wireless-tools: Wireless won't connect

[Debian Bug Importer]

Automatically imported from Debian bug report #336302 http://bugs.debian.org/336302

[Guus Sliepen (guus)]

severity 336302 important
thanks

On Sat, Oct 29, 2005 at 12:23:18PM +0100, Anthony Campbell wrote:

> Package: wireless-tools
> Version: 27+28pre10-1
> Severity: grave
> Justification: renders package unusable

Please. When you used reportbug, it said:

"grave: makes the package in question UNUSABLE BY MOST OR ALL USERS, or
causes data loss, or introduces a security hole allowing access to the
accounts of users who use the package."

> My Cisco Aironet has stopped connecting to the router. It keeps saying
> the ESSID is "tsunami" and reports the access point as FF:FF:....
>
> I made a fresh install of Debian on a spare partition via netinst and
> everything worked perfectly. I then did a dist-upgrade to Sid and the
> above error reappeared.
>
> I don't know whether the bug is in wireless-tools or libiw.

Could you show me the full output of "iwconfig -a"?

> Kernel: Linux 2.6.13.4

Is that a kernel from an official Debian kernel package, is it one from
the netinst or is it a kernel you compiled yourself? If it is not the
same kernel as installed by the netinst, could you try installing the
one from netinst and check if that makes any difference?

--
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Automatically imported from Debian bug report #336302 http://bugs.debian.org/336302

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-Id: <20051029112318.057FC2BC14@arcadia>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 12:23:18 +0100
From: Anthony Campbell <email address hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
Subject: wireless-tools: Wireless won'g connect

Package: wireless-tools
Version: 27+28pre10-1
Severity: grave
Justification: renders package unusable

My Cisco Aironet has stopped connecting to the router. It keeps saying
the ESSID is "tsunami" and reports the access point as FF:FF:....

I made a fresh install of Debian on a spare partition via netinst and
everything worked perfectly. I then did a dist-upgrade to Sid and the
above error reappeared.

I don't know whether the bug is in wireless-tools or libiw.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.13.4
Locale: LANG=en_GB, LC_CTYPE=en_GB (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages wireless-tools depends on:
ii libc6 2.3.5-7 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libiw28 27+28pre10-1 Wireless tools - library

wireless-tools recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 14:18:45 +0200
From: Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>
To: Anthony Campbell <email address hidden>, <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#336302: wireless-tools: Wireless won'g connect

--/9ZOS6odDaRI+0hI
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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severity 336302 important
thanks

On Sat, Oct 29, 2005 at 12:23:18PM +0100, Anthony Campbell wrote:

> Package: wireless-tools
> Version: 27+28pre10-1
> Severity: grave
> Justification: renders package unusable

Please. When you used reportbug, it said:

"grave: makes the package in question UNUSABLE BY MOST OR ALL USERS, or
causes data loss, or introduces a security hole allowing access to the
accounts of users who use the package."

> My Cisco Aironet has stopped connecting to the router. It keeps saying
> the ESSID is "tsunami" and reports the access point as FF:FF:....
>=20
> I made a fresh install of Debian on a spare partition via netinst and
> everything worked perfectly. I then did a dist-upgrade to Sid and the
> above error reappeared.
>=20
> I don't know whether the bug is in wireless-tools or libiw.

Could you show me the full output of "iwconfig -a"?

> Kernel: Linux 2.6.13.4

Is that a kernel from an official Debian kernel package, is it one from
the netinst or is it a kernel you compiled yourself? If it is not the
same kernel as installed by the netinst, could you try installing the
one from netinst and check if that makes any difference?

--=20
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

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[Adam Aube (aaube01)]

Package: wireless-tools
Version: 27+28pre10-1
Followup-For: Bug #336302

I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
using the native prism54 driver.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: Sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.12.6-c3
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages wireless-tools depends on:
ii libc6 2.3.5-6 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libiw28 27+28pre10-1 Wireless tools - library

wireless-tools recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-Id: <email address hidden>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:38:05 -0400
From: Adam Aube <email address hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
Subject: wireless-tools: 2.6.13 breaks wireless; 2.6.12 works

Package: wireless-tools
Version: 27+28pre10-1
Followup-For: Bug #336302

I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
using the native prism54 driver.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: Sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.12.6-c3
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)

Versions of packages wireless-tools depends on:
ii libc6 2.3.5-6 GNU C Library: Shared libraries an
ii libiw28 27+28pre10-1 Wireless tools - library

wireless-tools recommends no packages.

-- no debconf information

[Guus Sliepen (guus-sliepen-eu)]

Hello Jean,

----- Forwarded message from Adam Aube <email address hidden> -----

From: Adam Aube <email address hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:38:05 -0400

Package: wireless-tools
Version: 27+28pre10-1
Followup-For: Bug #336302

I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
using the native prism54 driver.

----- End forwarded message -----

Do you have any idea?

