Wifi problems with Lucid and linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic

[ohiomoto]

When connected to my Verizon Palm Pre's Wireless Hotspot the phone would alert me that Ubuntu was constantly disconnecting and reconnecting to the phone's wireless access point. Ubuntu would be unaware that and continue to show that it had a full strength connection, but it would not be able to resolve until it made another connection. It would do this at about 3-5 second intervals. Wireless connectivity with other wireless access points were not affected. Only the wap on my Palm Pre Plus which is built on linux (WebOS).

I first ran into this problem using linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic on my UNR 9.10 install. I tested the Plam Pre's WAP with Windows 7 on the same computer and it worked fine. Then I tested the WAP with another computer using Ubuntu 9.10 without the backports-module and then that same computer with Windows XP. The WAP worked fine in each case. So I removed the backports-modules everything worked perfectly. In addition, the I tested that Palm Pre's WAP with Ubuntu 9.10.

I had posted this on the Ubuntu forums a few weeks ago and another Palm Pre Plus user recently posted that they were having the same issue using the WAP with Ubuntu 10.04. I took the time to run 64-bit 10.04 and UNR 10.04 live from a USB on both of my laptops and had the same issues as I had using the karmic backports-module. Here is a link to the forum post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1454397

It should be noted that both of my laptops are using Intel Wireless cards. I'm not sure about the other user. I am not currently affected because I'm still using 9.10, but I am planning on using 10.04 as soon as this problem is resolved.

Is there anything more I can do to help? Can I provide more information without actually installing 10.04? I fear that this will only affect a very limited number of users and not be resolved. Is there a way to test/use the Karmic wireless module in Lucid?

Thanks,

Tim

[ohiomoto (ohiomoto)]

I apologize. I got distracted by an email and didn't proof read the bug before I submitted it. Please ignore the misplaced /unfinished/confusing sentences. :)

[Chad (chad-koehler)]

Same issue here with the ath9k driver on a fresh install of 10.04.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi ohiomoto,

Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ . If the issue remains, please run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 577015

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

    [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[ohiomoto (ohiomoto)]

Thanks. I'm a little too busy with a project this week, but I should be able
to work on this next week and report back.

Tim

On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 2:06 AM, Jeremy Foshee
<email address hidden>wrote:

> Hi ohiomoto,
>
> Please be sure to confirm this issue exists with the latest development
> release of Ubuntu. ISO CD images are available from
> http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ . If the issue remains, please run
> the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal).
> It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this
> report.
>
> apport-collect -p linux 577015
>
> Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be
> great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue.
> Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've
> tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag.
> This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag
> located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the
> 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> [This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you
> inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]
>
>
> ** Tags added: needs-kernel-logs
>
> ** Tags added: needs-upstream-testing
>
> ** Tags added: kj-triage
>
> ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> Wifi problems with Lucid and
> linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/577015
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> When connected to my Verizon Palm Pre's Wireless Hotspot the phone would
> alert me that Ubuntu was constantly disconnecting and reconnecting to the
> phone's wireless access point. Ubuntu would be unaware that and continue to
> show that it had a full strength connection, but it would not be able to
> resolve until it made another connection. It would do this at about 3-5
> second intervals. Wireless connectivity with other wireless access points
> were not affected. Only the wap on my Palm Pre Plus which is built on linux
> (WebOS).
>
> I first ran into this problem using
> linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic on my UNR 9.10 install. I
> tested the Plam Pre's WAP with Windows 7 on the same computer and it worked
> fine. Then I tested the WAP with another computer using Ubuntu 9.10 without
> the backports-module and then that same computer with Windows XP. The WAP
> worked fine in each case. So I removed the backports-modules everything
> worked perfectly. In addition, the I tested that Palm Pre's WAP with Ubuntu
> 9.10.
>
> I had posted this on the Ubuntu forums a few weeks ago and another Palm Pre
> Plus user recently posted that they were having the same issue using the WAP
> with Ubuntu 10.04. I took the time to run 64-bit 10.04 and UNR 10.04 live
> from a USB on both of my laptops and had the same issues as I had using the
> karmic backports-module. Here is a link to the fo...

