wpa-psk, wpa_supplicant/madwifi/atheros association woes

stardotstar · 10-18-2006, 12:32 AM

Hi guys,

We have switched our wireless router at work over to wpa-psk/tkip and no matter what I try with my wpa_supplicant.conf I cannot associate with it. The Windows guys have confirmed that the association for them happens straight away so the passphrase is right and the router is open for business.

Can I get someone to parse these configs and my output from wpa_supp to suggest what I might be doing wrong.

I asociate with this router using wep easily and also at home but this has me beat...

Code:

stardotstar@spitfire ~ $ cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
ap_scan=2
update_config=1

network={
        ssid="Casper"
        bssid=00:13:46:4c:43:0c
        psk="verysecret"
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        pairwise=TKIP
        group=TKIP WEP104 WEP40
        auth_alg=OPEN
}

network={
        ssid="skink"
        key_mgmt=NONE
        wep_key0="topsecret"
        disabled=1
}

network={
        ssid="sentinel"
        bssid=00:14:bf:e3:ec:84
        key_mgmt=NONE
        auth_alg=OPEN
        wep_key0=##########
        disabled=1
}

and manually:

Code:

spitfire stardotstar # wpa_supplicant -dw -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dmadwifi -iath0 -dddd
Initializing interface 'ath0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'madwifi' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
ctrl_interface_group='0' (DEPRECATED)
ap_scan=2
update_config=1
Line: 6 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=6):
     43 61 73 70 65 72                                 Casper
BSSID - hexdump(len=6): 00 13 46 4c 43 0c
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=10): [REMOVED]
key_mgmt: 0x2
pairwise: 0x8
group: 0xe
auth_alg: 0x1
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Line: 16 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=5):
     73 6b 69 6e 6b                                    skink
key_mgmt: 0x4
wep_key0 - hexdump(len=5): [REMOVED]
disabled=1 (0x1)
Line: 23 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=8):
     73 65 6e 74 69 6e 65 6c                           sentinel
BSSID - hexdump(len=6): 00 14 bf e3 ec 84
key_mgmt: 0x4
auth_alg: 0x1
wep_key0 - hexdump(len=5): [REMOVED]
disabled=1 (0x1)
Priority group 0
   id=0 ssid='Casper'
   id=1 ssid='skink'
   id=2 ssid='sentinel'
Initializing interface (2) 'ath0'
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=13 enc_capa=0xf
  capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: 00:16:cb:be:72:d3
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=1
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=2
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=3
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
ctrl_interface_group=0
Added interface ath0
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1002 ()
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b06 len=8
Ignore event for foreign ifindex 3
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'ath0' added
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'ath0' added
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Trying to associate with SSID 'Casper'
Cancelling scan request
WPA: clearing own WPA/RSN IE
Automatic auth_alg selection: 0x1
Overriding auth_alg selection: 0x1
WPA: No WPA/RSN IE available from association info
WPA: Set cipher suites based on configuration
WPA: Selected cipher suites: group 14 pairwise 8 key_mgmt 2 proto 2
WPA: clearing AP WPA IE
WPA: clearing AP RSN IE
WPA: using GTK TKIP
WPA: using PTK TKIP
WPA: using KEY_MGMT WPA-PSK
WPA: Set own WPA IE default - hexdump(len=22): 30 14 01 00 00 0f ac 02 01 00 00 0f ac 02 01 00 00 0f ac 02 00 00
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1
State: SCANNING -> ASSOCIATING
wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT)
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5
wpa_driver_madwifi_associate
Setting authentication timeout: 60 sec 0 usec
EAPOL: External notification - EAP success=0
EAPOL: External notification - EAP fail=0
EAPOL: External notification - portControl=Auto
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b1a len=15
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 933 bytes of scan results (4 BSSes)
Scan results: 4

Nothing ever happens - when I look at wpa_cli I get ASSOCIATING and it times out.

usaf_sp · 10-18-2006, 12:43 AM

The issue with WPA-PSK is usually one of driver. This problem mostly affects WLAN cards who's manufacturers have not provided any technical details so that a proper driver can be made for linux. Linksys USB is a perfect example. Since you have not provided the make and model of the card you are trying to connect, it is impossible for me to know what your issue is for sure.

