Linksys EA8300 - 5ghz cannot set channels and 2nd 5ghz radio won't work

wiredinspace · May 4, 2020, 6:14pm

My setup has two LinkSys EA8300:

OpenWrt 19.07.2 r10947-65030d81f3 / LuCI openwrt-19.07 branch git-20.057.55219-13dd17f
Dallas rev

I cannot make the 5ghz radio work other than setting channel selection to "auto". The moment I switched to a specific channel, the AP goes in disabled mode - restarting the interface or rebooting the router doesn't help. I can replicate the issue on either router/AP. Curiously, both routers are stuck on Channel 149 which is why I bothered with trying to change the channels manually. And, cannot seem to change the driver from "default" to US or World. Cannot set power levels. Everything has to be "default" or radio shuts down.

Also, noticed that the second 5ghz radio refuses to come up at all. Says:
"Generic 802.11acn / Device is not active"

I looked at the system/kernel logs and saw bunch of errors but not sure what points at the specific issue:

Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (1032): command failed: Not supported (-95)
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 user.notice mac80211: Failed command: iw phy phy0 set distance 0
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.notice netifd: radio1 (1033): command failed: Not supported (-95)
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 user.notice mac80211: Failed command: iw phy phy1 set distance 0
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 kern.info kernel: [   21.521079] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered blocking state
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 kern.info kernel: [   21.521139] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 kern.info kernel: [   21.526342] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): br-lan: link becomes ready
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.notice netifd: bridge 'br-lan' link is up
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'lan' has link connectivity
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'lan' is setting up now
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'lan' is now up
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.err hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf
Mon May  4 09:02:21 2020 daemon.err hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf
Mon May  4 09:02:22 2020 authpriv.info dropbear[1542]: Not backgrounding
Mon May  4 09:02:23 2020 kern.warn kernel: [   23.079754] ath10k_ahb a000000.wifi: 10.4 wmi init: vdevs: 16  peers: 48  tid: 96
Mon May  4 09:02:23 2020 kern.warn kernel: [   23.079799] ath10k_ahb a000000.wifi: msdu-desc: 2500  skid: 32
Mon May  4 09:02:23 2020 kern.info kernel: [   23.127126] ath10k_ahb a000000.wifi: wmi print 'P 48/48 V 16 K 144 PH 176 T 186  msdu-desc: 2500  sw-crypt: 0 ct-sta: 0'
Mon May  4 09:02:23 2020 kern.info kernel: [   23.130122] ath10k_ahb a000000.wifi: wmi print 'free: 56528 iram: 23400 sram: 32520'
Mon May  4 09:02:23 2020 kern.warn kernel: [   23.555150] ath10k_ahb a000000.wifi: Firmware lacks feature flag indicating a retry limit of > 2 is OK, requested limit: 4
Mon May  4 09:02:23 2020 kern.info kernel: [   23.556559] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
Mon May  4 09:02:24 2020 kern.info kernel: [   24.078162] ath10k_ahb a000000.wifi: NOTE:  Firmware DBGLOG output disabled in debug_mask: 0x10000000
Mon May  4 09:02:25 2020 kern.warn kernel: [   25.705413] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: 10.4 wmi init: vdevs: 16  peers: 48  tid: 96
Mon May  4 09:02:25 2020 kern.warn kernel: [   25.705458] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: msdu-desc: 2500  skid: 32
Mon May  4 09:02:25 2020 kern.info kernel: [   25.759987] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: wmi print 'P 48/48 V 16 K 144 PH 176 T 186  msdu-desc: 2500  sw-crypt: 0 ct-sta: 0'
Mon May  4 09:02:25 2020 kern.info kernel: [   25.761337] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: wmi print 'free: 117888 iram: 22644 sram: 26276'
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.warn kernel: [   26.071788] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Firmware lacks feature flag indicating a retry limit of > 2 is OK, requested limit: 4
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.071964] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.081835] br-lan: port 2(wlan1) entered blocking state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.087550] br-lan: port 2(wlan1) entered disabled state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.093433] device wlan1 entered promiscuous mode
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.098544] br-lan: port 3(wlan0) entered blocking state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.103038] br-lan: port 3(wlan0) entered disabled state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.108642] device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.113841] br-lan: port 3(wlan0) entered blocking state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.118273] br-lan: port 3(wlan0) entered forwarding state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: interface state UNINITIALIZED->HT_SCAN
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: ACS: Automatic channel selection started, this may take a bit
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 kern.info kernel: [   26.124886] br-lan: port 3(wlan0) entered disabled state
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->ACS
Mon May  4 09:02:26 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: ACS-STARTED
Mon May  4 09:03:23 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: 20/40 MHz operation not permitted on channel pri=9 sec=5 based on overlapping BSSes

Any help or pointers will be appreciated. Thanks.

slh · May 4, 2020, 7:16pm

The third radio is restricted to the upper channels (5'490'000 Hz to 5'835'000 Hz), which probably also means DFS in your region. In order to tune into a DFS channel, the router needs to wait and listen for at least one minute for nearby radar installation, before it may use the channel - if the chosen channel is occupied by a radar, it needs to switch channels and the wait starts again. Are you sure that you've been patient enough for ruling this out?

wiredinspace · May 4, 2020, 8:04pm

Thanks, didn't know that. I turned it on again and yes, I can see the radio is now enabled but the same behavior as the first wlan0 5gh radio - both routers are on "auto" and both are on channel 36. Interestingly, I was able to manually set channels on this second generic ACN radio. In manual, I can set the radio to channels 36 to 48 but anything over 48 fails.

wiredinspace · May 6, 2020, 9:27pm

Fixed - with the default (US) region, QCA9886 802.11acn can only be set to channels 144 and above. Maybe the UI shouldn't list channels that are not compatible with the region. I currently have one AP set to 161 and the other set to 149, (and a 3rd DD-WRT based is set to 100+106).

The generic ACN radios are set to - 36 and 48 - on the two LinkSys APs.

lleachii · May 6, 2020, 9:32pm

Initial transmit is not permitted on "World" - hence your problem.

Don't change to settings you don't know (or are not your Nation) - that zone is governed by the ITU/UN.

(And BTW, 36 and 48 are permitted channels in the US.)

system · May 16, 2020, 9:32pm

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