No wireless with recent firmware versions

[lantao]

Hi,

I have a recent WL-500g Deluxe. It came with 1.8.2.1. This works.

If I put in a more recent image, such as Oleg's 1.9.2.7-5a firmware, or ASUS's 1.9.4.0(EN) beta firmware, the wireless interface stops working completely: it doesn't show up in MacStumbler anymore, and obviously I can't connect to it either.

The LED on the device itself responds correctly to disabling or enabling the radio via the Status & Log / Wireless web interface control.

I've tried resetting to default values after the firmware upgrade but this didn't help.

Here's the system log from Oleg's firmware (which is otherwise a very neat piece of work - thanks!):

Jan  1 00:00:04 syslogd started: BusyBox v1.00 (2005.05.11-18:29+0000)
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: 0x00000000-0x00040000 : "pmon"
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: 0x00040000-0x003e0000 : "linux"
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: 0x000eb5b4-0x003e0000 : "rootfs"
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: 0x003f0000-0x00400000 : "nvram"
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: 0x003e0000-0x003f0000 : "config"
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: sflash: found no supported devices
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 4096)
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: ip_conntrack version 2.1 (256 buckets, 2048 max) - 344 bytes per conntrack
Jan  1 00:00:04 dnsmasq[57]: read /etc/hosts - 4 addresses
Jan  1 00:00:04 dnsmasq[57]: reading /tmp/resolv.conf
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: ip_conntrack_pptp version 1.9 loaded
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: ip_nat_pptp version 1.5 loaded
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: ip_tables: (C) 2000-2002 Netfilter core team
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: ipt_time loading
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: IPv6 v0.8 for NET4.0
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: NET4: Ethernet Bridge 008 for NET4.0
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.7 Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: All bugs added by David S. Miller <davem@redhat.com>
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: FAT: bogus logical sector size 64512
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: FAT: bogus logical sector size 64512
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: NTFS: Unable to set blocksize 512.
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly.
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: Mounted devfs on /dev
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 72k freed
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: Algorithmics/MIPS FPU Emulator v1.5
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: eth0: Broadcom BCM47xx 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller 3.90.7.0
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 01:03.0 (0004 -> 0006)
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: ontroller 3.90.23.0
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: eth0.1: add 33:33:00:00:00:01 mcast address to master interface
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: eth0.1: add 33:33:ff:75:ba:58 mcast address to master interface
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: eth0.1: dev_set_promiscuity(master, 1)
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: device eth0.1 entered promiscuous mode
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: device eth1 entered promiscuous mode
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: port 2(eth1) entering listening state
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering listening state
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: port 2(eth1) entering learning state
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering learning state
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: port 2(eth1) entering forwarding state
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: topology change detected, propagating
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering forwarding state
Jan  1 00:00:04 kernel: br0: topology change detected, propagating
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb.c: registered new driver hub
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 21:43:09 Apr 20 2005
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 01:02.0 (0000 -> 0001)
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x100, IRQ 2
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: hub.c: USB hub found
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: hub.c: 2 ports detected
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 01:02.1 (0000 -> 0001)
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x120, IRQ 2
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: hub.c: USB hub found
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: hub.c: 2 ports detected
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: PCI: Enabling device 01:02.2 (0000 -> 0002)
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: ehci_hcd 01:02.2: PCI device 1106:3104
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: ehci_hcd 01:02.2: irq 2, pci mem c00a4000
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: PCI: 01:02.2 PCI cache line size set incorrectly (0 bytes) by BIOS/FW, correcting to 32
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: ehci_hcd 01:02.2: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 1.00, driver 2003-Dec-29/2.4
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: hub.c: USB hub found
Jan  1 00:00:05 kernel: hub.c: 4 ports detected
Jan  1 00:00:06 kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usblp
Jan  1 00:00:06 kernel: printer.c: v0.13: USB Printer Device Class driver
Jan  1 00:00:07 kernel: usb.c: registered new driver audio
Jan  1 00:00:07 kernel: audio.c: v1.0.0:USB Audio Class driver
Jan  1 00:00:07 kernel: Linux video capture interface: v1.00
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: del 33:33:ff:75:ba:58 mcast address from master interface
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: del 33:33:ff:75:ba:58 mcast address from vlan interface
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: del 33:33:00:00:00:01 mcast address from master interface
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: del 33:33:00:00:00:01 mcast address from vlan interface
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering disabled state
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: dev_set_promiscuity(master, 1)
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: add 33:33:00:00:00:01 mcast address to master interface
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: eth0.1: add 33:33:ff:75:ba:58 mcast address to master interface
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering listening state
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering learning state
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: br0: port 1(eth0.1) entering forwarding state
Jan  1 00:00:08 kernel: br0: topology change detected, propagating
Jan  1 00:00:08 udhcpc[84]: udhcpc (v0.9.9-pre) started
Jan  1 00:00:09 dnsmasq[57]: read /etc/hosts - 4 addresses
Jan  1 00:00:09 dnsmasq[57]: reading /tmp/resolv.conf
Jan  1 00:00:09 dhcp client: deconfig: lease is lost
Jan  1 00:00:09 udhcpc[84]: Lease of 213.93.168.xxx obtained, lease time 498914
Jan  1 00:00:09 dnsmasq[57]: read /etc/hosts - 4 addresses
Jan  1 00:00:09 dnsmasq[57]: reading /tmp/resolv.conf
Jan  1 00:00:09 dnsmasq[57]: using nameserver 195.162.196.5#53
Jan  1 00:00:09 dnsmasq[57]: using nameserver 62.179.104.196#53
Jan  1 00:00:10 dhcp client: bound IP : 213.93.168.xxx from 213.93.168.129
<some DHCP leases were handed out here to wired clients>
Jun 10 23:53:26 ntp client: Synchronizing time with time.nist.gov ...

