Angry firewall? very limited internet. | Linux Mint Community🍵 | Page 1

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 4:46 PM

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Hey folks!
I just installed Mint this morning and I am very new to Linux. Currently having Internet issues on the laptop.

I can access some websites via Firefox. Wikipedia and Youtube work. Google search works. Everything else gives me a "can't reach address, check your connection" error. I tried installing Steam, I can't launch it because it can't find the internet. Software Manager is like Firefox, it can reach certain addresses but not others. I was able to install VLC, but not Freetube.

Network Manager says Internet is connected, signal strength good to very good.
IPv4 is set to automatic (DHCP), IPv6 set to automatic, everyting (DNS, routes) automatic.
I found Firewall Configuration and tried it with firewall on and off, it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Tried ping -c3 8.8.8.8 as per another thread, and I get ping: connect: network is unreachable

It feels like there is a very angry firewall somewhere ? that I can't seem to find. Does anyone have any ideas?

Edited: tl;dr: if you have a Wifi extender, don't have a Wifi extender. It doesn't like Wifi extenders.

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 5:54 PM

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You need to reboot your modem, wait for it to come fully up, reboot your router the same way (if its separate from the modem) then reconnect your device or wait for it to reconnect automatically

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Is this a typical home network where you have a modem -> router or combo unit and you are connecting to it or something more uncommon like a university or public network, sharing your phone's internet, connecting via a proxy

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:03 PM

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It's a home network.
I caved in and went to ask chatgpt, which seems to think the problem might be located around the driver for my wifi card. Is this likely, do you think? (this is a very fresh install, I just got Mint to launch this morning)

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:04 PM

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if you don't understand the problem chatGPT may be less than helpful

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:04 PM

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I'm much happier talking to a human :)

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:04 PM

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it is definately not a wifi driver

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because there is no such defect that would allow you to talk to some websites but not others

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Do you have a wired connection to the house

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:05 PM

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not even an ipv4 - ipv6 issue? (ipv6 working, ipv4 not-working)

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I'll try to reset the router, just need a minute to warn everyone else who lives here

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And no, no wired connection, but I WAS able to use my phone for USB tethering

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:06 PM

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no I mean is is a cable/DSL/Fiber connection to your home -> router

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Further are you using a VPN

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:13 PM

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No VPN here. Shouldn't be a router issue, all other devices are working fine.
Ah, sec, the router just finished rebooting, lemme try again

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Sidenote, do you know how to tell Linux to stop TRYING to connect, so I can access the connection settings? I can't open settings while it's attempting a connection

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:16 PM

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you actually can I should think

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you should still be able to right click on the applet and select edit connction

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:16 PM

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In the network manager, I got a little turning icon where the cog should be

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:16 PM

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you can also run rfkill block wifi

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right clicking it should still work

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but if you do that it will temporarily block wifi remember to unblock it when you want it to you know actually work

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:17 PM

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right-clicking it does not work, sorry

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:17 PM

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you can also via nmcli do nmcli connection down NAME_OF_CONNECTION

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you can also manuallly invoke the connection editor by running nm-connection-editor

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:21 PM

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This is what i'm seeing.
Apologies, I am very new at this, so if you tell me to run anything in the command prompt, I can't do it without exact quotes, I am not familiar with ANY of the common commands

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I did eventually access settings, though, after a while it stopped trying to reconnect and I got the cog to show up for a sec.

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:23 PM

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can you share the output of iwconfig

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to be clear please run iwconfig in a terminal and you can copy and paste the text directly

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copying in a termnal is control+shift+c

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or highlight all text and then press middle mouse button to paste

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:25 PM

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Cannot copy-and-paste, I am talking to you from a different device than the one that doesn't catch internet 😅 but I can grab a photo

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:25 PM

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oh yes that makes sense

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:26 PM

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rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:26 PM

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so its not able to connect at all

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:27 PM

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Right now, I guess not, but I fucked with it through chatGPT instructions. Gimme a sec to reset it to the stage where it could vaguely do something

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:27 PM

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what all is between you and the router

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like is it on the same table or is it 3 stories down out a window and across the street

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:29 PM

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Well, it's one floor down, but there is an extender. The laptop (the problem child) is sat on the same desk as my desktop, that is connected to wifi through a USB receiver, and the desktop is connected just fine, that's what I'm talking on.

