Device cannot connect to WRT1900ACS wifi running OpenWrt 21.02.1

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi, I recently upgraded my Linksys WRT1900ACS from OpenWrt 19.07.3 (Linux 4.14.180) to OpenWrt 21.02.1 (Linux 5.4.154) and I am facing a weird issue when trying to connect one of my devices (smart kitchen appliance) to any of the WiFi networks configured on my router. Note that I didn't have any issue with the same device and the same settings in OpenWrt 19.07.3.
Below is the uci configuration of the network interface I am trying to connect to:

wireless.iot=wifi-iface
wireless.iot.device='radio1'
wireless.iot.mode='ap'
wireless.iot.network='iot'
wireless.iot.ssid='IotDevices'
wireless.iot.key='my-network-key'
wireless.iot.isolate='1'
wireless.iot.hidden='1'
wireless.iot.encryption='psk2+ccmp'
wireless.iot.disassoc_low_ack='0'

the associated /etc/config/wireless:

config wifi-iface 'iot'
        option device 'radio1'
        option mode 'ap'
        option network 'iot'
        option ssid 'IotDevices'
        option key 'my-network-key'
        option isolate '1'
        option hidden '1'
        option encryption 'psk2+ccmp'
        option disassoc_low_ack '0'

and below is the content of my /etc/rc.local file (related to a known issue with the Marvell mwlwifi 88w8864):

# Turn off A-MSDU frame aggregation
echo "0" >> /sys/kernel/debug/ieee80211/phy0/mwlwifi/tx_amsdu && logger "AMSDU Disabled on phy0"
echo "0" >> /sys/kernel/debug/ieee80211/phy1/mwlwifi/tx_amsdu && logger "AMSDU Disabled on phy1"

When I am try to connect the device, it will remain stuck in a "connecting" state and I can see the messages below in the System Log (note that I replaced myself the last 3 bytes of the device MAC address for privacy reasons):

Tue Feb 22 13:16:05 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Tue Feb 22 13:16:05 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: No WPA/RSN IE in association request
Tue Feb 22 13:16:05 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Tue Feb 22 13:16:05 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: No WPA/RSN IE in association request
Tue Feb 22 13:16:09 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Tue Feb 22 13:16:09 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: No WPA/RSN IE in association request
Tue Feb 22 13:16:19 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Tue Feb 22 13:16:19 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: No WPA/RSN IE in association request
Tue Feb 22 13:16:58 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Tue Feb 22 13:16:58 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA bc:42:8c:00:00:00 IEEE 802.11: No WPA/RSN IE in association request

It seems that this is the only device having this issue in my network (and this same device used to work on earlier version). Was there any breaking change in the upgrade of OpenWrt and is there a workaround to make this device work with OpenWrt 21.02.1?

2

Did you do sysupgrade or did you do a clean flash of the firmware? It might be worth checking the checkbox Allow legacy 802.11b rates on the 2.4GHz radio. I have a couple of devices that won't connect unless legacy rates are enabled.

3

Hi willowen100, it was a sysupgrade through LuCI, but with Keep settings unchecked.
Thanks for the suggestion about the Allow legacy 802.11b rates, I’ll try this and let you know.

4

And it worked, thanks a lot for your help willowen100!

That's interesting because after looking at the backup I did before upgrading, the Allow legacy 802.11b rates parameter was not enabled and I was able to connect my device with no issue. I would be curious to know what caused this issue with the newer version of OpenWrt.

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