Playing around with ifconfig and brctl when telnetting to the box shows that eth0 is the WAN port, and that eth0.1 and eth1 are bridged. No surprises there...

[admin@(none) root]$ wl dump
wl0: Jan 12 2005 15:44:51 version 3.90.23.0

resets 3
perm_etheraddr 00:11:d8:75:ba:58 cur_etheraddr 00:11:d8:75:ba:58
board 0x120f, board rev 1.5
wsec 0 auth 0 wsec_index -1 wep_algo 0
rate_override: A 0, B 0
antdiv_override 0 txant 0
current_bss.BSSID 00:11:d8:75:ba:58
current_bss.SSID "OT"
associated 1

[admin@(none) root]$ wl status
SSID: "OT"
Mode: Managed   RSSI: 0 dBm     noise: 0 dBm    Channel: 6
BSSID: 00:11:D8:75:BA:58        Capability: ESS ShortSlot 
Supported Rates: [ 1(b) 2(b) 5.5(b) 6 9 11(b) 12 18 24 36 48 54 ]

Interestingly enough, if I repeat "wl dump" the SSID sometimes gets broadcast, and MacStumbler catches it.

Any help would be appreciated!

[lantao]

This is truly teh weird. Seems channel 6 is dead (the neighbours have equipment on 2 and 11), but moving it to channel 8 works!?

Needless to say, the investigation continues... more tomorrow.

[Oleg]

Try wl rssidump - it will print some undecoded infor about a channels, then wl intereference to see current status, and then wl intereference 2 to override some weird intereference stuff.
Post stuff here.

[lantao]

Try wl rssidump - it will print some undecoded infor about a channels,

With the 1.8.2.1 original firmware and me as a client on channel 8, this gives:

ACI is Inactive
Channel 1 : 
Channel 2 : 
Channel 3 : 
Channel 4 : -6 -6 -7 -6 -6 -6 -6 -7 -7 -7 -6 -7 -7 -7 -6 -7 -6 -7 -6 -6 -7 -6 -6 -6 -7 -6 -6 -6 -6 -7 -7 -6 -6 -6 -6 -7 -7 -6 -7 -6 -6 -7 -7 -6 -6 -7 -7 -6 -6 -6 
Channel 5 : 0 2 3 2 1 2 1 0 
Channel 6 : 
Channel 7 : 
Channel 8 : 
Channel 9 : 
Channel 10 : 
Channel 11 : 4 6 5 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 4 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 2 4 5 3 4 5 3 3 5 3 5 6 4 2 5 5 7 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 5 6 3 
Channel 12 : 2 4 -4 2 -4 3 0 -5 3 4 3 -2 
Channel 13 : -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -11 -11 -11 -11 -10 -10 -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -11 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10 -10

then wl intereference to see current status, and then wl intereference 2 to override some weird intereference stuff.

Auto Wireless LAN Interference mitigation is enabled and not active

It's on channel 8 now, though.

Post stuff here.

Interesting commands for sure. What do rssi and ACI stand for?

For completeness' sake, here's wl aciargs:

Glitch count to enter ACI scan mode: 1000
Glitch count to exit ACI mode: 200
Usecs to spin between rssi samples : 10
Interval (in seconds) for ACI scanning in presence of high glitch count: 20

I'll reboot into 1.9.2.7-5a and post the outcome of these commands there too.

[lantao]

I'll reboot into 1.9.2.7-5a and post the outcome of these commands there too.

And here goes for 1.9.2.7-5a:

ACI is Inactive
Channel 1 : 
Channel 2 : 
Channel 3 : 0 1 -2 -3 -3 -3 -2 1 1 1 0 
Channel 4 : -5 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5 -5 -5 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5 -6 -5 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 
Channel 5 : 0 1 1 4 2 2 
Channel 6 : 
Channel 7 : 
Channel 8 : 
Channel 9 : 
Channel 10 : 
Channel 11 : 3 4 2 4 4 3 3 5 5 3 3 3 5 4 2 6 6 5 3 3 4 5 3 2 4 5 4 3 3 3 4 2 3 3 4 3 4 4 5 5 5 3 4 4 2 5 3 5 5 3 
Channel 12 : 3 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 4 4 3 5 4 4 5 6 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 5 3 4 5 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 2 4 4 5 4 5 5 4 4 4 5 5 4 3 5 
Channel 13 : 4 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 6 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 5 3 5 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 6 4 3 5 2 4 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 4

Auto Wireless LAN Interference mitigation is enabled and not active

The neighbour moved from channel 2 to 3 overnight.

Interestingly enough (I keep using those words!), the signal strength is much better with this firmware than ASUS's 1.8.2.1, more what it should be at two meters from the AP.

I'm ready to chalk this up to crazy stuff in the aether... glad that this seems to be working now, thanks for your advice!