kernel-panic in hardy beta. wireless network disconnects and do not reconnect until rebooting (kernels 2.6.22, 2.6.24 on 7.10 and 8.04)

[Nir Misgav]

I have wireless pci adapter "EDIMAX EW-7128G",
chipset is detected as "RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI" in device manager.

This is a new adapter so I didn't try it on Feisty. winXP has no problems with it.

I'm using WPA2 (AES).

Gutsy final.

I have sudden disconnections, I think it happens mostly on network load (while using firefox).
When I get disconnected, I get a request to enter the network password again and again, but that doesn't help.
The only way I was able to regain connection is by rebooting the computer. (On login I need to enter keyring password).

I tried to disable "roaming mode" and configure manually, but haven't succeed to connect like this.
I tried "/etc/init.d/networking restart/stop/start" and it doesn't work either.

What other information do you need ?
please let me know.

Thanks,
Nir.

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

I found out that doing:

sudo rmmod rt61pci
sudo insmod /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/ubuntu/wireless/rt2x00/rt61pci.ko

makes me able to connect again after I get disconnected (instead of rebooting)

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

Also happens to me on Hardy Alpha2 fresh install on clean, and updated to Jan/5/08 (Kernel 2.6.24-2-generic on AMD64).

Nir.

[Steeley (steeleyuk)]

I also get this problem. Same card using WPA but TKIP as the encryption type.

The connection simply drops, could quite possibly be down to connection load though it seems to happen more when using BitTorrent rather than a HTTP download.

Restoring of connection requires me to click on the Access Point name in Network Manager. This always works so the bug for me is a bit of an inconvenience but not major.

I'll also add that this card worked fine in Feisty with the exception that you could not use it with Network-Manager, you had to configure it using the GNOME network tool.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Per the kernel team's bug policy, can you please attach the following information. Please be sure to attach each file as a separate attachment.

* uname -a > uname-a.log
* cat /proc/version_signature > version.log
* dmesg > dmesg.log
* sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log

Also, it would probably be more useful if you could capture the entire dmesg output after you notice you've been disconnected. Hopefully some useful error messages will get logged. For more information regarding the kernel team bug policy, please refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks again and we appreciate your help and feedback.

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

My files :

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

If it wasn't clear, now I'm using Herdy up-to-date, on a fresh installation (I installed Alpha2).
Linux desktop 2.6.24-4-generic #1 SMP Mon Jan 14 18:19:11 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I'm having the same bug as I had in Gutsy.
The rmmod+insmod RT61-module is also working here.

Thanks.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Nirmisgav,

Thanks for attaching all the files. It appears that your dmesg is missing the initial boot logs. Care to capture it right after you boot? Thanks.

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

Yes. here it is :

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thanks Nirmisgav,

I'm reassigning to the kernel team. I also just wanted to let you know that Hardy Alpha4 will be out withing a day or two. It would be helpful if you could retest with the latest release and just confirm if the issue is still present. Thanks.

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

After the last Kernel update (sync with Alpha4)
~$ uname -a
Linux desktop 2.6.24-5-generic #1 SMP Thu Jan 24 19:29:14 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I do have a change in behaviour.
Now I do not have disconnections again,
Instead of that I just get random KERNAL PANICS!!! (all stuck and flashing keyboard leds)

I have no idea if now it's related to the WiFi driver or not. (It's for sure not related to Nvidia proprietary driver because I turned it off)

Please tell me what files I need to attach now, so we can find-out (core dump?)

Thanks,
Nir.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

If you could attach the dmesg output which contains the kernel panic that would be helpful. Thanks!

[NoWhereMan (e.vacchi) (uncommonnonsense)]

there is no relevant dmesg output (the panic doesn't log) you can find what happens here http://bugzilla.kernel.org/attachment.cgi?id=15072&action=view (that picture is mine), bug is http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9860

[NoWhereMan (e.vacchi) (uncommonnonsense)]

bug *seems* fixed (needs more testing) in net-2.6 git branch http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9860 unfortunately this would mean backporting a large part of the whole tree...

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thanks for the updates NoWhereMan. Unfortunately we currently at beta freeze for Hardy so any significant changes will most likely not be pulled in. This will probably have to wait for the Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. Thanks.

[NoWhereMan (e.vacchi) (uncommonnonsense)]

not to sound annoying, and I understand the freeze but I don't think a kernel panic should make it into a "stable" release, you know.

of course, it made it into the stable kernel release...

btw, fyi the bug seems to me related to the mac80211 stack, I'll try to do further tests and if I'll ever come to a solution (which will probably involve downgrading part of the kernel) I'll let you know.

bye

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi NoWhereMan,

I definitely understand the concerns you've raised. I just wanted to let you know that one of the Ubuntu kernel team devs has a patchset to bring the rt2x00 code in Hardy uptodate with what upstream has. It is currently being discussed since we are in Beta Freeze. It may help resolve this bug but you also do mention it may be related to the mac80211 stack. I'll try to update this report if the new updates do get pulled in so you can try to test and verify if the issues still exists. Thanks again for your patience and help.

[NoWhereMan (e.vacchi) (uncommonnonsense)]

thank you Leann, I'm following what's going on on bug #134660 ; unfortunately seems like this patchset doesn't fix the problem;
my only option - which I can understand it won't be an option for you - was compiling 2.6.25-rc7

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

[UbuntuPaul (pablopenovi)]

Hello. I'm also suffering from this bug in Ubuntu Intrepid. I'm using a 3-com 3CRWER101-a wireless router and the wireless network adapter integrated with my Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard. More often than not, my wireless connection drops after some minutes of inactivity, and then I cannot reconnect. When this happens, I get a dialog asking for my WPA2 password over and over. Of course, entering it does no good. Only a soft reboot will solve the problem. Sometimes, I'll suffer this bug seemingly at random, but from reading this page, perhaps it has to do with my bittorrent client, so I'll keep an eye for that.

I attach all the information you asked for, and as soon as I get disconnected again I'll capture the dmesg output. I wasn't sure whether I had to reply in this same report or open a new one, as I'm rather new to Launchpad. If I have to open a new report, how can I make sure it's not already created, and how can I link this report to the one I open? Thanks for your time.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

The last comments have been posted some time ago. Could someone please confirm, whether this issue still exists with the latest kernels for Hardy and Intrepid. As I saw in the upstream report the original problem was with a rt61 driver. Did someone have installed and tried linux-backports-modules? This package contains newer versions of the wireless drivers.

[Nir Misgav (nirmisgav)]

I have opened this bug about RT61PCI module, and for me it is fixed.
I'm not sure about UbuntuPaul problem though...

Regards,
Nir.

[UbuntuPaul (pablopenovi)]

I've yet to make my adapter play nicely with Ubuntu 8.10. I have changed my wired/wireless configuration at home, so that now this PC is connected to the router via a wire, which of course eliminates the problem.

Last time I checked, I found that there seems to be a definitive fix for my chipset (rtl8187) in the linux kernel to be included in Ubuntu 9.10. I can't remember the version number.

[Stefan Bader (smb)]

I am closing this bug on Nir's comment. UbuntuPaul, as your adapter is a rtl8187 (which is a separate driver), can you please open a new bug if you continue to have those problems. I checked the repo and there were indeed a few changes on that driver, but they might be still only available when using the kernel from proposed updates.