"4-Way Handshake failed" connecting Wi-Fi after boot; retrying repeatedly eventually succeeds ­-- Broadcom BCM4321 wl

[Alexandru Bolboaca]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1720, Ubuntu 11.10, the Broadcom STA driver installed.

When starting ubuntu, the wireless doesn't connect and the message in the syslog is "4-Way Handshake failed - pre-shared key may be incorrect".

I managed to make it work, sometimes by chance. Sometimes I stop the connection, kill wpa_supplicant and then try again and it works. If it works once, I can put the computer to sleep, move to another place and connect to a different network without a problem.

See below a sample log.

Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) starting connection 'Ap16'
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> (eth1): device state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none') [30 40 0]
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> (eth1): device state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none') [40 50 0]
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1/wireless): connection 'Ap16' has security, and secrets exist. No new secrets needed.
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Config: added 'ssid' value 'Ap16'
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK'
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Config: added 'auth_alg' value 'OPEN'
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Config: added 'psk' value '<omitted>'
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> Config: set interface ap_scan to 1
Feb 13 09:58:06 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> (eth1): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Feb 13 09:58:08 abulafia wpa_supplicant[1496]: Trying to associate with 00:25:9c:3d:0d:0e (SSID='Ap16' freq=2437 MHz)
Feb 13 09:58:08 abulafia wpa_supplicant[1496]: Association request to the driver failed
Feb 13 09:58:08 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> (eth1): supplicant interface state: scanning -> associating
Feb 13 09:58:09 abulafia wpa_supplicant[1496]: Associated with 00:25:9c:3d:0d:0e
Feb 13 09:58:09 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> (eth1): supplicant interface state: associating -> associated
Feb 13 09:58:09 abulafia NetworkManager[1260]: <info> (eth1): supplicant interface state: associated -> 4-way handshake
Feb 13 09:58:17 abulafia wpa_supplicant[1496]: WPA: 4-Way Handshake failed - pre-shared key may be incorrect

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: network-manager 0.9.1.90-0ubuntu5.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-15.26-generic-pae 3.0.13
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-15-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia wl
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu4
Architecture: i386
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Date: Mon Feb 13 10:43:20 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
InterestingModules: b44
IpRoute:
 default via 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0 proto static
 10.64.64.64 dev ppp0 proto kernel scope link src 10.80.46.173
 169.254.0.0/16 dev ppp0 scope link metric 1000
NetworkManager.state:
 [main]
 NetworkingEnabled=true
 WirelessEnabled=true
 WWANEnabled=true
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: network-manager
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-11-03 (101 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Alexandru Bolboaca (alex-boly)]

This bug didn't reproduce anymore after upgrate to Ubuntu 12.04.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Thanks for the update!

[marco.pallotta (marco-pallotta)]

The bus is still present in 12.04 (Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG ).
After some attemps (from some minutes to many and many minutes) the connection succeeds else if I restart the router all goes ok (but only linux sistems are affected by this issues, no android or windows smartphone/laptop or my kindle device suffer by this problem).