Broken wireless after 21.02 then downgrading to 19.07 (WPS needs full wpad)

Nightliss · September 6, 2021, 7:37pm

Hello,

So I in my infinite wisdom decided to update my Netgear R7800 from 19.07 to the latest stable 21. I used sysupgrade and I think keep settings was checked by default. So the upgrade went without a hitch and after entering Network -> Interfaces I was prompted to update config files to new syntax. After that I went to wirless and noticed this:

I can only assume thats because 'keep settings' was checked or maybe this from release thread

With OpenWrt 21.02, the ar71xx has now been removed and users must use ath79 instead. If you are still running with the ar71xx target, it is recommended to reinstall OpenWrt 21.02 from scratch. Users already on the ath79 target can use sysupgrade to upgrade to OpenWrt 21.02.
In the hindsight I should have checked this since I have no idea if it applies to me.

So anyway I decided to rollback and I never really did that previously so I, like a retard I am, simply restored backup from 19.07... and it kinda bricked. After much googling I performed factory reset and then restored my backup and it almost worked. Wireless is still In the same state as in the screenshot above.

Here is etc/config/wireless if that helps somehow:

root@Nighthawk_OpenWrt:~# cat /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option channel '36'
        option hwmode '11a'
        option path 'soc/1b500000.pci/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option htmode 'VHT80'
        option disabled '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option key 'secret'
        option ssid 'My_Shelter_5G'
        option wps_pushbutton '1'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option channel '11'
        option hwmode '11g'
        option path 'soc/1b700000.pci/pci0001:00/0001:00:00.0/0001:01:00.0'
        option htmode 'HT40'
        option disabled '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'My_Shelter'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option key 'secret'
        option wps_pushbutton '1'

Would appreciate if someone can help me fix this.

hnyman · September 6, 2021, 8:02pm

Sysupgrading R7800 from 19.07 to 21.02 should have gone without problems.

That should work ok.

It doesn't. (R7800 belongs to the ipq806x target, not ar71xx/ath79)

Just perform the factory reset in 21.02, but do NOT restore your 19.07 backup if those settings causes problems. Just reconfig manually.

Some ideas why radios fail: (not sure if either of them has any relevance)

you have not specified country code in the radio config. something like
option country 'FI'. (Note, I just test with
You have specified wps_pushbutton 1 in your wifi iface configs, but your formware (actually the wpad variant used) does not support WPS. (I do not remember if the default wpad-basic does support WPS). You might testing removing that line.

What does your system log say when the radios do not work?

Nightliss · September 6, 2021, 8:04pm

I was about to post them:

Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 39: unknown configuration item 'eap_server'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 40: unknown configuration item 'wps_state'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 41: unknown configuration item 'device_type'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 42: unknown configuration item 'device_name'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 43: unknown configuration item 'manufacturer'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 34: unknown configuration item 'eap_server'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 35: unknown configuration item 'wps_state'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 36: unknown configuration item 'device_type'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 37: unknown configuration item 'device_name'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 38: unknown configuration item 'manufacturer'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 39: unknown configuration item 'config_methods'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 40: unknown configuration item 'wps_independent'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: 7 errors found in configuration file '/var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 44: unknown configuration item 'config_methods'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Failed to set up interface with /var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Failed to initialize interface
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 45: unknown configuration item 'wps_independent'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: 7 errors found in configuration file '/var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Failed to set up interface with /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Failed to initialize interface
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio1 (7299): cat: can't open '/var/run/wifi-phy1.pid': No such file or directory
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (7298): cat: can't open '/var/run/wifi-phy0.pid': No such file or directory
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio1 (7299): WARNING (wireless_add_process): executable path /usr/sbin/wpad does not match process  path (/proc/exe)
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (7298): WARNING (wireless_add_process): executable path /usr/sbin/wpad does not match process  path (/proc/exe)
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio1 (7299): Command failed: Invalid argument
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio1 (7299): Device setup failed: HOSTAPD_START_FAILED
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (7298): Command failed: Invalid argument
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (7298): Device setup failed: HOSTAPD_START_FAILED

I have them both set up. They seem to be saved in the backup?

I did that to setup my Canon printer/scanner. It did work on 19.07 with this setting just fine.

Yeah I might have to do that. Didn't really wanted that since I have rpi with pihole and unbound but well no choice. I'm gonna try that tomorrow morning. I'll let you know if its fixed. Thanks for help

hnyman · September 6, 2021, 8:15pm

Nightliss:

Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 39: unknown configuration item 'eap_server'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 40: unknown configuration item 'wps_state'
Mon Sep  6 21:53:33 2021 daemon.err hostapd: Line 41: unknown configuration item 'device_type'

Sounds like my guess about the wpad (hostapd) version might be right, as those errors are about wps.

You likely have a "wpad-basic" variant installed. Replace it with a matching full "wpad".
E.g. wpad-basic-wolfssl with wpad-wolfssl

Find out which variant you have:
opkg list-installed | grep wpad

and then replace it:

opkg update
opkg remove wpad-basic-wolfssl
opkg install wpad-wolfssl

Nightliss · September 6, 2021, 8:23pm

So I decided to update to 21 since I need wireless for work tomorrow anyway. I unchecked keep settings and after update the issue persisted.

Then I've seen your reply and I indeed did have the basic wpad installed. Switched to full, had to setup wireless but it's working. Many thanks for help!

system · September 16, 2021, 8:24pm

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