https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372878
User gfarrell@netspeed.com.au added comment
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=372878#c44
--- Comment #44 from Geoff Farrell 2008-06-16 04:52:43 MDT ---
My previous submissions haven't given the right picture. I just booted into
10.3 and noticed that the wireless connection was made immediately, whereas it
wouldn't previously. I think something is going on with the Intel hardware,
that perhaps Intel haven't yet got the kernel module quite right.
I reverted all my previous 11.0-RC1 settings back to default (reinstated
/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf and removed my version of
/etc/wpa_supplicant). The /home/<user>/.kde/share/config/knetworkmanagerrc file
had reverted to the 64-char hex string by itself, so I left it that way. I
could stop, start, disable, enable and reboot, and the wireless connection
performed faultlessly.
A common factor between 10.3 and 11.0-RC1 (updated) is that a wireless
connection can work perfectly, but after shutting the machine down for a long
time (eg, overnight), it refuses to work. Fiddling with the settings seems to
get it working while the machine remains running.
Looking at the hardware, doing a scan with 'iwlist wlan0 scan' produces a list
that only mentions TKIP for the Group Cipher, whereas the machine settings are
for TKIP and CCMP. The Wireless access point is a NetGear WP802, which is set
to have:
Network Authentication: 'WPA-PSK & WPA2-PSK'
Data Encryption: 'TKIP+AES'
Passphrase:
The 'iwlist wlan0 scan' output is:
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:6C:04:51:81
ESSID:"FarNet"
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=95/100 Signal level=-33 dBm Noise level=-67 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Preauthentication Supported
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cell 02 - Address: 00:14:6C:04:51:81
ESSID:""
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=95/100 Signal level=-34 dBm Noise level=-67 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Preauthentication Supported
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Note the (almost) duplicate entries for the same WAP - same MAC address.)
My suspicion is that the Intel kernel module - or wpa_supplicant - is stumbling
over the encryption settings. According to my experience, this 'stumbling'
seems most likely to occur at bootup.
Testing the theory about the Group Cipher setting, I changed my WAP to operate
only on WPA2-PSK and AES, and my wlan0 connection dropped out immediately.
'iwlist wlan0 scan' then showed:
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:6C:04:51:81
ESSID:"FarNet"
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=92/100 Signal level=-39 dBm Noise level=-67 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Preauthentication Supported
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cell 02 - Address: 00:14:6C:04:51:81
ESSID:""
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=90/100 Signal level=-41 dBm Noise level=-67 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Preauthentication Supported
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Changing the machine settings through 'KNetworkManager tray icon-> Edit
Connections-> FarNet-> Edit Connection' to have only 'WPA2-PSK' and 'CCMP'
resulted in the wlan0 connection succeeding immediately. Although the tray icon
showed a wireless connection, right-clicking on it showed no associated WAP,
and 'FarNet' was in the 'Connect to other network' list. However, a ping
confirmed definite wireless connection to the WAP.
Changing the machine settings back to both 'WPA-PSK' and 'WPA2-PSK' with 'TKIP'
and 'CCMP' (for both Group and Pairwise ciphers), while leaving the WAP set to
'WPA2-PSK' and 'AES', initially made no difference; the wireless connection
remained, and could be re-connected. It also survived a re-boot, whereupon the
listing of 'FarNet' appeared as an associated WAP in the KNetworkManager
right-click menu. However, subsequent connection attempts with this combination
proved flaky, sometimes connecting, sometimes not.
Changing the WAP back to its original settings (ie, those at the start of these
experiments - 'WPA-PSK & WPA2-PSK' with 'TKIP+AES') made the wlan0 connection
drop out. Changing the machine's settings to only WPA2-PSK and 'CCMP' made no
difference; the connection was not restored. Changing the machine to only
having 'WPA-PSK' and 'TKIP' also made no difference.
Finally, changing the WAP to having only 'WPA-PSK' with 'TKIP' caused the
machine to be unable to connect, regardless of any combination of machine
settings (ie, whether ['WPA-PSK' with 'TKIP'] OR ['WPA-PSK and 'WPA2-PSK' with
'TKIP' and 'CCMP'].
This is a summary of the above findings:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Machine setting WAP setting Connection Result
Auth Cipher Auth Cipher
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Both Both Both Both Sporadic - works sometimes (1)
WPA-PSK TKIP Both Both Failure*
WPA2-PSK CCMP Both Both Failure*
WPA-PSK TKIP WPA-PSK TKIP Failure*
WPA2-PSK CCMP WPA2-PSK AES Success*
Both Both WPA-PSK TKIP Failure*
Both Both WPA2-PSK AES Sporadic - works sometimes (2)
(1) Most times associated with failure is being switched off overnight.
(2) Couldn't nail down why this was so.
It seems that the only reliable combination is when both machine and WAP are
set to authenticate with Only WPA2-PSK and CCMP/AES.
The big problem with the machine settings is that the 'Edit Connection' dialog
shows that the encryption setting check boxes become unchecked between
connection attempts. Having to enter that dialog repeatedly to re-check those
boxes is a real pain. It seems something is causing these settings to be lost
between connection attempts, causing failure.
I'm not sure if any of this is significant; I'm posting it, hoping that it
helps.
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