Problems connecting to public WiFi with latest 80211 code

[Kevin Downey]

On 7/19/07, Kevin Oberman <oberman at es.net> wrote:
> > Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:22:25 -0700
> > From: Sam Leffler <sam at errno.com>
> >
> > Kevin Oberman wrote:
> > > I had not seen this problem because I do not use the wpa_supplicant to
> > > connect to open networks when at home, but I am on travel this week and
> > > it has been a real pain.
> > >
> > > System is current as of this afternoon and is running on a ThinkPad T43
> > > with an Atheros 5212 mini-PCI card.
> >
> > mac+phy revs for card are always important; dmesg|grep ath
> >
> > >
> > > When the system comes up, the wpa_supplicant starts, but the system
> > > never scans except with 'authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy ON' and
> > > never tries to associate with an open AP even though I have an entry in
> > > wpa_supplicant.conf for that network. I have to issue a 'ifconfig
> > > wepmode off' to get it to associate.
> >
> > I don't see a log from wpa_supplicant or console debug msgs as obtained
> > with wlandebug.
> >
> > >
> > > Even then, it still won't always associate until I ifconfig the
> > > interface down and up. Once I do this, it seems to associate rather
> > > quickly.
> > >
> > > I suspect that the problem reported on mobile by Matthias Apitz and jhb
> > > may be a part of the problem, but I think the inability to get to
> > > authmode OPEN is different.
> > >
> > > I use the supplicant at home and it works fine, but that is NOT an open
> > > network, so I don't need the interface to run in OPEN mode.
> > >
> > > Any idea what is going on and if it can be fixed or worked around?
> >
> > I can't help w/o the usual info: what os, card info (mac+phy), and how
> > to reproduce (e.g. wpa_supplicant.conf and cmd line).
>
> Sorry, this was a really bad report.
>
> Here is the dmesg part:
> ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
> ath0: <Atheros 5212> mem 0xb4000000-0xb400ffff irq 11 at device 2.0 on pci11
> ath0: [ITHREAD]
> ath0: using obsoleted if_watchdog interface
> ath0: Ethernet address: 00:14:a4:60:f2:e3
> ath0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 3.6
>
> Do the following:
> Boot up a current kernel WITHOUT 'device ath'
> kldload if_ath
> Interface continues to report 'authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy ON'
> and never associates.
> /etc/rc.d/wpa_supplicant restart ath0
>
> This fixes it all. I didn't realize that restarting wpa_supplicant
> corrected the problem when I sent the initial message.
>
> Because of the way this is working, I failed to get anything from
> 'wpa_supplicant -d' as any attempt to re-start the supplicant cause
> things to work.
>
> I did run wlandebug and I am attaching the output. The supplicant was
> restarted at the point where the DHCP client exited.
>
> I see the same behavior when I 'boot -s', 'kldload if_ath' and 'exit'.
>
> Due to an IRQ issue that I have not had time to try to track down, I
> can't load it from the loader and I don't want it in my kernel fro a
> variety of reasons.
>
> I might also mention that I am also seeing frequent drops in
> associations that are working fine, but this has been reported by
> others and so this is just a "me, too". But is annoying. I lost it
> twice entering this message.
> --
> R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
>
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
ath0: <Atheros 5212> mem 0x90000000-0x9000ffff irq 22 at device 1.0 on pci7

I see similar behavior. I get a "ath0: device timeout" message then I
lose my connection. If I bounce the interface with '/etc/rc.d/netif
restart ath0' ifconfig shows ath0 with 'authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i
privacy ON' and it no longer associates with my ap. Sometimes if I
bounce it a few times it will "unstick" and go back to "authmode OPEN
privacy ON" other times it requires a reboot. I am using
wpa_supplicant, but not WPA just WEP. 'ifconfig ath0 authmode open'
doesn't change anything when its stuck on "authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i"

This happens a few times a week.

-- 
i'll unhook my oily pink mini-kimono, you kill him in honolulu