device stops working ("failed to install key for vdev" error in kernel log)

[Martin Blumenstingl]

Hello,

sometimes my AP simply stops working.
Typical situation:
- (me coming home from work)
- client (Nexus 5, Xperia Z3 Compact or another ath10k device) can see
my ath10k AP for a brief moment
- AP is gone, errors from below show up in the kernel log
- reboot of my AP is required to fix this

[54064.293597] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: failed to install key for vdev
0 peer [AP MAC addr]: -145
[54064.301234] wlan0: failed to remove key (1, ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) from
hardware (-145)
[54067.305703] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: failed to install key for vdev
0 peer [AP MAC addr]: -145
[54067.313307] wlan0: failed to set key (1, ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) to
hardware (-145)

Some OpenWrt and LEDE users are reporting the same problem: [1]

my AP is a (Lantiq VRX268) MIPS based device running a recent version
of LEDE and I am using ath10k firmware version 10.2.4.70.54. I
attached a part of my boot log at the end of this email in case more
details are needed.

What should I (or any other user who experiences this) do whenever
this happens to help you track down the issue?
Also please let us know if there is anything else you need to know
about the affected systems.


Regards,
Martin


[0] http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg143735.html
[1] https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/20854


[   10.782614] Loading modules backported from Linux version
wt-2016-06-20-0-gbc17424
[   10.788815] Backport generated by backports.git backports-20160216-7-g5735958
[   11.567576] PCI: Enabling device 0000:01:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[   11.571941] PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[   11.577741] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: pci irq legacy oper_irq_mode 1
irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
[   11.760931] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:02:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[   11.770298] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   11.830735] firmware ath10k!pre-cal-pci-0000:02:00.0.bin:
firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   11.838906] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/cal-pci-0000:02:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[   11.848692] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.395640] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: qca988x hw2.0 target
0x4100016c chip_id 0x043202ff sub 0000:0000
[   12.403552] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: kconfig debug 1 debugfs 1
tracing 0 dfs 1 testmode 1
[   12.419020] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware ver 10.2.4.70.54 api
5 features no-p2p,raw-mode,mfp crc32 9d340dd9
[   12.428018] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board-2.bin failed with error -2
[   12.438265] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.496901] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!board-2.bin:
firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   12.507714] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: board_file api 1 bmi_id N/A
crc32 bebc7c08
[   13.562650] ath10k_pci 0000:02:00.0: htt-ver 2.1 wmi-op 5 htt-op 2
cal file max-sta 128 raw 0 hwcrypto 1
[   13.648696] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a
[   13.648721] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[   13.648742] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   13.648758] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37
[   13.648772] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB
[   13.648784] ath: Regpair used: 0x37