You know logread and dmesg?
Not sure if you will find something relevant there, but that's the first place to look for logs.
And you may need to turn up logging volume for hostapd/wpad to get more info about wireless handshake details.
Look into wiki for info on wireless config.
(But do not disregard the possibility of Windows wifi stack playing badly with multiple APs/routers.)
Hi there.
Sorry to revive such an old topic.
I am the OP and I haven't posted here for a while.
This issue has still been happening all this long but since I haven't been much at home it sort of transformed into a lesser issue.
Unfortunately, the past couple of weeks I've started working from home and that's when it restarted hurting a lot.
Just so you know, I've gone through at least 3 Lede/Openwrt upgrades. This issue happened with every single one of them and I am currently on 18.06.1 on both my routers.
BTW I have a TP-Link WR1043ND V2 and a Netgear WNDR3700.
Since one week ago I have gone from a single ESSID to two different ESSID's, just in case it would have anything to do with my issues.
This is now happening at a rate that can go from 1 time per hour to 3 or 4 times per hour. And I just need to disconnect from the SSID and connect back again.
I will post again soon with some logs from logread as soon as I can grab them.
Cheers
fwiw, if the problem only seems to happen with your laptop, what wifi card is fitted to the laptop and is the driver up to date?
Does the problem appear if you specifically connect to the Netgear's 5 GHz wifi configured with unique SSID ?
Well, yes, it only "seems" to happen to my laptop running windows 7. But the truth is, lately I only have the laptop, a desktop running manjaro linux but which is running on ethernet and then I have 3 android phones, and 2 android tablets.
I don't have any other wireless windows client that I can test with. Even the linux desktop doesn't have a wifi adapter for me to test with.
And how can I tell if it's not happening with the smartphones and tablets. Maybe it is but Android can workaround the issue. I am saying this because sometimes they all seem to freeze up regarding wifi comms and then they resume after a minute. So...who knows.
The wifi adapter is a Broadcom BCM943228HMB.
Windows driver versions is 6.30.223.264. When I press the update button inside the device manager it says I'm already running the latest driver version.
Hewlett Packard's web page for this laptop model, says this is the latest driver...
The 5Ghz on the netgear is near the bedrooms and so I don't usually use it for the laptop and it is mostly used for tablets and to some extent for smartphones.
I am now running 2 separate SSID's on the 2,4GHz of both routers. Don't even currently have the 5GHz of the netgear configured.
Have disabled IPv6 on windows wifi adapter options and yet it keeps happening.
Here is a copy of the logread on both routers right after experiencing the issue at 00h32.
Please note that my notebook was registered to the TP-link wifi radio at 00h32 when this happened.
TP-link logread:
Sat Sep 1 00:22:15 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPINFORM(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:22:15 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:22:45 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Sat Sep 1 00:22:45 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Sat Sep 1 00:22:45 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:22:45 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Sat Sep 1 00:22:45 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:22:45 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:22:48 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPINFORM(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:22:48 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:23:00 2018 daemon.notice netifd: wan (1197): udhcpc: sending renew to 10.0.0.99
Sat Sep 1 00:23:00 2018 daemon.notice netifd: wan (1197): udhcpc: lease of 217.111.111.1 obtained, lease time 4680
Sat Sep 1 00:24:04 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPINFORM(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:24:04 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:25:50 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPINFORM(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:25:50 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:32:49 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:32:49 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Sat Sep 1 00:32:50 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
Sat Sep 1 00:32:53 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:32:53 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:33:07 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Sat Sep 1 00:33:07 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Sat Sep 1 00:33:07 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:33:07 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Sat Sep 1 00:33:07 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:33:07 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:33:10 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPINFORM(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:33:10 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1430]: DHCPACK(br-lan) 10.11.11.150 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz LAPTOPW7