IF you have a Linksys USB adaptor or a card that does not have a proper linux driver, you will have to use NDISWRAPPER. This is a program that will allow you to use the windows driver for your card on your linux machine. If you do a google search, you will find hundreds of pages of help on NDISWRAPPER.

Intel cards appear to work great.

Good Luck

stardotstar · 10-18-2006, 01:03 AM

Thank you for the reply.

This is the MacBookPro with an atheros chipset wifi in it. I think this is all I can find out about it:

Code:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 22)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 001c (rev 01)

I have it on good advice that atheros/madwifi work well but perhaps this is only for simple associations. Certainly I have been experiencing some difficulties in getting associations happening with APs that always worked fine with ipw2200/wpa_supp on my ThinkPad.

Will

2Gnu · 10-18-2006, 09:05 AM

Is the SSID broadcast turned off? Doing so can cause connectivity problems, especially with WPA. Leaving it on does not compromise security.

Try lspci -v to see if you can extract more detail about the Atheros card. Some of the newer ones are not supported. A complete list is here: http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility

stardotstar · 10-18-2006, 09:14 PM

OK, I have this:

Code:

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 001c (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Unknown device 0086
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 177
        Memory at 98100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 001c (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Unknown device 0086
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 177
        Memory at 98100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
        Capabilities: [60] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0
        Capabilities: [90] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=1
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel Management version 2
        Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
        Capabilities: [60] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0
        Capabilities: [90] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=1
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel

and I find that there are two distinct "wierd" things that happen.

1) problem with the association with wpa-psk (trying this with broadcasting on now and also going to play with the settings wpa_supp offer to do with scanning modes and ap/client broadcasting of ssids.

2) getting association on wep to happen with one of my three APs is straight forward - "just works" rarely drops. Getting it to happen on two of the others (one of which is the wpa-psk one now) I have to do a really wierd process to get the association. I will put more detail of this up later but basically the only way I can get an association to happen is by:
1) stop ath0 with initscript.
2) start wpa_supplicant (in foreground - ie not daemonised) manually and then break it (ctrl-c) when the signal is detected and association is being attempted.
3) restart the ath0 with the initscript. The interface drops but then association happens properly and interface is up!

Very frustrating and confusing that it works that way - I will post a session of this kind shortly.

stardotstar · 10-18-2006, 09:20 PM

OK here is a session trying to associate with my wep ap - sentinel - so that I cna post this:

Code:

spitfire stardotstar # ifconfig ath0 && iwconfig ath0
ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CB:BE:72:D3  
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1078 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:829 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:766809 (748.8 Kb)  TX bytes:202071 (197.3 Kb)

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=off   Sensitivity=0/3  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=0/94  Signal level=-95 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:34538  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

spitfire stardotstar # wpa_supplicant -dw -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dmadwifi -iath0 -dddd
Initializing interface 'ath0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'madwifi' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
ctrl_interface_group='0' (DEPRECATED)
ap_scan=2
update_config=1
Line: 6 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=6):
     43 61 73 70 65 72                                 Casper          
BSSID - hexdump(len=6): 00 13 46 4c 43 0c
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=10): [REMOVED]
key_mgmt: 0x2
pairwise: 0x8
group: 0xe
auth_alg: 0x1
disabled=1 (0x1)
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Line: 17 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=5):
     73 6b 69 6e 6b                                    skink           
key_mgmt: 0x4
wep_key0 - hexdump(len=5): [REMOVED]
disabled=1 (0x1)
Line: 24 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=8):
     73 65 6e 74 69 6e 65 6c                           sentinel        
BSSID - hexdump(len=6): 00 14 bf e3 ec 84
key_mgmt: 0x4
auth_alg: 0x1
wep_key0 - hexdump(len=5): [REMOVED]
Priority group 0
   id=0 ssid='Casper'
   id=1 ssid='skink'
   id=2 ssid='sentinel'
Initializing interface (2) 'ath0'
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=13 enc_capa=0xf
  capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: 00:16:cb:be:72:d3
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=1
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=2
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=3
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
ctrl_interface_group=0
Added interface ath0
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1002 ()
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b06 len=8
Ignore event for foreign ifindex 3
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'ath0' added
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'ath0' added
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Trying to associate with SSID 'sentinel'
Cancelling scan request
WPA: clearing own WPA/RSN IE
Automatic auth_alg selection: 0x1
Overriding auth_alg selection: 0x1
WPA: clearing AP WPA IE
WPA: clearing AP RSN IE
WPA: clearing own WPA/RSN IE
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=1 key_idx=0 set_tx=1 seq_len=0 key_len=5
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1
State: SCANNING -> ASSOCIATING
wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT)
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5
wpa_driver_madwifi_associate
Setting authentication timeout: 60 sec 0 usec
EAPOL: External notification - portControl=ForceAuthorized
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b1a len=17
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 632 bytes of scan results (3 BSSes)
Scan results: 3
CTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING - signal 2 received
Removing interface ath0
State: ASSOCIATING -> DISCONNECTED
wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT)
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=1
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=2
wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=3
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=0
wpa_driver_madwifi_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=0, operstate=6
Cancelling scan request
spitfire stardotstar # ifconfig ath0 && iwconfig ath0
ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CB:BE:72:D3  
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1078 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:829 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:766809 (748.8 Kb)  TX bytes:202071 (197.3 Kb)

