jaunty wicd wpa2 constant reconnect

[Matt]

Binary package hint: wicd

Sorry if this is poor reporting... First time post.

Running jaunty (9.04) alpha 4 which was installed on two laptops (Dell Inspiron 1520, and Dell Mini [Inspiron 910]) by booting of a USB key using the Alternate CD. Downloaded via torrents.

Remove network-manager (cannot remember if it was automatically during the install of wicd or I did a sudo apt-remove network-manager)
Installed wicd (version 1.5.9 (.1?))

When I attempt to connect to my WPA2 network, a couple of interesting things happen...
1. The client tray icon will show limited (yellow bar) connection, then no connection, where it will automatically try and reconnect (to the same WPA2 network) showing a limited connection, where the process repeats. The tooltip will say connected at 0%.
2. If I open the tray icon to display all the networks, the wireless connects and shows connected as 100% for a few seconds until it tries to reconnect.
3. The /var/log/wicd/wicd.log (right name?) shows no errors, it connects and just reconnects.

Workaround: If I edit the preferences within the client (not for the wireless network) and uncheck the auto reconnect upon disconnect... The tray icon still shows the limited connection. I believe the tooltip still displays 0%... But the connection is constant. The network displays stays at 100%. (I am sitting about 3 feet away from my router.)

Alright so for the time being I have put 8.10 back on both laptops... But I am willing to reinstall 9.04 on the Dell Inspiron 1520, if someone wants me to troubleshoot this further?

[Dan O'Reilly (oreilldf)]

Can you enable debug mode through the preferences window, let try connecting, let the reconnect loop run a couple of times, and then post the contents of /var/log/wicd/wicd.log. I'd also like to see the output of "sudo iwconfig <wireless interface>" after you connect but before wicd disconnects you. I have a feeling your wireless driver has changed in 9.04 and is reporting signal strength either incorrectly, or in a way wicd currently isn't equipped to handle.

[Matt (matt-w-franzen)]

Okay re-installed alternate on the Inspiron 1520... Able to connect fine with the default Network Manager, both wireless and wired. Ran an update, and installed all of the updates. Rebooted, and am now installing the "Partial Upgrade" updates (over the wireless connection.) After installing all of the updates, I rebooted. Made sure there were no more updates to install. Network Manager still connects fine to the wireless network. So now I am going to install wicd, and reboot.

Alright just installed wicd. Seems that the same issue is happening as with before. It will connect, and then try and reconnect after a few seconds (maybe 10?) Okay I can use the Internet though it will kind of pause while it reconnects. I will attach the output of the log and the output of the wireless interface command.

[Matt (matt-w-franzen)]

Alright I have a few things here...
Unchecking the "Automatically reconnect on connection loss" gives me a stable connection, though the taskbar (panel?) icon shows limited connection still. No biggie.

Before getting disconnected from I show this as the iwconfig output:
eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"WhopperJr" Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:21:29:A8:EB:7D
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received

When disconnected is show this as the output:
eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"" Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received

[Matt (matt-w-franzen)]

Okay I am attaching the wicd.log file. Removed the wpa key. I don't know if it will help, but tonight after work, I am going to connect to an unsecured network.

Alright so I guess this is not a super major issue, since Network Manager still works fine! Sorry for bugging you Dan. I am totally cool with using Network Manager, or just leaving the box unchecked. I just wanted to pass the information along. (Is that helpful?)

  -M

[Dan O'Reilly (oreilldf)]

Thanks for providing that info, Matt. It looks like you're probably dealing with a driver issue. Your iwconfig output doesn't show any link quality or even a signal/noise level when you're connected to your network. Without it, wicd assumes the link quality is 0, which will lead to a disconnect/reconnect. Usually the absence of that information indicates that your wireless driver isn't reporting it, but I would expect NM to run into some issues if that was the case. If you feel like digging deeper into what's going on I can give you some commands/scripts to query the link quality at layers lower than iwconfig.

