Intel Wireless 8260 [8086:24f3] Subsystem [8086:1010] on channel switch, iwlwifi Microcode SW Error: FW error in SYNC CMD CHANNEL_SWITCH_TIME_EVENT_CMD

[nyarla33]

Ubuntu Mate 20.04, with all supplied kernels up to 5.4.0.33

I occasionally see a message on my screen that disk space is low. I try rebooting since my computer is unresponsive. Normal reboot does not work, sudo reboot does not work. I have to power off the machine using power button. Machine boots but hangs because its trying to repair journal info.

I can't see what causes that since I was not using my computer at the time.
edit: see comment #14

So with a live session, I can see that syslog and kern.log files have grown to several GB until the drive is full.

When using an upstream kernel 5.4.43-050443-generic x86_64, I haven't had any problem so far.
edit: not true actually, this happened again using this upstream kernel.

Never had this issue with previous Ubuntu versions with the very same hardware configuration, since 16.04.

Included: partial syslog and kern.log with the same message repeated over and over.
edit: and when the event starts.

[Joël Bourgault (joel-bourgault)]

Hi all,

Same issue on my computer; `/var/log/syslog`, `/var/log/kern.log`, and `journalctl` entries (`/var/log/journal/<some-hexa>/` folder) have grown endlessly, until filling the partition, in less than an hour.

Xubuntu 20.04
Lenovo ThinkPad T470s

Following message is repeated again and again (around 330,000 times!) in `/var/log/syslog`, `/var/log/kern.log`, with similar entries in `journalctl` :

```
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799370] wlp58s0: Failed check-sdata-in-driver check, flags: 0x0
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799499] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 15093 at net/mac80211/driver-ops.h:17 drv_sta_s
tate+0x254/0x3f0 [mac80211]
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799501] Modules linked in: ccm aufs intel_rapl_msr overlay bnep joydev mei_h
dcp snd_hda_codec_hdmi binfmt_misc snd_hda_codec_realtek snd_hda_codec_generic intel_rapl_common x86_pkg_temp_thermal
intel_powerclamp coretemp kvm_intel nls_iso8859_1 snd_hda_intel snd_intel_dspcfg snd_hda_codec snd_hda_core kvm snd_hw
dep snd_pcm crct10dif_pclmul thinkpad_acpi ghash_clmulni_intel nvram ledtrig_audio iwlmvm mac80211 snd_seq_midi snd_se
q_midi_event libarc4 aesni_intel rmi_smbus rmi_core crypto_simd uvcvideo cryptd videobuf2_vmalloc glue_helper btusb bt
rtl videobuf2_memops intel_cstate btbcm snd_rawmidi videobuf2_v4l2 intel_rapl_perf videobuf2_common btintel iwlwifi bl
uetooth snd_seq i915 input_leds ecdh_generic videodev serio_raw ecc wmi_bmof ucsi_acpi snd_seq_device intel_wmi_thunde
rbolt snd_timer mc typec_ucsi cfg80211 snd mei_me typec drm_kms_helper mei intel_pch_thermal i2c_algo_bit fb_sys_fops
syscopyarea intel_xhci_usb_role_switch sysfillrect roles sysimgblt soundcore acpi_pad mac_hid
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799597] nf_log_ipv6 ip6t_REJECT nf_reject_ipv6 xt_hl ip6t_rt nf_log_ipv4 nf
_log_common ipt_REJECT nf_reject_ipv4 xt_LOG xt_limit xt_addrtype xt_tcpudp xt_conntrack nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 n
f_defrag_ipv4 libcrc32c sch_fq_codel ip6table_filter ip6_tables iptable_filter parport_pc ppdev bpfilter lp parport dr
m ip_tables x_tables autofs4 uas usb_storage nvme crc32_pclmul psmouse e1000e i2c_i801 nvme_core wmi video
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799653] CPU: 1 PID: 15093 Comm: kworker/u8:3 Tainted: G W 5.4
.0-33-generic #37-Ubuntu
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799657] Hardware name: LENOVO 20HGS36U00/20HGS36U00, BIOS N1WET48W (1.27 ) 0
5/28/2018
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799734] Workqueue: phy0 ieee80211_csa_connection_drop_work [mac80211]
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799809] RIP: 0010:drv_sta_state+0x254/0x3f0 [mac80211]
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799817] Code: 00 45 31 ed e9 66 fe ff ff 48 8b 83 78 04 00 00 48 8d b3 98 04
 00 00 48 c7 c7 c8 78 d4 c0 48 85 c0 48 0f 45 f0 e8 b7 b1 bd ed <0f> 0b 41 bd fb ff ff ff e9 3d fe ff ff 65 8b 05 58 9
d 34 3f 89 c0
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799820] RSP: 0000:ffffaef1c2fafc98 EFLAGS: 00010282
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799825] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8fac33fde8c0 RCX: 0000000000000006
May 30 22:10:29 joel-T470s kernel: [ 6519.799829] RDX: 0000000000000007 RSI: 00000...

[Joël Bourgault (joel-bourgault)]

Output of `uname -a`:

Linux joel-T470s 5.4.0-33-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 21 12:53:59 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I've got no idea how to reproduce the issue (happened yesterday evening, only once), so I don't know if there would be an interest to boot on a previous kernel version. However, I'm open to suggestion for tests.

Best Regards,

[Joël Bourgault (joel-bourgault)]

Output of lspci | grep wireless -i