--
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

[Anthony Campbell (ac-acampbell)]

Someone else on the Debian user list has encountered a similar problem.
However, I now think it may not be wireless-tools that is responsible.

I did a fresh install of debian stable via netinst and everything
worked. I then upgraded both wireless-tools and pcmcia-cs from
Sid and the wireless connection still worked. However, a full
dist-upgrade breaks the connection as before.

It therefore seems as it the bug is not in wireless-tools as such, but I
have no idea which package is responsible.

Anthony
--
Anthony Campbell - <email address hidden>
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
on-line books and sceptical articles)

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:18:13 +0000
From: Anthony Campbell <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Cc: <email address hidden>
Subject: Further information

Someone else on the Debian user list has encountered a similar problem.
However, I now think it may not be wireless-tools that is responsible.

I did a fresh install of debian stable via netinst and everything
worked. I then upgraded both wireless-tools and pcmcia-cs from
Sid and the wireless connection still worked. However, a full
dist-upgrade breaks the connection as before.

It therefore seems as it the bug is not in wireless-tools as such, but I
have no idea which package is responsible.

Anthony
--
Anthony Campbell - <email address hidden>
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
on-line books and sceptical articles)

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 10:14:01 +0100
From: Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>
To: Jean Tourrilhes <email address hidden>
Cc: <email address hidden>
Subject: [<email address hidden>: Bug#336302: wireless-tools: 2.6.13 breaks wireless; 2.6.12 works]

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Hello Jean,

----- Forwarded message from Adam Aube <email address hidden> -----

=46rom: Adam Aube <email address hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:38:05 -0400

Package: wireless-tools
Version: 27+28pre10-1
Followup-For: Bug #336302

I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
using the native prism54 driver.

----- End forwarded message -----

Do you have any idea?

--=20
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

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[Jean Tourrilhes (jt-hpl)]

On Sun, Oct 30, 2005 at 10:14:01AM +0100, Guus Sliepen wrote:
> Hello Jean,
>
> ----- Forwarded message from Adam Aube <email address hidden> -----
>
> From: Adam Aube <email address hidden>
> To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
> Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:38:05 -0400
>
> Package: wireless-tools
> Version: 27+28pre10-1
> Followup-For: Bug #336302
>
> I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
> work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
> using the native prism54 driver.
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> Do you have any idea?

 First, the bug report lack any details (what does not
work). Second, it looks like a driver problem, so you may want to
forward on the Prism54 mailing list.

 Jean

[Guus Sliepen (guus)]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2005 at 08:21:30AM -0800, Jean Tourrilhes wrote:

> > I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
> > work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
> > using the native prism54 driver.
> >
> > ----- End forwarded message -----
> >
> > Do you have any idea?
>
> First, the bug report lack any details (what does not
> work). Second, it looks like a driver problem, so you may want to
> forward on the Prism54 mailing list.

Oh, have you looked at http://bugs.debian.org/336302? This was not the
original bugreport, but a follow-up.

--
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:21:30 -0800
From: Jean Tourrilhes <email address hidden>
To: Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>
Cc: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [<email address hidden>: Bug#336302: wireless-tools: 2.6.13 breaks wireless; 2.6.12 works]

On Sun, Oct 30, 2005 at 10:14:01AM +0100, Guus Sliepen wrote:
> Hello Jean,
>
> ----- Forwarded message from Adam Aube <email address hidden> -----
>
> From: Adam Aube <email address hidden>
> To: Debian Bug Tracking System <email address hidden>
> Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 19:38:05 -0400
>
> Package: wireless-tools
> Version: 27+28pre10-1
> Followup-For: Bug #336302
>
> I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doesn't
> work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
> using the native prism54 driver.
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
> Do you have any idea?

 First, the bug report lack any details (what does not
work). Second, it looks like a driver problem, so you may want to
forward on the Prism54 mailing list.

 Jean

[Jean Tourrilhes (jt-hpl)]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2005 at 07:30:21PM +0100, Guus Sliepen wrote:
> >
> > First, the bug report lack any details (what does not
> > work). Second, it looks like a driver problem, so you may want to
> > forward on the Prism54 mailing list.
>
> Oh, have you looked at http://bugs.debian.org/336302? This was not the
> original bugreport, but a follow-up.

 My bad, I did not look at the original report (not that the
original report had much details anyway - iwconfig/ifconfig/dmesg
output ?).
 All those bugs smell like driver or configuration issues. WEP
is notoriously touch and go, so I would try to isolate that. Also, it
seems that in both cases if the upgrade did involve a kernel update,
and I would finger that as a potential cause. The newer kernel
*should* work, but networking is currently in flux in the kernel, so
that may be the cause.

> Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
> Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

 Have fun...

