Excessive Wifi connect/disconnect log messages on C7 with v18.06 from some devices

opaav · August 12, 2018, 7:28am

I notice for some mobile devices, they are triggering excessive hostapd connect/disconnect log messages. Router is TP-Link C7 with latest 18.06.

This is apparently the cause for the disconnect but the device are active and only connected a few mins ago:

IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)

Wifi setup as:
AP on wlan 0 (2.4Ghz)
AP on wlan 1 (5 Ghz)
STA on wlan 1 (5 Ghz)

Are these log messages normal or something of concern?

Sun Aug 12 13:15:26 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 13:18:06 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 13:44:25 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 13:52:56 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 13:53:03 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:14:53 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:17:29 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:19:40 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:19:58 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:34:12 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:36:32 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:43:31 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:49:30 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:49:30 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:49:38 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:56:37 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 14:57:53 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 15:00:50 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx
Sun Aug 12 15:04:50 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 40:98:ad:xx:xx:xx

fengchen-lede · August 12, 2018, 8:30am

It may be that the phone is too far away from the wireless router and the signal is poor.

opaav · August 12, 2018, 8:54am

Thanks, but the router and devices are in the same, not big room.

I thought it was the AP+STA on wlan0, but I have now simplify it to AP on 2.4Ghz and STA on 5 Ghz.

Strangely only Apple devices affected - iPhoneX, iPad-Pro-10, iPhone6. Cheap xiaomi phone no problem.

fuller · August 12, 2018, 9:40am

may very well be a apple "feature", have you asked them?

mbo2o · August 12, 2018, 9:42am

or jumping between bands, disable one band or use different ssid

opaav · August 12, 2018, 9:52am

haha fuller, yeah maybe they need a AirPort Extreme not some lowly TPLink C7.

mbo2o, yea that is a good tip, but I have just turned off 2nd AP, now only one AP remaining, can't jump anywhere else.

Puzzled, are these messages saying the AP kick them out? Have also put these lines in 'config wifi-iface' :

        option max_inactivity '3600'
        option disassoc_low_ack '0'

but no difference.

GreenSystemAdmin · August 12, 2018, 10:39am

Try setting DTIM to 3, Apple devices are super picky about this...

opaav · August 13, 2018, 3:05pm

I tried both DTIM 3 and 1, still seeing the same pattern of messages.

x2souffxw · August 20, 2018, 3:11pm

Same issue here. Windows laptop randomly disconnects from the wifi network.

TP-Link Archer C5 v1
OpenWrt 18.06.1 r7258-5eb055306f (the issue was also present on LEDE 17 stable build)

Mon Aug 20 17:09:15 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx
Mon Aug 20 17:09:15 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Mon Aug 20 17:09:16 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
Mon Aug 20 17:09:19 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Mon Aug 20 17:09:19 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Mon Aug 20 17:09:19 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx
Mon Aug 20 17:09:19 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Mon Aug 20 17:09:19 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1788]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.XX:YY ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx
Mon Aug 20 17:09:19 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1788]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 192.168.XX:YY ac:81:12:xx:xx:xx WINDOWS-HOSTNAME

Tovarichtch · August 29, 2018, 5:30am

I have exactly the same problem. It tells me the same thing. Is there a way to get full advanced and detailled log so I can post ? I'm on C7 v2 with 18.06. The problem was there on LEDE 17.

rosenstand · August 31, 2018, 6:38pm

Also here. Getting random disconnects on my iPad Pro 2017. Router is D-Link DIR-860L B1 (MT7621) running 18.06. The router has been running for two years with LEDE as well as OpenWrt snapshot since March. I’m pretty sure this problem only came with the final release (which I upgraded to on the day of release.)

hamtu · November 24, 2018, 6:37pm

I am also having the same problem with my android oreo device asus m1 pro on 2.4ghz wifi. it keeps disconnecting.

Actually it was worse on stock archer c7 v2 where i need to restart the router but with latest openwrt it keeps disconnecting randomly on certain period of time.

javier123 · August 29, 2019, 4:18pm

I am also seeing this, but only on my Windows 10 device. I have long suspected it was this computers fault, but I have now literally replaced every single part except the PSU, and it is still happening. Randomly opened the system log in OpenWRT and saw these messages. Things I have done:

reinstalled windows 10 on old computer
rebuilt computer: new wifi nic, new motherboard, new ram, new cpu.
reinstalled windows 10 on new computer

Disconnects are still happening, so now I think it's the router.
This was happening on both 17.06 and is still currently happening with 18.06.

My Linux devices, Macbook and iPhone are all working fine.

Did you guys find anything?

Emilv2 · May 24, 2020, 7:30pm

Same problem here on OpenWRT 19.7.3 and an iPhone, any updates on this?

LeftyGamer · July 16, 2020, 6:42pm

Hi All,

I had the same error intermittently throughout the day with several devices.
I found that I was forcing 2 pc's on my lan to specific IP addresses and several devices were trying to use those ports due to legacy configs. It was causing IP hopping and kicking devices off the network randomly due to IP conflicts/arguments

So far it's been 5 hours and no disconnects...
I hope this helps someone out!
BTW I'm using OpenWrt 19.07.1 r10911-c155900f66 / LuCI openwrt-19.07 branch git-20.029.45734

erdoukki · March 30, 2021, 6:35pm

look at the apple option "private address", with disabling it !
does it fix the problem ?

himi · December 2, 2021, 7:23am

I have the same problem as already mentioned. It only happens with my work laptop (HP) other home devices are fine. Running OpenWrt 19.07-SNAPSHOT r11295-365d573af4

Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1: STA 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1: STA 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 2)
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1: STA 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[2191]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.1.208 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[2191]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 192.168.1.208 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx WIN-HOSTNAME
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1: STA 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1: STA 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 2)
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-CONNECTED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1: STA 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[2191]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.1.208 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[2191]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 192.168.1.208 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx WIN-HOSTNAME
Thu Dec  2 07:56:46 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx

huj3r · December 28, 2021, 5:57am

I am also affected by this issue, but it is happening with a MiTV stick.

Is there a way to enable verbose logging for the "Disassociate On Low ACK" feature?

eliaspolicena · January 14, 2022, 2:29pm

I am facing the same problem here! I think it have to be with RADIUS and static leases. I can also force the problem to happen whenever I want in my environment:
In my living room, I have an TurrisOS as router running hbd branch (openwrt 21), with 2.4 and 5ghz wireless networks. In my bedroom, I have also an dumbAP (openwrt 19.07), with only 5ghz wifi. They both have the same SSID under fast transition (802.11r) and same mobility domain.
To reproduce the bug, let's say I am in the living room and connected to 5ghz network. As I walk to my bedroom, my Xiaomi mi9 roams, connecting to the second AP. As soon as this happens, I go back to the living room, forcing it to roam again.
After roaming, and connecting again back to my main router, my smartphone keeps disconnecting for a while (more or less 5 minutes), until it gets stable.
I think that radius uses the client IP address plus the router MAC address and a TTL to form it's session. As I go back to the living room, the previous session is still valid, so my client disconnects, until it expires.
I can say this because if I roam to 2.4 ghz in the main router, my connection becomes stable in the first attempt.
Also, I have static leases for almost all my equipments, and I can not reproduce this if I force some of them to spoof it's mac adress each time it connects to wifi.
Anyone can try to reproduce this to check if these assumptions are correct?

reinerotto · January 14, 2022, 3:23pm

Makes some sense. However, that would require, that RADIUS is set up to do session control. Where/How is this set ? AFAIK, RADIUS should only be used here for Access Contol, via EAP. So you should check your RADIUS config, to disable session limits.