[Chad (chad-koehler)]

Just added in the fact that this is effecting other distributions as well. The bug exists in Gentoo linux, with gentoo-sources (2.6.32) and the latest tree from git (git-sources, 2.6.34).

I've tried applying the patches from compat-wireless, but the problem persists.

The problem appears to be related to getting probe responses from the AP, as the message in the logs at the time of disconnect notes that.

I should note that other access points work flawlessly, the problem seems to be isolated to the Palm Pre hotspot.

[Chad (chad-koehler)]

I have this fixed locally, it appears to be a bug in the Palm Pre's hotspot application.

When sending a direct probe response to the AP, the AP does not respond to a direct packet. It will respond (and work properly) if the probe request is sent to the broadcast address.

The change is in mlme.c, to simply send the probe response to the broadcast address. I can verify that this works for the Pre, but I'm not versed enough in networking to know if this is appropriate for other AP types.

Is anyone aware of other APs that don't respond to direct packet probe requests?

[ohiomoto (ohiomoto)]

Great work Chad! I wish I could be more help, but I don't have the
knowledge.

Anyway, from what you have gathered it sounds like this is a Palm WebOS
issue. Would you agree? Should we report this to Palm? Also, I have
notice IPod and NitendoDS users in the PreCentral.net forums reporting
similar issues with the Mobile Hot Spot. Could this possibly be related?

Tim

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 11:31 PM, Chad <email address hidden> wrote:

> I have this fixed locally, it appears to be a bug in the Palm Pre's
> hotspot application.
>
> When sending a direct probe response to the AP, the AP does not respond
> to a direct packet. It will respond (and work properly) if the probe
> request is sent to the broadcast address.
>
> The change is in mlme.c, to simply send the probe response to the
> broadcast address. I can verify that this works for the Pre, but I'm
> not versed enough in networking to know if this is appropriate for other
> AP types.
>
> Is anyone aware of other APs that don't respond to direct packet probe
> requests?
>
> --
> Wifi problems with Lucid and
> linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/577015
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
> Status in Gentoo Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> When connected to my Verizon Palm Pre's Wireless Hotspot the phone would
> alert me that Ubuntu was constantly disconnecting and reconnecting to the
> phone's wireless access point. Ubuntu would be unaware that and continue to
> show that it had a full strength connection, but it would not be able to
> resolve until it made another connection. It would do this at about 3-5
> second intervals. Wireless connectivity with other wireless access points
> were not affected. Only the wap on my Palm Pre Plus which is built on linux
> (WebOS).
>
> I first ran into this problem using
> linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic on my UNR 9.10 install. I
> tested the Plam Pre's WAP with Windows 7 on the same computer and it worked
> fine. Then I tested the WAP with another computer using Ubuntu 9.10 without
> the backports-module and then that same computer with Windows XP. The WAP
> worked fine in each case. So I removed the backports-modules everything
> worked perfectly. In addition, the I tested that Palm Pre's WAP with Ubuntu
> 9.10.
>
> I had posted this on the Ubuntu forums a few weeks ago and another Palm Pre
> Plus user recently posted that they were having the same issue using the WAP
> with Ubuntu 10.04. I took the time to run 64-bit 10.04 and UNR 10.04 live
> from a USB on both of my laptops and had the same issues as I had using the
> karmic backports-module. Here is a link to the forum post:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1454397
>
> It should be noted that both of my laptops are using Intel Wireless cards.
> I'm not sure about the other user. I am not currently affected because I'm
> still using 9.10, but I am planning on using 10.04 as soon as this problem
> is resolved.
>
> Is there anything more I can do to help? Can I provide more information
> without actuall...

[Joe "Rotund" Tennies (joe-tennies)]

Another workaround is to get mytether at mytether.net. It doesn't suffer from the same problem and the installer works in Linux even though it doesn't say it does! You need to install the Palm SDK and the System.Windows.Forms support for Mono. (libmono-winforms2.0-cil)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Chad, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available (not the daily folder) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.13-rc5

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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