wifi in AP mode unreliable

[Klaus Darilion]

I tried to do some more debugging myself. When the link is lost on the 
Windows notebook I do no see any log messages. I only see log messages 
just before the link goes up again:

14:28:48 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: authentication OK 
(open system)
14:28:48 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: event 0 notification
14:28:48 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd MLME: 
MLME-AUTHENTICATE.indication(00:90:4b:1a:77:cd, OPEN_SYSTEM)
14:28:48 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd MLME: 
MLME-DELETEKEYS.request(00:90:4b:1a:77:cd)
14:29:00 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: authentication OK 
(open system)
14:29:00 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: event 0 notification
14:29:00 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd MLME: 
MLME-AUTHENTICATE.indication(00:90:4b:1a:77:cd, OPEN_SYSTEM)
14:29:00 wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd MLME: 
MLME-DELETEKEYS.request(00:90:4b:1a:77:cd)

Further, also during link outages, Network Stumbler reports full signal 
strength.

Any hints are appreciated.

thanks
klaus


Klaus Darilion schrieb:
> Hi!
> 
> My setup is Debian Squeeze with 2.6.32 kernel (from unstable) with 
> hostapd 0.6.9. My wifi card is a Wistron CM9 (Atheros AR5213A) running 
> in AP mode. Wifi interface wlan0 is together with eth1 in a bridge 
> called lan0.
> 
> The problem is, that wifi is unreliable (comes and goes). I tested with 
> multiple Windows notebooks as clients, all showing the same stability 
> problems. Thus, the problem must be the access point.
> 
> I tested unencrypted and WPA2 mode, both are not stable.
> 
> Actually I do not know how to proceed further.
> 1. Where is the problem - in the kernel module (ath5k ?, ...?) or in hostapd
> 2. Any hints how to further debug this issue?
> 
> Here is my hostapd.conf:
> ------------------------------------
> interface=wlan0
> driver=nl80211
> ssid=alix1
> channel=11
> bridge=lan0
> hw_mode=g
> # remove for WPA2
> #macaddr_acl=0
> #auth_algs=1
> #ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
> #wpa=2
> #wpa_passphrase=holidayonice
> #wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> #wpa_pairwise=TKIP
> #rsn_pairwise=CCMP
> 
> 
> syslog says:
> 19:53:55 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: authenticated
> 19:53:55 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: associated 
> (aid 1)
> 19:53:55 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd RADIUS: starting 
> accounting session 4B4F75F9-00000000
> 19:53:55 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: pairwise key 
> handshake completed (RSN)
> 20:02:25 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: group key handshake 
> completed (RSN)
> 20:12:25 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: group key handshake 
> completed (RSN)
> 20:21:29 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: authenticated
> 20:21:29 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: associated 
> (aid 1)
> 20:21:30 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd RADIUS: starting 
> accounting session 4B4F75F9-00000001
> 20:21:30 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: pairwise key 
> handshake completed (RSN)
> 20:22:02 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: disassociated
> 20:22:03 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: 
> deauthenticated due to inactivity
> 20:22:12 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: authenticated
> 20:22:12 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: associated 
> (aid 1)
> 20:22:12 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd RADIUS: starting 
> accounting session 4B4F75F9-00000002
> 20:22:12 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: pairwise key 
> handshake completed (RSN)
> 20:22:25 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: group key handshake 
> completed (RSN)
> 20:32:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: group key handshake 
> completed (RSN)
> 20:38:04 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: authenticated
> 20:38:04 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd IEEE 802.11: associated 
> (aid 1)
> 20:38:04 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd RADIUS: starting 
> accounting session 4B4F75F9-00000003
> 20:38:04 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:90:4b:1a:77:cd WPA: pairwise key 
> handshake completed (RSN)
> 
> 
> The only suspicious things I see is:
> IEEE 802.11: disassociated
> IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
> 
> Is this something normal? Or is there a problem?
> 
> 
> thanks
> klaus
> 
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