[Matt (matt-w-franzen)]

Hi Dan,

  No problem, glad to be of help, well more of time wasting. I was not really that concerned with digging deeper into this issue, but if you feel that we should, to help others, should they run into a similar issue, then I don't mind. But I have a workaround and alternative software that works for the time being, so it is not a pressing matter.

  Let me know if you feel we should look further into this.

  -M

[Myxb (myxb)]

Hi,

I have a similar/the same problem on my Dell Latitude D630, Ubuntu 9.04, BCM4328 (rev 03) card, driver Broadcom STA from Ubuntu repository, wireless router D-Link DI-524.

I connect to my WPA2 home network and connection lives for a couple of seconds, then reconnects. The menu shown signal strength to be 80%, but when the connection is established it is "connected at 0%".

The NM works showing 100% signal strength, it also reconnects occasionally but very seldom - once in several hours.

name@host:~$ sudo iwlist eth1 scanning
eth1 Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:1B:11:A3:34:5E
                    ESSID:"home"
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
                    Quality:3/5 Signal level:-68 dBm Noise level:-90 dBm
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s

Hope this helps.

[Myxb (myxb)]

In Ubuntu 9.04 beta my problem with constant reconnection is solved. The culprit before was an older version of the proprietary driver in Ubuntu reps (BCM4328 rev03 card).

[Brett Bender (brett-benders)]

I can at least partially confirm Dan's comments from 9 March:

"It looks like you're probably dealing with a driver issue. Your iwconfig output doesn't show any link quality or even a signal/noise level when you're connected to your network."

I'm on a Dell Latitude D830, with Broadcom 4312 wireless:

% lspci -vv | grep Broadcom
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

On boot, wicd runs and connects to my AP, then flaps (drops association, reconnects, wash rinse repeat). If I stop the wicd daemon while it's connected, the connection stays up.

My iwconfig output initially does not report signal strength:

% sudo iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"***" Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: ***
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received

Yet a few minutes later I get:

% sudo iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"***" Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: ***
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Managementmode:All packets received
          Link Quality=5/5 Signal level=-50 dBm Noise level=-91 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:1 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

So something is not totally broken / incapable of reporting this info, just flaky.

I'll see if I can get more data from /proc/net/wireless etc. -- any suggestions on what to look for?

[Peasantoid (w-admin-phpurity-comze-com)]

Hi, I get this issue too. Broadcom BCM4328 rev03, MacBook3,1, Ubuntu 9.04 with STA driver from repos and wicd 1.5.9-2. I use WPA2 Personal. Precisely the same issue with wicd connecting fine and then thrashing around until I stop it.

NetworkManager works fine, but the applet icon consistently shows 0%. The bar in the drop-down network list is normal.

[Matt (matt-w-franzen)]

Just thought I'd add another couple of ideas... Network Manager worked fine. Unchecking the reconnect automatically on connection loss option worked fine. Still showed a low percent but network performance was fine.

Since the release of 9.04, I've installed fresh on one of my laptops (the Inspiron 910) from the command line and added X, gdm, wicd, etc. I'm not having an issue anymore. Actually upgraded my other laptop (the Inspiron 1520) and am in the process of installing wicd now.

Okay just rebooted, and everything seems to be working properly for me.

[Brett Bender (brett-benders)]

The underlying problem (for me at least) seems to be the Broadcom wl driver flaking out. wicd calls iwconfig to get signal strength, iwconfig calls into the driver, but gets an error rather than the stats it needs.

I've opened bug 364413 against the driver / linux-restricted-modules:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules/+bug/364413

[Adam Blackburn (adamblackburn)]

I've modified Wicd to not crash if the iwconfig output does not include the signal strength. This fix is available in 1.6.1.

[ezmac (system-root)]

Dont know if this will help anyone, but running wicd daemon with -u keeps my connection up even though the wicd-client reports signal strength of 0.
This is with a fresh install of wicd and broadcom wl drivers.

[ezmac (system-root)]

Sorry for double post, but it should be -n for no polling.