Score:2

Ubuntu

What is the significance of "?" in place of the normal Nautilus wireless icon?

user3169

2/24/23, 11:25 PM

From time to time, the normal wireless connection icon changes to a question mark.
Ubuntu 18.04. Wireless adapter is TP-Link TL-WN881ND.

At such times, I haven't noticed and significant difference in connectivity.

I would like to understand the criteria that determines when this is displayed. No doubt there is some criteria that results in its display. And why it's there as there does not seem to be any functional impact the average user would notice.

UPDATE:

As suggested in a comment, when the "?" appeared, I tried the command:
ping -c10 www.ubuntu.com

The result is below. A few minutes later when the wireless icon came back, I ran the command again, but could not see any meaningful difference.

PING www.ubuntu.com (185.125.190.29) 56(84) bytes of data.<br>
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=1 ttl=50 time=203 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=2 ttl=50 time=201 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=3 ttl=50 time=250 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=4 ttl=50 time=171 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=5 ttl=50 time=150 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=6 ttl=50 time=216 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=7 ttl=50 time=240 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=8 ttl=50 time=161 ms<br>
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=9 ttl=50 time=183 ms
64 bytes from website-content-cache-3.canonical.com (185.125.190.29): icmp_seq=10 ttl=50 time=205 ms

www.ubuntu.com ping statistics
10 packets transmitted, 10 received, 0% packet loss, time 9009ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 150.093/198.332/250.660/30.936 ms

0 + 0

nautilus

wireless

networking

chili555

2/25/23, 12:03 AM

Correct. It means that you are connected to the router but not the internet. Test: `ping -c3 www.ubuntu.com`

user3169

2/25/23, 5:31 PM

@chili555 Thanks. I edited my question.

user68186

2/25/23, 7:35 PM

Another thing to check is if IPv6 is enabled in your router. My internet service provider has not enabled IPv6 in my area. If I turn this feature on in my router the WiFi indicator in my Ubuntu laptop keeps switching between the solid "inverted cone" to the one with the "?" and back.

user3169

2/25/23, 11:28 PM

@user68186 When you see the "?", is your connectivity affected at all? Though I'm more interested in what Ubuntu is checking to display that.

user68186

2/25/23, 11:39 PM

It depends on the cause. For example, if DNS is misconfigured Internet won't work. If you use VPN, Internet will work even if it shows "?". If it is IPv6 problem in the router, as in my case, it icon just switches back and forth. I had some problems with the Internet, but I am not 100% sure they were related.

user68186

2/25/23, 11:45 PM

I think Ubuntu checks DNS using the config set on the Network Manager app. When it does not work, eg the VPN app changes the DNS, we get the ?

user3169

2/28/23, 3:18 AM

@user68186 When it changes, the system is idle (browser not running). Connected to ISP, but no VPN.

user68186

2/28/23, 3:48 PM

Based on your update it does not look like a lasting DNS problem. It may be a momentary DNS problem triggering the "?", but the problem goes away in a moment leaving the "?" there for a longer time. The only thing I can say is, it may be your router or even your Internet service provider or the DNS provider if you have set a custom DNS either in your router or in the network manager app.

user3169

2/28/23, 4:31 PM

@user68186 Certainly seems likely, but as I asked, there must be some programmatic criteria in Ubuntu that results in the "?". Basically I don't care for a "?" indicator because that's like saying "Huh?"

Elon Musk

I sit in a Tesla and translated this thread with Ai:

EN: What is the significance of "?" in place of the normal Nautilus wireless icon?

TH: What is the significance of "?" in place of the normal Nautilus wireless icon?

RO: What is the significance of "?" in place of the normal Nautilus wireless icon?

RU: What is the significance of "?" in place of the normal Nautilus wireless icon?

VI: What is the significance of "?" in place of the normal Nautilus wireless icon?

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.