hostapd hangs after configuring interface

Thu Feb 11 06:51:52 PST 2016

I have a system with two mini-pcie wireless cards in it. The first (phy0 dev wlan5) is a QCA9880 based card using the ath10k driver and the second (phy1 dev wlan2) is a AR928X based one using the ath9k driver. I have the ath10k card configured to do 802.11n/ac on the 5GHz spectrum and this is working great. I was trying to come up with a second configuration for the AR928X card to do 802.11b/g/n for the 2.4 GHz spectrum but have been unable to get it to work.

The boiled down configuration I am testing follows. (for the sake of simplicity during testing I am not doing any encryption yet):  

interface=wlan2  
bridge=lan
driver=nl80211
ssid=Hobbiton
hw_mode=g
channel=6

When I run hostapd with -d I see the following error printed:  

nl80211 : Frame command failed: ret=-16 (Device or resource busy) (freq=2437 wait=0)  

I have read about the busy errors normally being due to network manager doing something with the interface. Unfortunately the problem isn’t so simple for me as I am not running network manager.  

Eventually I see some RTM_NEWLINK messages but never anything else. Is there something I am doing wrong, or could this be a hostapd or driver issue?  

The full debug output is below:  

random: Trying to read entropy from /dev/random  
Configuration file: 2.4.conf
rfkill: initial event: idx=0 type=1 op=0 soft=0 hard=0
rfkill: initial event: idx=1 type=1 op=0 soft=0 hard=0
nl80211: TDLS supported
nl80211: TDLS external setup
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:1
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:5
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:2
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:4
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:10
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:8
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:9
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:6
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:13
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:11
nl80211: Supported cipher 00-0f-ac:12
nl80211: Using driver-based off-channel TX
nl80211: Use separate P2P group interface (driver advertised support)
nl80211: interface wlan2 in phy phy1
nl80211: Set mode ifindex 4 iftype 3 (AP)
nl80211: Setup AP(wlan2) - device_ap_sme=0 use_monitor=0
nl80211: Subscribe to mgmt frames with AP handle 0x13ab2d0
nl80211: Register frame type=0xb0 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_AUTH) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Register frame type=0x0 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_ASSOC_REQ) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Register frame type=0x20 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_REASSOC_REQ) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Register frame type=0xa0 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_DISASSOC) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Register frame type=0xc0 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_DEAUTH) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Register frame type=0xd0 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_ACTION) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Register frame type=0x40 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_PROBE_REQ) nl_handle=0x13ab2d0 match=
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 7
nl80211: if_indices[16]: 7
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 4
nl80211: if_indices[16]: 7 4
nl80211: Adding interface wlan2 into bridge lan
phy: phy1
BSS count 1, BSSID mask 00:00:00:00:00:00(http://airmail.calendar/2016-02-11%2000:00:00%20EST) (0 bits)
nl80211: Regulatory information - country=US (DFS-FCC)
nl80211: 2402-2472(tel://2402-2472) @ 40 MHz 30 mBm
nl80211: 5170-5250(tel://5170-5250) @ 80 MHz 17 mBm
nl80211: 5250-5330(tel://5250-5330) @ 80 MHz 23 mBm (DFS)
nl80211: 5490-5730(tel://5490-5730) @ 160 MHz 23 mBm (DFS)
nl80211: 5735-5835(tel://5735-5835) @ 80 MHz 30 mBm
nl80211: 57240-63720 @ 2160 MHz 40 mBm
nl80211: Added 802.11b mode based on 802.11g information
Completing interface initialization
Mode: IEEE 802.11g Channel: 6 Frequency: 2437 MHz
DFS 0 channels required radar detection
nl80211: Set freq 2437 (ht_enabled=0, vht_enabled=0, bandwidth=20 MHz, cf1=2437 MHz, cf2=0 MHz)
* freq=2437
* vht_enabled=0
* ht_enabled=0
RATE[0] rate=10 flags=0x1
RATE[1] rate=20 flags=0x1
RATE[2] rate=55 flags=0x1
RATE[3] rate=110 flags=0x1
