Hey everybody I hope all is well with you all. I have a problem that nobody can answer and I hope one of you can. I'm running Zorin Pro 18 on dual boot with Microsh$t Windows 11 on a brand new Lenovo IdeaPad 5-2 in 1. I keep getting a popup saying "Connection failed" Activation of network connection failed. I do not loose connection but this is driving me nuts. It happens multiple times every time I'm online. Last night I screenshot 11 out of 20 times in one hour alone. None of the Zorin staff are even attempting to help and stupid Lenovo is blaming it on Zorin? I have uninstalled and reinstalled Zorin 3 times that I bought from Zorin. I don't know if it comes up in Windows because I haven't used it . I ordered this laptop with Ubuntu and Lenovo is having a cow over me installing Zorin. I'm fighting with Lenovo trying to get my money back because they have been nothing but rude and unprofessional. Personally I think it's a Lenovo problem because of what I have read on Lenovo Forums and others having lots of issues with these Ideapads. I haven't seen anyone there with the same issue and nobody there has offered any suggestions. So if anyone can think of anything to try I would surely thank you.
Hi Richard:
So you're on a brand-new Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1. These newer models often ship with MediaTek (MT7921/MT7925) or Realtek Wi-Fi cards. While they work, their Linux drivers are notorious for being "chatty"—they often report temporary micro-drops or internal resets to the system that are so fast you don't actually lose your internet, but Zorin (via NetworkManager) sees it and panics. Here's the most likely fix:
Disable Wi-Fi Power Management
Linux often tries to save power by putting the Wi-Fi card into a "sleep" state during idle moments. On many Lenovo IdeaPads, this causes the card to "blink," triggering that "Activation Failed" popup.
Open the Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T).
Type the following command and press Enter:
sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
You will likely see a line that says wifi.powersave = 3.
Change the 3 to a 2 (which disables power saving).
Press Ctrl+O, then Enter to save, and Ctrl+X to exit.
Restart your laptop.
When this is a brand new Model:
- Are Secure Boot and Fast Boot in BIOS disabled?
- Is Fast Start-Up in Windows disabled?
- Is Your BIOS in UEFI or Legacy Mode?
- What Tool did You use to create the Bootstick?
- Does Zorin run in Wayland or X11? You can check that with the Terminal Command
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE - Could You post the Output of the Commands
sudo lshw -C networkandrfkill listplease? - Did You checked the ''Additional Drivers'' Tab in Software & Updates if there is a Driver offered?
- Does this happen with wireless Connection or wired?
Do you actually have your ethernet connected or are you using wifi but the computer is trying and failing to connect the ethernet too? look at settings/network.
When I upgraded to 18.1 I had the second situation (ethernet couldn't connect but I was able to operate on wifi) and the solution was to downgrade the kernel to 6.8.
If it's just instability then the earlier suggestion from @wsmather is probably the way to go.
I think everyone who has posted so far is spot on.
It would be nice to confirm hardware details of network devices with:
sudo lshw -C network
Just another point to make, ensure IPv4 is set to have 'This connection required for the network' or similar wording is checkmarked (it isn't by default), and change IPv6 from 'automatic' to 'disabled'.