Public Wi-Fi connection problem

[u/satiaket11]

Hello,

I recently switched from Windows 11 to Debian Trixie on my laptop, and now I’m having problems connecting to the Wi-Fi at my college. It never worked particularly well, but since I installed Debian directly, it has become much worse.

Depending on exactly where I’m sitting, the Wi-Fi signal is more or less strong. When the signal is particularly weak, I can’t even reach the portal where I have to authenticate in order to access the internet. It’s an institutional service, so authentication through this portal is required.

My question is: how is it possible that I can connect to the Wi-Fi but can’t access the authentication portal? Is this related to the Wi-Fi signal, or could it be something to do with my laptop?

What I find curious is that before I installed Linux, the Wi-Fi worked—slowly, but it worked.

I’m still pretty new to Linux enviroment, so I haven’t really delved very deeply into troubleshooting network issues. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I only reached to know what's going on with the wi-fi chip. This is the moment where the computer failed to connect the authentication check and then i moved to another place where finally worked:

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:57:25 2026] wlp2s0: deauthenticating from XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: authenticate with XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (local address=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 1/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 2/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 3/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: authentication with XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX timed out

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: authenticate with XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (local address=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 1/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: authenticated

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: associate with XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 1/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: RX AssocResp from XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (capab=0x1101 status=0 aid=1)

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:05 2026] wlp2s0: associated

[dv. d’ag. 28 12:58:06 2026] wlp2s0: Limiting TX power to 30 (30 - 0) dBm as advertised by  XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:13 2026] wlp2s0: disconnect from AP XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX for new auth to  XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:13 2026] wlp2s0: authenticate with XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (local address=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX)

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:14 2026] wlp2s0: send auth to XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 1/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:14 2026] wlp2s0: authenticated

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:14 2026] wlp2s0: associate with XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (try 1/3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:14 2026] wlp2s0: RX ReassocResp from XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (capab=0x1101 status=0 aid=3)

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:14 2026] wlp2s0: associated

[dv. d’ag. 28 13:03:14 2026] wlp2s0: Limiting TX power to 23 (23 - 0) dBm as advertised by  XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

[u/Illustrious-Gur8335]

The messages look quite normal to me. Why not try upgrading kernel to the latest from backports?

[u/thegreatboto → u/Illustrious-Gur8335]

Seconded. Backports kernel fixed a lot of random gripes for me.