 Jean

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 19:30:21 +0100
From: Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>
To: Jean Tourrilhes <email address hidden>
Cc: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [<email address hidden>: Bug#336302: wireless-tools: 2.6.13 breaks wireless; 2.6.12 works]

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On Mon, Oct 31, 2005 at 08:21:30AM -0800, Jean Tourrilhes wrote:

> > I am having the same problem - with vanilla 2.6.13.[x], my wireless doe=
sn't
> > work, but it does work with 2.6.12.[x]. Wireless card is a NetGear WG511
> > using the native prism54 driver.
> >=20
> > ----- End forwarded message -----
> >=20
> > Do you have any idea?
>=20
> First, the bug report lack any details (what does not
> work). Second, it looks like a driver problem, so you may want to
> forward on the Prism54 mailing list.

Oh, have you looked at http://bugs.debian.org/336302? This was not the
original bugreport, but a follow-up.

--=20
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

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[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 11:10:23 -0800
From: Jean Tourrilhes <email address hidden>
To: Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>
Cc: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [<email address hidden>: Bug#336302: wireless-tools: 2.6.13 breaks wireless; 2.6.12 works]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2005 at 07:30:21PM +0100, Guus Sliepen wrote:
> >
> > First, the bug report lack any details (what does not
> > work). Second, it looks like a driver problem, so you may want to
> > forward on the Prism54 mailing list.
>
> Oh, have you looked at http://bugs.debian.org/336302? This was not the
> original bugreport, but a follow-up.

 My bad, I did not look at the original report (not that the
original report had much details anyway - iwconfig/ifconfig/dmesg
output ?).
 All those bugs smell like driver or configuration issues. WEP
is notoriously touch and go, so I would try to isolate that. Also, it
seems that in both cases if the upgrade did involve a kernel update,
and I would finger that as a potential cause. The newer kernel
*should* work, but networking is currently in flux in the kernel, so
that may be the cause.

> Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
> Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

 Have fun...

 Jean

[Guus Sliepen (guus)]

On Sat, Oct 29, 2005 at 12:23:18PM +0100, Anthony Campbell wrote:

> My Cisco Aironet has stopped connecting to the router. It keeps saying
> the ESSID is "tsunami" and reports the access point as FF:FF:....
>
> I made a fresh install of Debian on a spare partition via netinst and
> everything worked perfectly. I then did a dist-upgrade to Sid and the
> above error reappeared.
>
> I don't know whether the bug is in wireless-tools or libiw.

The upstream author of wireless-tools suspects it is a regression in the
kernel drivers. Try downgrading the kernel to 2.6.12 or earlier, or try
upgrading to 2.6.14 (it's out!). If it does matter which version of the
kernel you have, then you should forward the problem to the appropriate
kernel maintainers.

--
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 10:54:35 +0100
From: Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>
To: Anthony Campbell <email address hidden>
Cc: <email address hidden>, Adam Aube <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: Bug#336302: wireless-tools: Wireless won'g connect

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On Sat, Oct 29, 2005 at 12:23:18PM +0100, Anthony Campbell wrote:

> My Cisco Aironet has stopped connecting to the router. It keeps saying
> the ESSID is "tsunami" and reports the access point as FF:FF:....
>=20
> I made a fresh install of Debian on a spare partition via netinst and
> everything worked perfectly. I then did a dist-upgrade to Sid and the
> above error reappeared.
>=20
> I don't know whether the bug is in wireless-tools or libiw.

The upstream author of wireless-tools suspects it is a regression in the
kernel drivers. Try downgrading the kernel to 2.6.12 or earlier, or try
upgrading to 2.6.14 (it's out!). If it does matter which version of the
kernel you have, then you should forward the problem to the appropriate
kernel maintainers.

--=20
Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Guus Sliepen <email address hidden>

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[Anthony Campbell (ac-acampbell)]

OK, I think I have now discovered what the problem is. It is arising
from hotplug.

I made a test installation of Stable on a spare partition and upgraded
hotplug; it broke the wireless connection. I reinstalled Debian and told
wajig to hold hotplug, after which I did a dist-upgrade. Everything
continued to work correctly. I have now done the same on my "real"
installation of Debian and things still work.

I shall therefore submit a bug report for hotplug.

Anthony

--
Anthony Campbell - <email address hidden>
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
on-line books and sceptical articles)

[Debian Bug Importer (debzilla)]

Message-ID: <email address hidden>
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 15:09:43 +0000
From: Anthony Campbell <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Bug#336302

OK, I think I have now discovered what the problem is. It is arising
from hotplug.

I made a test installation of Stable on a spare partition and upgraded
hotplug; it broke the wireless connection. I reinstalled Debian and told
wajig to hold hotplug, after which I did a dist-upgrade. Everything
continued to work correctly. I have now done the same on my "real"
installation of Debian and things still work.

I shall therefore submit a bug report for hotplug.

Anthony

--
Anthony Campbell - <email address hidden>
Microsoft-free zone - Using Linux Gnu-Debian
http://www.acampbell.org.uk (blog, book reviews,
on-line books and sceptical articles)

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

as the Debian comments state, wireless-tools is not responsible for this