```
3a:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8265 / 8275 (rev 78)
```

[Ubuntu Kernel Bot (ubuntu-kernel-bot)]

This change was made by a bot.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

Unlike what I thought or hoped, using an upstream kernel (5.4.43-050443-generic x86_64) is not a workaround.
I just had the same issue again.

[sinergia (sinergiasincontrol)]

same here, on two machines; one with

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168NGW [Stone Peak] (rev 10)

and the other with:

08:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 (rev 3a)

the syslog is full of messages like this:

WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 172105 at net/mac80211/driver-ops.h:17 drv_sta_state+0x254/0x3f0 [mac80211]

i've changed to kernel 5.6.15-050615-generic with no luck, the bug is still happening

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

I think I can tell more about the circumstances:

1* My computer is connected by Wifi to the modem / router on the 5 GHz band, (let's say) canal 100.
2* After a certain amount of time, the router switches *itself* the canal to 36 or 52.
This amount of time is vary variable and independent of what I'm doing on my computer, hence the difficulty to describe the circumstances.
3* There is no indication that the connection is lost. There is no attempt to connect on the 2.4 GHz band, even though I have a connection profile. Then, syslog and kern.log start to grow endlessly, see bug description.

With previous versions of Ubuntu:
1* and 2* Same.
3* The connection is lost but very shortly after that the Wifi card connects on the 2.4 GHz band.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

Apparently, somehow the channel switch is fatal:
wlp2s0: driver channel switch failed, disconnecting

[Curtis Penner (curtis-penner2)]

syslog and kern.log grew until the filesystem was full. This happened twice. It can be replicated. My workaround is to regress to 19.10.

I have a system on 20.04 that does not use wireless and there is no error.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

Had the same issue again today when the router changed the channel from 52 to 36. Same log files.

I guess a workaround is to stick to the 2.4 Ghz band with which I have not experienced channel switch.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

By installing an OLDER mainline kernel 5.3.18-050318-generic x86_64, the behaviour has reverted to what I had before Ubuntu 20.04, meaning: if the router switches the canal for the 5 Ghz band, connection is lost and then a new connection is set on the 2.4 Ghz band.

Interestingly, what can be seen in attachments in message #4 and #5 is happening too but is not reproduced endlessly, just a few attempts.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

Bug is still happening with kernel 5.4.0-39-generic x86_64 and linux-firmware 1.187.1.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

With the recent updates, including:
kernel 5.4.0-40-generic x86_64 and (I suspect) wpasupplicant 2:2.9-1ubuntu4.1
The behaviour has changed: on channel switch the log files no longer grow endlessly but there is still no attempt to reconnect to another SSID nor notification that the connection is lost.
Instead the system basically freezes and it's impossible to manually disconnect the wifi.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

The behaviour on channel switch on the 5 GHz band seems somehow erratic as what happens can be either:
1 - what I described in post #23
2 - syslog and kern.log grow endlessly, as seen before
3 - the wifi card disconnects and manages to reconnect itself as seen in included log file "syslog reconnection completed"

[Sébastien Wertz (sebastien-wertz)]

Same issue here (logs filling up the disk because of wifi-related messages; wifi connection lost) but with an older kernel version: 5.3.0-62-generic.

[You-Sheng Yang (vicamo)]

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=204873, and it suggests the fix https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/rxmq.c?id=d829229e35f302fd49c052b5c5906c90ecf9911d has been landed in v5.5.

[Iñaki Paz Rey (inakipaz)]

Same issue here. Ubuntu 20.04 fully updated running on a Dell Latitude 5590. Started after VPN connection over wifi. It works ok sometime and then VPN and network stopped working in this case. Changing to cabled connection just in case meanwhile the issue gets solved.

Pasting repeated log just in case (few lines):

Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989816] wlp2s0: Failed check-sdata-in-driver check, flags: 0x0
