FS#23798 - [kernel26,b43 driver] each new page or page refresh requires disconnection followed by reconnection

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Saturday, 16 April 2011, 19:05 GMT
Last edited by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Thursday, 16 February 2012, 17:52 GMT
Task Type Bug Report
Category Packages: Extra
Status Closed
Assigned To Tobias Powalowski (tpowa)
Thomas Bächler (brain0)
Architecture x86_64
Severity Medium
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 1
Private No

Details

Description:
I am connecting to a wireless LAN through my Broadcom wifi card using the following commands:

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 essid <name> key <10-digit-key>
iwconfig wlan0 auto
dhcpcd wlan0

My card gets assigned 192.168.1.3 on lease from 192.168.1.1. However, after opening one page when I refresh it or open another page in my browser, it fails. If I disconnect and reconnect between page refreshes I can connect fine. I have to issue the following commands before every new page fetch.

dhcpcd -k wlan0
dhcpcd wlan0

My kernel.log is filled up with martian header messages and they appear very fast. I am not sure if the martian header thing is relevant or not.

I have accessed the network a few months earlier. Now, I have the new kernel (2.6.38). It was working fine then. I used b43-fwcutter to get drivers for my wifi card.

Additional info:
* config and/or log files etc.
kernel.log is attached in case it turns out to be relevant
   Text File (0.3 KiB)
This task depends upon

Closed by  Tobias Powalowski (tpowa)
Thursday, 16 February 2012, 17:52 GMT
Reason for closing:  Upstream
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Saturday, 16 April 2011, 19:11 GMT
I attached the wrong file. Please check kernel.log in this attachment.
   kernel.log (5.2 KiB)
Comment by Jelle van der Waa (jelly) - Sunday, 17 April 2011, 10:45 GMT
looks like a driver issue, what chip are you using?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_wireless read the broadcom page to use a better driver
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Sunday, 17 April 2011, 12:23 GMT
I think the following information might be helpful to you.

from /etc/rc.conf
MODULES=(acpi-cpufreq cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_performance !pcspkr !snd_pcsp !b43legacy b43)

from lspci -k
02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company BCM4311 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Kernel modules: ssb

I installed b43-firmware using b43-fwcutter; but that was a year ago. Does it need a firmware upgrade?
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Sunday, 17 April 2011, 12:25 GMT
My firmware version is 4.178.10.4.
Comment by Enjolras (enjolras) - Sunday, 17 April 2011, 14:26 GMT
Looks like an issue from your Access point. I can't reproduce with same hardware, same driver and same firmware.

30:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN (rev 02).
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Sunday, 17 April 2011, 16:48 GMT
Well if it were an access point problem, then how come I have no issues connecting from my Windows XP on the same laptop? I filled this report from my Windows on the same laptop only.
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Sunday, 05 June 2011, 08:22 GMT
The issue still persists. This time it is a different city and an altogether different network. My kernel version now is 2.6.38-ARCH.
   kernel.log (1.3 KiB)
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Sunday, 05 June 2011, 14:24 GMT
Another kernel.log that might shed some light on the issue.
   kernel.log (2.9 KiB)
Comment by Jelle van der Waa (jelly) - Saturday, 18 June 2011, 08:53 GMT
Then it seems to be a driver issue, report it to your driver maker.
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Friday, 26 August 2011, 10:48 GMT
Well on your suggestion I switched to Broadcom-wl drivers from b43 drivers and it worked fine. I have been using WPA networks with it successfully for months. However, when I tried using WEP networks, I get errors while setting the key.

[root@fool dknight]# iwconfig wlan0 essid <ssid of network>
[root@fool dknight]# iwconfig wlan0 key <10-digit key>
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
[root@fool dknight]# iwconfig wlan0 key "<key>"
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
[root@fool dknight]# iwconfig wlan0 key s:"<key>"
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
[root@fool dknight]# iwconfig wlan0 key s:<key>
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
[root@fool dknight]# iwconfig wlan0 key <10-digit key in dashed format as shown in man page>
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

My current kernel version in 3.0. The broadcom-wl package in AUR was updated on 10th of this month. So, it is fairly updated.
Comment by Amitav (amitavmohanty01) - Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 18:24 GMT
Broadcom-wl did nothing except causing more failures. So I have switched back to b43. The wiki also suggests the same. However, I still can not connect to WEP networks.

Loading...