Comment 0 for bug 548992

Since about 8.04 or 8.10, perhaps when Ubuntu switched over to NetworkManager, my wireless connection has randomly dropped its association with the access point, about every ten minutes. For a while, the connection will just die, then it will be detected and NetworkManager will re-authenticate and re-associate.

In Lucid Lynx, this problem is now much more frequent (often exactly every two or four minutes) and now Ubuntu does not report that the connection has dropped. Instead, it re-associates in the background, eventually connecting to the access point again, all behind the scenes. Thus, the only thing that has changed, aside from the greater frequency, is that Ubuntu now doesn't report that it has dropped the connection, which seems deceptive from previous versions.

This may be the same bug as #429035, but my dmesg output is a bit different. This problem occurs primarily on a WPA2 Enterprise network, but the problem has occurred on other network security configurations as well.

dmesg output after many instances of disconnects:

[ 5423.541343] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5425.134984] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5425.174916] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5425.177083] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5425.177087] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5425.179379] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5425.179399] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5425.182881] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=68)
[ 5425.182884] wlan0: associated
[ 5437.562165] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 tid = 0
[ 5480.893417] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5482.475859] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5482.515034] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5482.517187] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5482.517190] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5482.518636] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5482.518651] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5482.522378] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=68)
[ 5482.522381] wlan0: associated
[ 5508.093339] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5508.107358] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5508.107412] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5508.110595] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 (try 1)
[ 5508.113114] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5508.113123] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 (try 1)
[ 5508.115392] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5508.121973] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 (try 1)
[ 5508.127254] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=16)
[ 5508.127262] wlan0: associated
[ 5525.110100] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 tid = 0
[ 5546.029401] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5546.042276] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 (try 1)
[ 5546.042311] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:16:e8:d1 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5546.045656] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5546.048069] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5546.048077] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5546.049864] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5546.077267] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5546.080885] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=79)
[ 5546.080888] wlan0: associated
[ 5562.875489] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 tid = 0
[ 5571.881150] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5571.928466] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5571.967725] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5571.969866] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5571.969870] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5571.971428] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5571.971446] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5571.974650] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=79)
[ 5571.974658] wlan0: associated
[ 5579.266995] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 tid = 0
[ 5674.773488] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5674.815768] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5674.855855] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5674.858186] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5674.858195] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5674.859768] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5674.859811] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5674.863242] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=79)
[ 5674.863249] wlan0: associated
[ 5693.936473] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 tid = 0
[ 5871.177501] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5872.845146] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5872.884514] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5872.886671] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 5872.886679] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5872.888855] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5872.888902] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 5872.892134] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=79)
[ 5872.892142] wlan0: associated
[ 6091.564428] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 tid = 0
[ 6122.697260] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 6124.304877] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 6124.344923] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 6124.347041] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 6124.347043] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 6124.348599] wlan0: authenticated
[ 6124.348624] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 6124.352604] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=79)
[ 6124.352609] wlan0: associated
[ 6129.588373] iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 tid = 0
[ 6246.053521] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 6246.089232] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 6246.129301] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 6246.131530] wlan0: direct probe responded
[ 6246.131540] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 6246.133188] wlan0: authenticated
[ 6246.133229] wlan0: associate with AP 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (try 1)
[ 6246.136579] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:cb:17:bd:41 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=79)
[ 6246.136586] wlan0: associated