"STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED" what that mean?

Soberia · June 16, 2019, 5:46am

I have multiple SSIDs in my Xiaomi Mi Router 3G OpenWRT router. When I connect to the first SSID (wlan0, 2.4GHz) with my laptop (Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230) I have strange things on system log which happen every second:

Sun Jun 16 09:54:01 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:07 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:11 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:11 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:12 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:12 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:13 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:13 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:16 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:25 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:35 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:35 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:35 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:35 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:37 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:37 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:40 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:49 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:49 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:50 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:50 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:50 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:51 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static
Sun Jun 16 09:54:51 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX dynamic
Sun Jun 16 09:54:51 2019 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 60:36:dd:XX:XX:XX static

I don't see this when my laptop connected to other SSIDs. My other devices doesn't have this problem

Reactor · January 11, 2020, 6:02pm

This is a Spatial Multiplexing Power Save mechanism: http://www.hitchhikersguidetolearning.com/2017/09/17/spatial-multiplexing-power-save/.

Soberia · January 14, 2020, 11:00am

Thanks for the info
But is it normal to switch between dynamic and static mode on every second?

Mushoz · January 22, 2020, 11:58am

Seeing the same thing in my log on my 2.4ghz WiFi network, also on a mt7603e WiFi chip. Does anyone have any additional information what this means, and more importantly, how I can fix this?

WiFi also seems unstable since that particular client is here. 2.4ghz WiFi went completely dead and required a reboot to fix.

pluffmud · January 22, 2020, 4:38pm

I am seeing these on my AC1750

Wed Jan 22 11:28:54 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:29:00 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:29:05 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:29:10 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:29:15 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:29:20 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:29:25 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:29:31 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:29:36 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:29:41 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:29:46 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:29:51 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:29:56 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:30:02 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:30:07 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:30:12 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:30:17 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:30:22 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:30:27 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:30:33 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:30:38 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:30:43 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:30:48 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:30:53 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:30:58 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static
Wed Jan 22 11:31:04 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 dynamic
Wed Jan 22 11:31:09 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED d8:f2:ca:de:0b:89 static

pluffmud · January 25, 2020, 12:07pm

I rebooted the router (for other reasons) and the messages went away ?

kurt · April 19, 2020, 1:55am

"wlan1: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED xxxxxx static"
If that client(xxxxxx) is a xiaomi phone, Goto phone's wifi: "Connection Type", change "High speed" to "Compatibility", solved!
Guess it is a compatibility problem between router and client.
Only reboot the router did not help.

Kris · December 20, 2020, 6:49am

+1 Same issue here with my Xiaomi Mi Router 3G running on Openwrt 19.07.4 mostly with Windows 10 20H2 clients (likely due to S0 power save mode when the laptop runs on battery, which from my reading makes the wifi card runs on a single antenna). 19.07.5 has just been released, I'm going to test it...

[Edit] No change with 19.07.5. What I forgot to add is that STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED alternates on my router with AP-STA-POSSIBLE-PSK-MISMATCH (whereas the key is correct and the laptops end up with connecting successfully, but after a while or after I reset the Wifi interface on the laptop).

naigle · December 20, 2020, 5:58pm

+1 Netgear D7800 Router... the offending client is a Google Pixel Slate.

Interestingly, it only happens when on the 2.4GHz wifi... not on the 5GHz.
I'd removed the 2.2GHz connection on the Slate and reconnected but the same issue shown in the log.

lleachii · December 22, 2020, 11:20am

Is this actually causing a problem for ya'll; or are ya'll simply curious on what this log entry meant?

TheHellSite · December 26, 2020, 9:28am

Yes it is! At least for me. Once the log entry occurs, my whole 2.4 GHz wifi gets super slow for all clients (not matter if iOS, MacOS, Windows, Android) until I reboot the router. It has to do something with windows clients and their wifi powersaving. Once I forced my windows client to use 5 GHz the issue is gone.

See here: Unstable WiFi - "STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED"

JonFo · December 29, 2020, 9:46pm

On an MT7621/7603e device running 19.07.4, yes, causing problems.

