Re: r8712u issue

[Stefan Assmann <sassmann@redhat.com>]

On 18.07.2011 17:44, Larry Finger wrote:
> On 07/18/2011 10:01 AM, Stefan Assmann wrote:
>> On 18.07.2011 16:53, Larry Finger wrote:
>>> On 07/18/2011 03:46 AM, Stefan Assmann wrote:
>>>> On 18.07.2011 10:27, Ali Bahar wrote:
>>>>> Stefan,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'd like to reproduce this problem. So I'd appreciate some specifics,
>>>>> as asked below.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Jul 18, 2011 at 09:49:00AM +0200, Stefan Assmann wrote:
>>>>>> On 15.07.2011 17:15, Larry Finger wrote:
>>>>>>> On 07/15/2011 09:42 AM, Stefan Assmann wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> driver. The problem I'm currently facing is that the driver does not
>>>>>>>> recognize any network disconnects. So whenever the network goes down the
>>>>>>>> driver will still report it's connected and thus doesn't reconnect when
>>>>>>>> the network is up again.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> The system is a headless debian squeeze with a self build vanilla 2.6.39
>>>>>> kernel. The network is handled by debian scripts I just added the following
>>>>>> to /etc/network/interfaces:
>>>>>> auto wlan0
>>>>>> iface wlan0 inet dhcp
>>>>>> wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
>>>>>>
>>>>>> No NM involved.
>>>>>
>>>>> So wpa_supplicant is controlling (and presumably monitoring) the
>>>>> connection.
>>>>> How are you seeing that (to quote the above) "the network goes down"
>>>>> and that the driver reports that "it's connected"?
>>>>> (Typically, I use only ifconfig and iwconfig, but those don't monitor
>>>>> the connection.)
>>>>
>>>> OK, so I first recognized the problem when I rebooted my AP and the host
>>>> in question didn't get back online. Checking the host itself it seemed
>>>> that the network is doing fine, ifconfig showed the interface has an IP
>>>> but I couldn't ping any hosts. After an ifdown ; ifup cycle everything
>>>> was back to normal.
>>>> I pulled the power from the AP, waited a few minutes and checked back.
>>>> The ifconfig output still showed that the device had its IP.
>>>>
>>>>>>> When this situation occurs, what is output to the dmesg log?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sorry, I don't have the output at hand but IIRC basically nothing special
>>>>>> occurred in dmesg. The interface even keeps it's IP although the wireless
>>>>>> was long gone.
>>>>>
>>>>> So ifconfig shows the IP#. I'm assuming that it no longer shows a
>>>>> state of "UP".
>>>>
>>>> I would assume so, but I'll have to reproduce to make sure.
>>>>
>>>>> This'd seem an inane question, but I must ask: What exactly do you
>>>>> mean by the wireless being "gone"? Which GUI/utility/effect do you
>>>>> see? Is it a powered-down AP, roaming, iwconfig's output, or what?
>>>>
>>>> I pulled the power from the AP. :)
>>>>
>>>>>> Ccing Ali Bahar to this reply, since he has seen something similar.
>>>>>
>>>>> To clarify: I just meant that I've seen quite a number of similar
>>>>> inconsistencies in my testing as well as in my analysis of the code.
>>>>> So, when I read your post, it came as no surprise to me. These'll get
>>>>> fixed ... uh, let's hope soon! ;-)
>>>>
>>>> I see. :)
>>>
>>> Please post your wpa_supplicant.conf. In particular, what is the value for
>>> scan_ssid?
>>
>> ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
>> eapol_version=1
>> ap_scan=2
>>
>> network={
>>          ssid="<ssid>"
>>          id_str="<ssid>"
>>          priority=5
>>          proto=RSN
>>          key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
>>          psk=<psk>
>> }
>>
>> Should I try again with scan_ssid=1 ? From reading the man page this
>> makes a difference if the ssid is hidden, which is not the case.
> 
> Yes. It also changes the scan behavior.

So far I can say that with scan_ssid=1 after rebooting the AP the
connection is properly re-established. Looks promising.

  Stefan