Sat Sep 1 00:33:18 2018 authpriv.info dropbear[6825]: Child connection from 10.11.11.150:49254
Sat Sep 1 00:33:29 2018 authpriv.notice dropbear[6825]: Password auth succeeded for 'root' from 10.11.11.150:49254
Netgear logread:
Sat Sep 1 00:21:00 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:21:00 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Sat Sep 1 00:21:01 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
Sat Sep 1 00:21:05 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Sat Sep 1 00:21:05 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 2)
Sat Sep 1 00:21:05 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:21:05 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Sat Sep 1 00:21:06 2018 daemon.notice odhcpd[903]: Got DHCPv6 request
Sat Sep 1 00:21:06 2018 daemon.warn odhcpd[903]: DHCPV6 SOLICIT IA_NA from 000100011e81b8d3fc3fdb484ffb on br-lan: ok fdc0:2487:f87c::35d/128
Sat Sep 1 00:21:06 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq[807]: read /etc/hosts - 4 addresses
Sat Sep 1 00:21:06 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq[807]: read /tmp/hosts/odhcpd - 0 addresses
Sat Sep 1 00:21:06 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq[807]: read /tmp/hosts/dhcp.cfg01411c - 0 addresses
Sat Sep 1 00:21:07 2018 daemon.notice odhcpd[903]: Got DHCPv6 request
Sat Sep 1 00:21:07 2018 daemon.warn odhcpd[903]: DHCPV6 SOLICIT IA_NA from 000100011e81b8d3fc3fdb484ffb on br-lan: ok fdc0:2487:f87c::35d/128
Sat Sep 1 00:21:09 2018 daemon.notice odhcpd[903]: Got DHCPv6 request
Sat Sep 1 00:21:09 2018 daemon.warn odhcpd[903]: DHCPV6 SOLICIT IA_NA from 000100011e81b8d3fc3fdb484ffb on br-lan: ok fdc0:2487:f87c::35d/128
Sat Sep 1 00:21:21 2018 daemon.notice odhcpd[903]: Got DHCPv6 request
Sat Sep 1 00:21:21 2018 daemon.warn odhcpd[903]: DHCPV6 SOLICIT IA_NA from 000100011e81b8d3fc3fdb484ffb on br-lan: ok fdc0:2487:f87c::35d/128
Sat Sep 1 00:21:31 2018 daemon.notice odhcpd[903]: Got DHCPv6 request
Sat Sep 1 00:21:31 2018 daemon.warn odhcpd[903]: DHCPV6 REQUEST IA_NA from 000100011e81b8d3fc3fdb484ffb on br-lan: ok fdc0:2487:f87c::35d/128
Sat Sep 1 00:21:31 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq[807]: read /etc/hosts - 4 addresses
Sat Sep 1 00:21:31 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq[807]: read /tmp/hosts/odhcpd - 1 addresses
Sat Sep 1 00:21:31 2018 daemon.info dnsmasq[807]: read /tmp/hosts/dhcp.cfg01411c - 0 addresses
Sat Sep 1 00:22:40 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:22:40 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Sat Sep 1 00:22:41 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
Sat Sep 1 00:32:53 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Sat Sep 1 00:32:53 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 2)
Sat Sep 1 00:32:53 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:32:53 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Sat Sep 1 00:33:05 2018 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz
Sat Sep 1 00:33:05 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Sat Sep 1 00:33:06 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 30:52:cb:xx:yy:zz IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
Sat Sep 1 00:56:24 2018 authpriv.info dropbear[16230]: Child connection from 10.11.11.150:51116
Sat Sep 1 00:56:33 2018 authpriv.notice dropbear[16230]: Password auth succeeded for 'root' from 10.11.11.150:51116
All help will be greatly appreciated.
Please let me know if I need to raise the level of debugging on the routers in order to grab the issue. Also, please let me know how to raise such debugging level on the routers because I don't know how to do such a thing.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers
TBH, identifying and fixing your problem in LEDE/OpenWRT is easier said than done particularly if no one else is reporting same symptoms.
I've seen compatibility issues with Intel centrino wifi cards connecting to 2.4 GHz atheros based wifi. See this post.
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/slower-speed-after-update-from-15-05-1-to-17-01-4-with-intel-intel-centrino-ultimate-n-6300/12805/17
One suggestion is try an inexpensive USB wifi adapter to see if it performs any better if your broadcom card is incompatible. To best of my knowledge, most of the cheap wifi dongles use Realtek or Mediatek/RAlink chipsets. Finding one with Qualcomm/atheros could be difficult.
Another workaround is not to use wifi and to try a pair of powerline adapters. Plug one into the laptop's ethernet socket, and other into one of the routers.
Have you also considered your wifi problems may be simply down to wifi congestion and interference from neighbours? 2.4 GHz is more susceptible to this issue than 5 GHz wifi.