Within 24 hrs from boot, if there is a sequence (or a couple of them) like this (truncated, there are about a dozen flip/flops, occurring twice during the day spaced 8hrs apart):

Tue Dec 29 18:26:00 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx dynamic
Tue Dec 29 18:26:00 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx off
Tue Dec 29 18:26:01 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx dynamic
Tue Dec 29 18:26:02 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx off
Tue Dec 29 18:26:05 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx dynamic
Tue Dec 29 18:26:06 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx off
Tue Dec 29 18:26:07 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx dynamic
Tue Dec 29 18:26:07 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx off

Then within the next 2hrs, we see this sequence (annotated):

Device goes to sleep
Tue Dec 29 20:32:05 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
Wakes up
Tue Dec 29 20:58:21 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
back to sleep
Tue Dec 29 21:54:18 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
wakes up
Tue Dec 29 22:55:19 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
flaps twice, but manages to stay connected
Tue Dec 29 23:30:24 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
Tue Dec 29 23:30:25 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
Tue Dec 29 23:30:25 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
Tue Dec 29 23:30:30 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
flaps, but then goes dead, no Internet for that device at this point.
Wed Dec 30 00:00:47 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx
Wed Dec 30 00:00:47 2020 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: AP-STA-CONNECTED a8:7e:ea:ec:xx:xx

Rebooting the router is the only way to get WiFi back for all 2.4Ghz clients at that point.

TheHellSite · January 17, 2021, 7:57pm

@JonFo I am experiencing exactly the same behaviour.

@lleachii Are you in some way related to the development? If so, is this problem considered an official bug now or is it still considered a user problem?

Stefan1 · February 20, 2021, 8:51am

We had the same problem yesterday (19.07.6 AP archer c6 v2 eu) with a Lenovo win 10 thinkpad, checked the router log and found STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED entries. It did not destabilize the AP, but my son had problems to stay in a zoom meeting...

I disabled smps at the wireless network adapter of the thinkpad (mimo power save mode) as suggested here:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking/wifi-connection-keeps-disconnecting-while-using/4a251763-e5c0-47d8-a878-af76fc44a539

schuur · March 10, 2021, 2:41pm

The same happened here. I have a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v1 router which was recently upgraded to OpenWrt 19.07.7 r11306-c4a6851c72 / LuCI openwrt-19.07. The Wireless Connection of my Lenovo T480 laptop reported "No Internet Access" on the AC8265 Intel adapter and the "Solve network problems" options did not solve the issue. Then I checked the router's system log and I found that it had been filling up with STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED entries every second, for an hour.

Since other devices on the same WiFi network did not have any issues I have powered down the laptop completely and the issue was gone.

As I have no admin privileges on the laptop I cannot change the SMPS settings of the network adapter.

schuur · March 20, 2021, 8:56am

I noticed that the mode switch messages start immediately after pressing the join button in Teams. Did anyone else find this and know how to fix it?

easyteacher · September 16, 2021, 2:29pm

The workaround is to set htmode to Legacy, due to the potentially buggy handling of SMPS.

himi · December 2, 2021, 11:49am

Same issue here, MediaTek MT7621 and OpenWrt 19.07-SNAPSHOT r11295-365d573af4

The system log is flooded and the laptop is having problem with connection. Router reboot usually fixes the problem, only for a day though. It only appears on this laptop, no other devices.

Thu Dec  2 12:20:45 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx static
Thu Dec  2 12:20:46 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx off
Thu Dec  2 12:20:47 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx static
Thu Dec  2 12:20:47 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx off
Thu Dec  2 12:20:48 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx static
Thu Dec  2 12:20:48 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx off
Thu Dec  2 12:20:49 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx static
Thu Dec  2 12:20:49 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx off
Thu Dec  2 12:20:51 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx static
Thu Dec  2 12:20:51 2021 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA-OPMODE-SMPS-MODE-CHANGED 48:f1:xx:xx:xx:xx off