[STAGING] RT2860 Wireless will not authenticate and connect when on battery power.

[Anthony Hook]

I've found a quite easy-to-reproduce bug (provided you have a Ralink RT2860 wireless card). On a fresh boot, I am unable to connect to an encrypted wireless connection (WPA2), if I'm on battery power. Attached in the dmesg is things I don't quite understand, but they're probably helpful to somebody. If there is other information I can provide, let me know.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Remove power plug from netbook (run it on battery)
2) Boot laptop, log in,
3) Attempt to connect to WPA2 encrypted wireless
4) Provide correct credentials to nm-applet dialog box asking for encryption key
5) Wait about 30 seconds
6) Repeat steps 4-6 until you give up and plug in, reboot.

I did try this while connecting to open wireless (no security) while doing the same steps as above, and was able to connect fine.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-6-generic 2.6.38-6.34
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-6.34-generic 2.6.38-rc7
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-6-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: anthony 1362 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf7eb8000 irq 45'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC269'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,1043834a,00100004'
   Controls : 10
   Simple ctrls : 6
Date: Mon Mar 14 09:16:18 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=cdd02e59-6ea7-4b26-a659-280f840a031f
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release i386 (20101007)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 1000
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-6-generic root=UUID=92377a11-a366-4b2f-8178-6d126cdb80a4 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-6-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-6-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.48
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: rt2860sta
Title: [STAGING]
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-01-31 (42 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/11/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1003
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: 1000
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: x.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTek Computer INC.
dmi.chassis.version: x.x
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1003:bd06/11/2009:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pn1000:pvrx.x:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn1000:rvrx.xx:cvnASUSTekComputerINC.:ct10:cvrx.x:
dmi.product.name: 1000
dmi.product.version: x.x
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.

[DonFranco83 (fadolph)]

I confirm.
I have the same behaviour on Kubuntu 11.04 with Ralink RT 2860.

[Wolfgang Kufner (wolfgangkufner)]

With the same hardware I had the connection drop when I went to battery[2]. Do you see that too or is authentication the only thing that fails for you? What happens if you are connected to a WPA2 network and then go to battery?

Yesterdays 2.6.39 20110408 daily ubuntu mainline kernel [1] works very well for me. Could you try that one (or the most recent one)?

[1] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/daily/
[2] http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/pipermail/users_rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/2011-January/002872.html

[Ricardo Portugal (rportugal)]

I have the same issue on 2.6.38-8. If I go to battery, the connection indicator doesn't change but the connection becomes really slow.
So, following Wolfgang's suggestion, I installed 2.6.39-999 201104191714, and apparently the problem's solved.

[Wolfgang Kufner (wolfgangkufner)]

@Anthony Hook

The power saving related problems with kernel 2.6.38 and RT2860 hardware have now two fixes in the process of being released:

Please install the most up to date version of firmware for the rt2800pci driver from:
http://people.canonical.com/~sforshee/lp762987/linux-firmware_1.52~lp762987v201106061858_all.deb
as long as the task of updating the linux-firmware in your ubuntu version to this new firmware is not "fix released" (see bug 762987).

The kernel currently still in natty-proposed also fixes this issue.

You may have to blacklist the rt2860sta staging driver if it interferes with the operation of the rt2800pci. Let me know if you have to do this.

Thanks for your report and let me know whether or not everything works for you with those new rt2800pci drivers and firmware.

@Ricardo Portugal
Thanks for confirming that kernel 2.6.39 fixes the issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Anthony Hook (anthonyhook)]

I'm not sure why I didn't get an email on the past comments, but I'll test this and try to confirm today.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]