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989848] WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 21572 at net/mac80211/driver-ops.h:17 drv_sta_state+0x254/0x3
f0 [mac80211]
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989848] Modules linked in: rfcomm xt_conntrack xt_MASQUERADE nf_conntrack_netlink nfnetlin
k xfrm_user xfrm_algo xt_addrtype iptable_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 libcrc32c br_netfilter bridge stp llc ccm ip
6table_filter ip6_tables iptable_filter bpfilter cmac algif_hash algif_skcipher af_alg aufs bnep overlay snd_hda_codec_hdmi mei_hdcp intel_r
apl_msr dell_rbtn snd_hda_codec_realtek snd_hda_codec_generic x86_pkg_temp_thermal intel_powerclamp nls_iso8859_1 snd_hda_intel coretemp snd
_intel_dspcfg kvm_intel snd_hda_codec snd_hda_core snd_hwdep snd_pcm kvm snd_seq_midi snd_seq_midi_event snd_rawmidi crct10dif_pclmul ghash_
clmulni_intel uvcvideo dell_laptop ledtrig_audio dell_smm_hwmon videobuf2_vmalloc snd_seq aesni_intel joydev dell_wmi crypto_simd dell_smbio
s dcdbas snd_seq_device iwlmvm cryptd videobuf2_memops glue_helper mac80211 intel_cstate snd_timer intel_rapl_perf videobuf2_v4l2 libarc4 bt
usb videobuf2_common input_leds btrtl btbcm i915 iwlwifi btintel
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989879] videodev bluetooth snd serio_raw intel_wmi_thunderbolt mc dell_wmi_descriptor wmi
_bmof ecdh_generic rtsx_pci_ms soundcore cfg80211 hid_multitouch ecc memstick mei_me drm_kms_helper mei processor_thermal_device i2c_algo_bi
t intel_rapl_common ucsi_acpi fb_sys_fops intel_xhci_usb_role_switch typec_ucsi syscopyarea sysfillrect intel_soc_dts_iosf roles sysimgblt i
ntel_pch_thermal typec int3400_thermal acpi_thermal_rel mac_hid dell_smo8800 int3403_thermal int340x_thermal_zone intel_hid acpi_pad sparse_
keymap sch_fq_codel parport_pc ppdev lp parport drm ip_tables x_tables autofs4 hid_generic rtsx_pci_sdmmc crc32_pclmul nvme intel_lpss_pci i
ntel_lpss e1000e i2c_i801 ahci idma64 i2c_hid nvme_core rtsx_pci libahci virt_dma wmi hid video
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989908] CPU: 3 PID: 21572 Comm: kworker/u8:3 Tainted: G W 5.4.0-40-generic
#44-Ubuntu
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989908] Hardware name: Dell Inc. Latitude 5590/0PF5TR, BIOS 1.12.1 11/08/2019
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989917] Workqueue: phy0 ieee80211_csa_connection_drop_work [mac80211]
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989926] RIP: 0010:drv_sta_state+0x254/0x3f0 [mac80211]
Jul 13 12:02:15 ipaz-Latitude-5590 kernel: [ 9218.989927] Code: 00 45 31 ed e9 66 fe ff ff 48 8b 83 78 04 00 00 48 8d b3 98 04 00 00 48 c7 c
7 c8 b8 b7 c0 48 85 c0 48 0f 45 f0 e8 57 71 ba f3 <0f> 0b 41 bd fb ff ff ff e9 3d fe ff ff 65 8b 05 e8 5c 51 3f 8...

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

I tested my wifi with *** iwd *** instead of *** wpa_supplicant***, following this "Call for testing: improved WiFi via iwd":
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/call-for-testing-improved-wifi-via-iwd/17795

When connected on the 5 GHz network, when the channel switches, syslog and kern.log no longer grow endlessly. Connection is lost and that's all.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

Maybe I was too happy too soon. Today, using iwd, when the channel on the 5 GHz network switched, the connection was lost but there was no notification and it was impossible to connect to another ssid. The log files didn't grow endlessly though.

[Curtis Penner (curtis-penner2)]

This bug is not present with other distro's I use, that is Arch. This indicates that it can be distribution centric. Ubuntu has the bug, Arch does not. A workaround is if your system has this Intel device use another distro. It is not convenient but it works.

[nyarla33 (mr-somewhere)]

In the past few days, I have observed that:
- if my wireless connection is set on the 5 GHz band
- when the router switches the channel
- a notification that the connection is lost is displayed
- within seconds, a new connection is made on the 2.4 GHz band (I have a connection profile with lower priority)

I have:
- NO MORE freeze because the log files are taking all the disk space
- NO MORE freeze with no possibility to disconnect Network Manager

Actually this behaviour on channel switch has been consistent during the last few days and is now what I had with Ubuntu 19.10 and older releases.

I don't know what updates made things change but the current situation is fine for me.

Kernel is 5.4.0-48-generic x86_64 fully updated and using wpa_supplicant