Hotspot Access Point mode fails for 802.11a (5GHz) band

[TJ]

On a clean 16.04 amd64 install a Managed mode Access Point 'Hotspot' fails to initialize when the frequency band is set to 802.11a 5GHz. "Automatic" or "2.4GHz" both work (using 802.11g).

$ lspci -nnk -s 02:00.0
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 [8086:095a] (rev 59)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 [8086:5100]
        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
        Kernel modules: iwlwifi

$ journalctl -u NetworkManager.service
...
[1462706989.5477] (wlp2s0): using nl80211 for WiFi device control
[1462706989.5562] device (wlp2s0): driver supports Access Point (AP) mode
...
[1462708489.5782] Config: added 'ssid' value 'TJ'
[1462708489.5782] Config: added 'mode' value '2'
[1462708489.5782] Config: added 'frequency' value '5180'
[1462708489.5783] Config: added 'freq_list' value '5035 5040 5045 5055 5060 5080 5170 5180 5190 5200 5210 5220 5230 5240 5250 5260 5280 5290 5300 5320 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580 5600 5620 5640 5660 5680 5700 5745 5760 5765 5785 5800 5805 5825 4915 4920 4925 4935 4945 4960 4980'
[1462708489.5783] Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK'
[1462708489.5783] Config: added 'psk' value '<omitted>'
[1462708489.5966] sup-iface[0x16a8ac0,wlp2s0]: config: set interface ap_scan to 2
[1462708515.0203] device (wlp2s0): Activation: (wifi) Hotspot network creation took too long, failing activation
[1462708515.0204] device (wlp2s0): state change: config -> failed (reason 'supplicant-timeout') [50 120 11]
[1462708515.0207] manager: NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED
...

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue you are reporting is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug to the developers of the software by following the instructions at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME. If you have done so, please tell us the number of the upstream bug (or the link), so we can add a bugwatch that will inform us about its status. Thanks in advance.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thanks

[Oded Arbel (oded-geek)]

I have the same problem on Artful. Here's the journal when trying to activate the hotspot (connection name is "Hotspot"):

Nov 29 18:57:14 vesho systemd[1]: Reloading OpenBSD Secure Shell server.
Nov 29 18:57:14 vesho sshd[1245]: Received SIGHUP; restarting.
Nov 29 18:57:14 vesho systemd[1]: Reloaded OpenBSD Secure Shell server.
Nov 29 18:57:14 vesho sshd[1245]: Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Nov 29 18:57:14 vesho sshd[1245]: Server listening on :: port 22.
Nov 29 18:57:23 vesho wpa_supplicant[1439]: p2p-dev-wlp2s0: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=BEACON_HINT type=UNKNOWN
Nov 29 18:57:24 vesho systemd[1]: Reloading OpenBSD Secure Shell server.
Nov 29 18:57:24 vesho sshd[1245]: Received SIGHUP; restarting.
Nov 29 18:57:24 vesho systemd[1]: Reloaded OpenBSD Secure Shell server.
Nov 29 18:57:24 vesho sshd[1245]: Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Nov 29 18:57:24 vesho sshd[1245]: Server listening on :: port 22.
Nov 29 18:57:26 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974646.0567] keyfile: update /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Hotspot (6d467c9a-09c0-4c0e-a7e6-6ee4c7e1cdf2,"Hotspot")
Nov 29 18:57:26 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974646.0574] audit: op="connection-update" uuid="6d467c9a-09c0-4c0e-a7e6-6ee4c7e1cdf2" name="Hotspot" args="802-11-wireless-security.key-mgmt,802-11-wireless-security.psk-flags" pid=26521 uid=1000 result="success"
Nov 29 18:57:29 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974649.9915] device (wlp2s0): disconnecting for new activation request.
Nov 29 18:57:29 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974649.9916] device (wlp2s0): state change: activated -> deactivating (reason 'new-activation', internal state 'managed')
Nov 29 18:57:29 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974649.9942] audit: op="connection-activate" uuid="6d467c9a-09c0-4c0e-a7e6-6ee4c7e1cdf2" name="Hotspot" pid=3181 uid=1000 result="success"
Nov 29 18:57:29 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974649.9963] device (wlp2s0): state change: deactivating -> disconnected (reason 'new-activation', internal state 'managed')
Nov 29 18:57:29 vesho avahi-daemon[967]: Withdrawing address record for 2001:470:1f09::XXXX on wlp2s0.
Nov 29 18:57:29 vesho avahi-daemon[967]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface wlp2s0.IPv6 with address 2001:470:1f09::XXXX.
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho avahi-daemon[967]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface wlp2s0.IPv6 with address 2001:470:1f09::XXXX.
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho avahi-daemon[967]: Withdrawing address record for 2001:470:1f09::XXXX on wlp2s0.
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho avahi-daemon[967]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface wlp2s0.IPv6 with address 2001:470:1f09::XXXX.
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974650.0110] dhcp4 (wlp2s0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 27865
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho NetworkManager[1040]: <info> [1511974650.0110] dhcp4 (wlp2s0): state changed bound -> done
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho avahi-daemon[967]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface wlp2s0.IPv6 with address fe80::fb7e:9fad:d4f7:113a.
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho kernel: wlp2s0: deauthenticating from b8:a3:86:b2:52:60 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
Nov 29 18:57:30 vesho wpa_supplican...