network-manager misspells the ESSID for wireless networks

[Stefan Richter]

I tried to set up a wireless ad-hoc network with my atheros wlan chip. But I did not get it work because the ath5k driver seems to be corrupt. After a few seconds the ESSID changed to a random value.

The following script reproduces the error:
ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 essid "WLAN" mode Ad-Hoc channel 3
ifconfig wlan0 up

iwconfig wlan0 # correct output

ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 essid "WLAN" mode Ad-Hoc channel 3
ifconfig wlan0 up

sleep 3

iwconfig wlan0 # incorrect output

I got the following output:
root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu/Desktop# ./wlan-script.sh
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"WLAN"
          Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.422 GHz Cell: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"\xAA\x9A\xC2\x87CV\xA1\xB4c/\xFD\x9E\x0D\x80\xFE%\x0E \x14V\xB2+s\xA8\x01\xA9;\xA4\xA2\x92iM"
          Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.422 GHz Cell: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

As you can see the ESSID changed to a random string after a delay of 3 seconds. So I can not set up a ad-hoc network ...

Additional informations:
- bug in Ubuntu lucid beta 1 (live system at pen drive)
- lspci | grep Atheros
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
- lsmod | grep ath
ath5k 121856 0
mac80211 204598 1 ath5k
ath 7611 1 ath5k
cfg80211 126645 3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
led_class 2864 3 ath5k,asus_laptop,sdhci

best regards

ProblemType: Bug
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 3111 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xdc6b8000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC660-VD'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0660,10430000,00100001 HDA:15433155,10431335,00100700'
   Controls : 18
   Simple ctrls : 12
Date: Sun Mar 21 11:27:26 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta i386 (20100318)
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0b05:1712 ASUSTek Computer, Inc. BT-183 Bluetooth 2.0+EDR adapter
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 004: ID 05e1:0501 Syntek Semiconductor Co., Ltd DC-1125 Webcam
 Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0d7d:1624 Phison Electronics Corp.
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. F3T
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-16-generic 2.6.32-16.25
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=(loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/boot/iso/lucid-desktop-i386.iso quiet splash noeject noprompt --
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
Regression: No
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.32
Reproducible: Yes
SourcePackage: linux
TestedUpstream: Yes
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 06/01/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F3TAS.226
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: F3T
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.00
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTek Computer INC.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrF3TAS.226:bd06/01/2007:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pnF3T:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnF3T:rvr1.00:cvnASUSTekComputerINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: F3T
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.

[Stefan Richter (mr-s-richter)]

I noticed that this bug only occurs if I don't stop the network-manager. So I seems that the network-manager in Ubuntu lucid changes the ESSID!

(service network-manager stop)

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Stefan,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 543343

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Shane (shane-h-1)]

This bug affected me also, thanks to Stefan for his workaround. I tried to run apport-collect, but as this bug has been closed I was unable to complete the process.

Also, I had the rather fun experience of (I believe) Network Manager overwriting /etc/network/interfaces at boot time, this was infuriating because I do not use Network Manager normally, I just use the commandline tools (iwconfig, vim, ifconfig)

[Andre_H (nerv-dawncrow)]

This Bug affects me too.
I first used the Fritz!Usb stick with NDISwrapper and thought it broke with my update to lucid.
The i bought a Netgear WG111v3 and it still didnt work.
I was frustrated and used a very long ethernet cable across my living room for some weeks now.
i thank Stefan for his workaround.
This Bug is really annoying and should not be present in a LTS Version!