Is that really all I can do? Work around the issue by using wifi dongles and stuff?
We're talking about a laptop PC that has been working at a customer's office 8h/day for a full year connected only through wifi with 0 issues. And yet it fails miserably here at home.
And there's nothing proving that this wouldn't happen with any other laptop computer because I simply don't have another PC to test. Right?
I'd be ok if you or someone else had looked at the logs and said: "hey, there's a bug" or "hey, your router is broken" or something similar.
But what you're saying is we can't tell what's going on by reading the logs. That's frustrating...
What if I told you that the customer where I used to work for the past year also has a TP-Link 1043ND (can't tell the hw revision) but it is running the official firmware by TP-Link? Zero issues in there...
I don't know. I'm not ranting, ok? I am just showing some frustration and the truth is I'm glad you've been replying to my messages because otherwise I would have been talking to myself. 
So thanks a bunch, man. 
And please let me know if you have any other ideas on how to investigate this further, as long as it doesn't involve changing hardware that's been working fine elsewhere.
Cheers
PS:
Actually, I had a buddy come over to my house and explained him my issues and he was suspecting the same. But then he used Ekahaus and said that although there's some minor interference it should be pretty much ok for wifi to work just fine. FWIW he installs wifi for a living so I guess he might be right.
The log says
802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
something for you to investigate further
1 Like
Catching that straw:
802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)
Does this help?
/etc/config/wireless → @ config wifi-iface → add option disassoc_low_ack '0'
1 Like
Turning off Power Saving mode under 'Power Management' tab for the wifi card in Windows Device Manager has been known to fix some issues.
1 Like
Thanks guys.
I have made the changes proposed by @tmomas and disabled PM as per @bill888 tip.
It has improved a bit and I can work for 2 or 3 hours and then all of a sudden it just happens a couple of times with the same issue (deauthenticated due to inactivity).
Which is not true. Although my work is not very network intense, I do need to carry out internet research every 5 to 10 minutes.
I'm puzzled...
The weird part here is that one of my customers has a router just like this one and while I keep the settings on the PC untouched, at his office my laptop can go for as long as 10 hours straight with no issues whereas at home I can't work for more than, say, 2 hours straight without this issue.
His router is surely on stock FW and it might not be the exact same HW version as mine, but I have no way of telling that.
But I've turned Power Management off on my laptop's wifi adapter and still have issues.
Some days it goes better than others but the issue is still here.
Your customer's router running 'stock' firmware is probably the clue
Are you able to run stock firmware on your router to see if it makes a difference?
Well, I could but I'd loose the ability to configure VLAN's, which on my 3-play service provider, is a must. TV, Internet and telephone all come in the same circuit but on different VLAN's and I didn't buy their technicolor router that they sell solely to provide traffic separation as well as class of service.
I can live without COS but I can't live without VLAN's, so I don't know what I can do more.
I've seen other topics here with guys having the same symptoms on their computers connected to routers running OpenWRT/LEDE. Even on routers with different chipset than mine.
So I'm guessing this might have something to do with OpenWRT and the wifi adapter of the router (drivers/firmware), right?
Yes. I mentioned compatibility problems exactly a week ago.
It may work better on 5 GHz.
How about idea of buying an inexpensive dual band router/WAP and wire it to your existing router to bypass its flawed 2.4 GHz wifi?
Hey there.
So, today I was talking to a repair computer shop technician and telling him that now I had to go out and buy a inexpensive dual band OpenWRT compatible router with gigabit ports when the guy suddenly bumped the conversation telling me that I should be wary of what I was about to do because he had more than a handful of customers complaining about wifi issues with LEDE/OpenWRT. And the guy went on to detail to me the problem and the exact same System log message that I am reading right before getting disconnected from the router: "Tue Sep 11 01:35:53 2018 daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA 98:e7:11:00:11:00 IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity (timer DEAUTH/REMOVE)".
I immediately found this very confusing even because he was telling me that his customers had routers from all brands and models (from Asus to D-Link to Linksys) all showing the same issues and most of them already dual band.
At that point I knew I had to test again before buying a new router and I decided to grab my Netgear that's been working in the bedrooms area and put it in place of the TP-Link that's in the living room (the one that has been giving me headaches).
And just after 20 minutes I started getting the DEAUTH/REMOVE messages and my laptop got kicked out.
