From: Alex Gavin <alex.gavin@candelatech.com>
To: nbd@nbd.name, lorenzo@kernel.org, ryder.lee@mediatek.com,
shayne.chen@mediatek.com, sean.wang@mediatek.com,
deren.wu@mediatek.com
Cc: linux-mediatek@lists.infradead.org,
linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, hostap@lists.infradead.org,
greearb@candelatech.com, chad@monroe.io
Subject: mt7996 AP Stops Beaconing after Channel Switch with 6.17+
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:16:48 -0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <3872e1bb-20ab-45b5-87af-5df5bb1507c6@candelatech.com> (raw)
Hi there. When performing an AP channel switch using a mt7996 radio,
6.17+ kernels and latest hostapd (both vanilla), the AP stops beaconing
shortly after switching channels. The issue occurs regardless of band
and notably does not occur when using other radios like the mt7915 with
the same kernel and hostapd.
The following command is used to trigger the channel switch from the
hostapd CLI. Running the 'update_beacon' command after restores the AP
back to beaconing state on the new channel. Config file used available
here [1].
chan_switch 3 5745 sec_channel_offset=1 center_freq1=5775 bandwidth=80 he
Interestingly, the CSA count matches the number of beacons sent on the
new channel before stopping. In each of these beacons on the new
channel, the destination MAC is sent with the first octet modified,
which looks a lot like the CSA count decrementing.
For example with CSA count set to three (edited for readability) using a
5 GHz AP initially configured to 5180 MHz switching to 5745 MHz a packet
capture shows the following:
$ tshark -r capture.pcapng
xx:_:xx -> Broadcast 5180MHz ... Beacon frame <- non-CSA
xx:_:xx -> Broadcast 5180MHz ... Beacon frame <- CSA 3
xx:_:xx -> Broadcast 5180MHz ... Beacon frame <- CSA 2
xx:_:xx -> Broadcast 5180MHz ... Beacon frame <- CSA 1
xx:_:xx -> 03:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 5745MHz ... Beacon frame <- new channel
xx:_:xx -> 02:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 5745MHz ... Beacon frame
xx:_:xx -> 01:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff 5745MHz ... Beacon frame
(nothing)
This has made for interesting 'spelunking' through the channel switching
and beacon configuration infrastructure. However, I'm not confident I
can come up with a fix in any sort of reasonable timeframe. I'd be happy
to test any proposed fix and/or share any further information needed
(e.g. 'trace-cmd' output).
[1]
https://codeberg.org/a-gavin/hostap-confs/src/branch/main/wpa2/hostapd_5GHz-wpa2.conf
reply other threads:[~2026-01-21 4:17 UTC|newest]
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