haven't offended anyone since I started using deodorant.