Mind you that I've never experienced issues with the Netgear just because I don't use my PC in the bedroom area of my house...
In the bedroom area we only use the tablets and phones and those work. Poorly because the 2 routers are connected via powerline devices but if it weren't for that I am sure they would work peacefully.
So, this isn't an issue in the 2.4ghz because I've been connected through the 5ghz radio all night long and this isn't a matter of bad tp-link hardware. And it also doesn't seem to be an issue with my laptop alone otherwise his customers with brand new Dell laptops wouldn't be having any issues.
I'm starting to believe that this is either a LEDE/OpenWRT issue or a combination of the that with some sort of wifi adapter chipset.
Also, his customers have Windows, Linux (Dell) and Mac and they all suffer, being that Windows is the one that suffers the most.
Right now I am completely clueless as to what I should do from this point forward...
Any tips? Thanks.
Cheers
When I suggested buying a 'inexpensive' dual band router/WAP and wiring it to your existing router, I should have emphasised the new router should run 'stock firmware' and used purely as a wireless access point. If you have a larger budget, perhaps consider TPlink EAP225 v3 dedicated AC1350 access point. This may overcome the compatibility issues you are witnessing. ie. do not use OpenWRT for wifi on it.
The other option I also suggested previously, is to replace the internal Broadcom wifi card (eg. HP version of AR5B22 card might work with the 'whitelisted' BIOS likely to be found in your HP), or use an external USB wifi dongle on your laptop to see if it solves the OpenWRT compatibility problem.
fyi, earlier this week, I removed LEDE from one of my BT Home Hub 5A (Atheros wifi like your TPlink and Netgear) which I've been using as a WAP for past 2 years. It was not compatible with certain Intel dual band wifi cards in 2.4 GHz mode, but was OK on 5 GHz with ALL my 5 GHz devices.
I restored stock firmware to it. My laptops with Intel wifi cards now work fine when tested on 2.4 GHz. Unfortunately, I had to put LEDE back onto the HH5A because I uncovered a 5 GHz speed related bug with the stock BT firmware which suddenly appeared after the 6th day of use.
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Oh, now I get it. I thought you were advising me on buying another router to install openwrt on it and cascade it with the ones I already have right now.
Nah, unfortunately I can't spend that kind of money on wifi.
My wife would simply fry me. Literally lol.
Changing internal antenna is not something I should be doing on a laptop that's not mine (company) and I wouldn't feel very comfortable running a usb dongle on my PC to being able to workaround this issue.
I think this should be a software issue, right? Otherwise I can't see why the same hardware running stock firmware doesn't show issues and as soon as it is used with openwrt the issue arises. I think this should be checked on software side first.
I see. That's why you recommended me to try the stock firmware-router.
If I can't make this work with openwrt, I guess I'll have to buy a router.
But I'll keep posting here trying to grab the developers attention because I will always prefer and opensource solution. One that works, of course.
My view is there are issues with the OpenWRT wifi drivers for older Atheros devices. My HH5a has AC wireless and the 5 GHz definitely uses ath10k drivers. But the 2.4 GHz may be using ath9k drivers like your two devices, but don't quote me because I may be wrong.
It is understandable you should not be modifying a laptop provided by your employer.
Yes, try any stock-firmware router configured as a WAP, and see if it resolves your laptop wifi issues. Perhaps use a 'retired' ISP supplied wifi router if you possess one?
Just another idea. Could you revert your Netgear back to using stock firmware for testing? Obviously, you should not attempt this if there is a risk of bricking it !
I see. Maybe kernel issue? It would be very interesting if openwrt could be compiled with older kernel/firmware files. Like, having a LTS and a bleeding edge version where we could turn to an LTS, probably with less features, just for testing...
Yea. I don't have any because I've been using my own routers for a very long time not relying on ISP crap. Last time I had to cope with am ISP router was a Technicolor for ADSL probably 10 ago and that's been trashed a very very long time ago.
I guess I'll have to resort to buying a new router and bridge it so that I can use it as an AP...
I don't know if that's an option. I bought that 2nd hand already with openwrt installed. I don't have it's stock firmware nor do I know if it will give me any kind of trouble reverting that to stock.
One thing is true. I've had less issues with the Netgear than with the TP-Link. I guess I'm switching it definitely to the living room and I'll put the TP-Link in the bedrooms area.
Thanks for all your input @bill888
Cheers