RATE[4] rate=60 flags=0x0
RATE[5] rate=90 flags=0x0
RATE[6] rate=120 flags=0x0
RATE[7] rate=180 flags=0x0
RATE[8] rate=240 flags=0x0
RATE[9] rate=360 flags=0x0
RATE[10] rate=480 flags=0x0
RATE[11] rate=540 flags=0x0
hostapd_setup_bss(hapd=0x13abae0 (wlan2), first=1)
wlan2: Flushing old station entries
nl80211: flush -> DEL_STATION wlan2 (all)
wlan2: Deauthenticate all stations
nl80211: send_mlme - da= ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff noack=0 freq=0 no_cck=0 offchanok=0 wait_time=0 fc=0xc0 (WLAN_FC_STYPE_DEAUTH) nlmode=3
nl80211: send_mlme -> send_frame
nl80211: send_frame - Use bss->freq=2437
nl80211: send_frame -> send_frame_cmd
nl80211: Frame command failed: ret=-16 (Device or resource busy) (freq=2437 wait=0)
wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=4 (wlan2) alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=4 (wlan2) alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=4 (wlan2) alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_nl80211_set_key: ifindex=4 (wlan2) alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
Using interface wlan2 with hwaddr 04:f0:21:15:e4:a8 and ssid "Hobbiton"
nl80211: Set beacon (beacon_set=0)
nl80211: Beacon head - hexdump(len=59): 80 00 00 00(tel://80%2000%2000%2000) ff ff ff ff ff ff 04 f0 21 15 e4 a8 04 f0 21 15 e4 a8 00 00 00 00 00 00 00(tel://00%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000) 00 00 00 64 00 01 04(tel://00%2000%2000%2064%2000%2001%2004) 00 08 48 6f 62 62 69 74(tel://62%2062%2069%2074) 6f 6e 01 08 82 84(tel://01%2008%2082%2084) 8b 96 0c 12 18 24 03 01(tel://12%2018%2024%2003%2001) 06
nl80211: Beacon tail - hexdump(len=19): 2a 01 04 32 04 30 48 60(tel://01%2004%2032%2004%2030%2048%2060) 6c 7f 08 00 00 00(tel://08%2000%2000%2000) 00 00 00 00 40(tel://00%2000%2000%2000%2040)
nl80211: ifindex=4
nl80211: beacon_int=100
nl80211: dtim_period=2
nl80211: ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=8):
48 6f 62 62 69 74(tel://62%2062%2069%2074) 6f 6e Hobbiton  
* beacon_int=100
nl80211: hidden SSID not in use
nl80211: privacy=0
nl80211: auth_algs=0x3
nl80211: wpa_version=0x0
nl80211: key_mgmt_suites=0x4
nl80211: pairwise_ciphers=0x0
nl80211: group_cipher=0x1
nl80211: SMPS mode - off
nl80211: beacon_ies - hexdump(len=10): 7f 08 00 00 00 00 00 00(tel://08%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000) 00 40
nl80211: proberesp_ies - hexdump(len=10): 7f 08 00 00 00 00 00 00(tel://08%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000) 00 40
nl80211: assocresp_ies - hexdump(len=10): 7f 08 00 00 00 00 00 00(tel://08%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000%2000) 00 40
nl80211: Set wlan2 operstate 0->1 (UP)
netlink: Operstate: ifindex=4 linkmode=-1 (no change), operstate=6 (IF_OPER_UP)
wlan2: interface state UNINITIALIZED->ENABLED
wlan2: AP-ENABLED  
wlan2: Setup of interface done.
ctrl_iface not configured!
random: Got 20/20 bytes from /dev/random
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 operstate=2 linkmode=0 ifi_family=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 operstate=2 linkmode=0 ifi_family=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 operstate=2 linkmode=0 master=7 ifi_family=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 operstate=2 linkmode=0 master=7 ifi_family=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 master=7 operstate=2 ifi_family=7 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
nl80211: Add ifindex 7 for bridge lan
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 7
nl80211: ifindex 7 already in the list
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 master=7 operstate=6 ifi_family=7 ifi_flags=0x11043 ([UP][RUNNING][LOWER_UP])
nl80211: Add ifindex 7 for bridge lan
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 7
nl80211: ifindex 7 already in the list
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 master=7 operstate=6 ifi_family=7 ifi_flags=0x11043 ([UP][RUNNING][LOWER_UP])
nl80211: Add ifindex 7 for bridge lan
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 7
nl80211: ifindex 7 already in the list
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 master=7 operstate=6 ifi_family=7 ifi_flags=0x11043 ([UP][RUNNING][LOWER_UP])
nl80211: Add ifindex 7 for bridge lan
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 7
nl80211: ifindex 7 already in the list
RTM_NEWLINK: ifi_index=4 ifname=wlan2 operstate=6 linkmode=0 master=7 ifi_family=0 ifi_flags=0x11043 ([UP][RUNNING][LOWER_UP])

—  
Thanks
Matthew Keeler