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hang on, I reset some stuff

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:30 PM

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did you reboot the extender?

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:31 PM

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there, better.
Ah, I did not reboot the extender - I'm actually not sure where the extender is, physically

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:32 PM

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so the signal to the extender is decent so long as the extender itself has a decent connection to the router

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:33 PM

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well, fuck me, I dunno why I'm bothering to hide my thing's name, I missed the name of the router - ugh. Don't mind me.
I've got a "good" signal strength as per the connection manager.

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:33 PM

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some folks make the mistake of putting the extender where they want to have internet expecting it to magically somehow bring the internet with it instead of putting it halfway between where it can itself get a good connection it needs to be able to serve anything else

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so now that it is connected whats up with normal access to websites?

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:35 PM

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The extender is fine, IMO, (I did find it), it is approximately halfway between the two points, and I have my desktop connected on it with zero issues.

Nope, I'm back to square one. I can reach Wikipedia but not Reddit.

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"We're having trouble finding that site" for reddit.com

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:35 PM

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since this is a laptop can you connect directly to the main router and see if you have the same issue?

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:38 PM

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lemme try that... oh. Oh, hello there.

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Reddit has loaded 👀

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:38 PM

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when connected to the main unit?

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:38 PM

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Well, fuck me sideways, it doesn't like the bloody extender

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Yeah. I didn't even move the laptop, just connected straight to the (slightly-weaker) main signal

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Thank you a ton. I am very glad that it's working - even though the "WHYYYYY" is going to keep me busy for a while, lol

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:40 PM

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well alls well that ends well

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:42 PM

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It's a process. Steam is still telling me to go fry myself an egg. But, one problem at a time 😅

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:46 PM

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So did you install the system package or the flatpak the flatpak isn't official and there is no reason to use it

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:46 PM

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(It worked after restarting it a couple of times. The app, not the computer)

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... I don't even know what a flatpak is. For now, I have only installed a couple of things via the in-built app manager.

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:46 PM

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it may need to update itself it does so periodically steam the package is really just a shim to install the actual thing to your home dir

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flatpak is a type of package it is mostly isolated from the rest of the system with the intent to provide greater security and compatability across many distros providing packages that in effect work on any linux distro regardless of libraries and versions

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:48 PM

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It sounds like something I should not be touching yet, lol

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:49 PM

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with the negative that they are A) much larger because they package everything with the app and B) sometimes have problems related to the isolated environment. Some are provided by the developer of the app some by third parties

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If you are installing software you are already interacting with this

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you will note that some apps in the software manager are flatpaks others system packages

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:50 PM

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Oh! noted, thank you. That seems useful to know.

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:50 PM

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if you are on Mint 22 the default is to only show flatpaks that are maintained by the dev of the app

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on Mint 21 by default it will show all

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:50 PM

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Yeah, the Steam I installed says System Package

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I grabbed the latest Mint (Cinnamon edition) from the dev this morning

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:51 PM

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My preference is system package over official flatpak over unofficial flatpak

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:51 PM

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How do you tell an official versus unofficial flatpak?

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Looking at Discord via the Software Manager, it seems to say "Flatpak (flathub)"

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:54 PM

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In 22 it will only show official ones by default unless you go in settings and change that setting

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to give an example https://flathub.org/apps/com.valvesoftware.Steam

Flathub - Apps for Linux

Install Steam on Linux | Flathub

Launcher for the Steam software distribution service

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note it says unverified

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whereas you will note blue checks on many apps

sly flume Apr 7, 2025, 6:55 PM

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I went to the settings and I have an option to allow "unverified" flatpaks, it's unselected. not sure if verified/unverified is the same thing as official/unofficial

rancid wyvern Apr 7, 2025, 6:56 PM

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it is

#Angry firewall? very limited internet.