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"sentinel"  
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=17 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=0/94  Signal level=-95 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:34558  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

spitfire stardotstar # /etc/init.d/net.ath0 start
 * Starting ath0
 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on ath0 ...
1161224313.957167: Initializing interface 'ath0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'madwifi' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
1161224313.957269: Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
1161224313.957300: Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
1161224313.957349: ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
1161224313.957378: ctrl_interface_group='0' (DEPRECATED)
1161224313.957412: ap_scan=2
1161224313.957439: update_config=1
1161224313.957467: Line: 6 - start of a new network block
1161224313.957498: ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=6):
     43 61 73 70 65 72                                 Casper          
1161224313.957557: BSSID - hexdump(len=6): 00 13 46 4c 43 0c
1161224313.957587: PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=10):
     50 72 33 63 33 73 73 31 30 6e                     Pr3c3ss10n      
1161224313.957648: key_mgmt: 0x2
1161224313.957676: pairwise: 0x8
1161224313.957703: group: 0xe
1161224313.957729: auth_alg: 0x1
1161224313.957760: disabled=1 (0x1)
1161224313.976727: PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): e8 6d a6 c1 03 00 ec ab b9 6a 39 0a d7 4c cb 5d 33 52 61 c6 ce 22 6e 4f e3 b6 ce 3e 4c 33 2b f9
1161224313.976839: Line: 17 - start of a new network block
1161224313.976883: ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=5):
     73 6b 69 6e 6b                                    skink           
1161224313.976947: key_mgmt: 0x4
1161224313.976993: wep_key0 - hexdump(len=5): 52 30 74 30 72
1161224313.977029: disabled=1 (0x1)
1161224313.977059: Line: 24 - start of a new network block
1161224313.977090: ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=8):
     73 65 6e 74 69 6e 65 6c                           sentinel        
1161224313.977153: BSSID - hexdump(len=6): 00 14 bf e3 ec 84
1161224313.977187: key_mgmt: 0x4
1161224313.977218: auth_alg: 0x1
1161224313.977251: wep_key0 - hexdump(len=5): 9a 4a b4 f2 f5
1161224313.977325: Priority group 0
1161224313.977362:    id=0 ssid='Casper'
1161224313.977393:    id=1 ssid='skink'
1161224313.977422:    id=2 ssid='sentinel'
1161224313.977461: Initializing interface (2) 'ath0'
1161224313.980295: EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
1161224313.980343: EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
1161224313.980369: EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
1161224313.980396: EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
1161224313.980445: EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
1161224313.980480: EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
1161224313.980579: SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=13 enc_capa=0xf
1161224313.980608:   capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
1161224313.980664: WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
1161224313.985752: Own MAC address: 00:16:cb:be:72:d3
1161224313.987443: wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=0
1161224313.987475: wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=1
1161224313.987502: wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=2
1161224313.987529: wpa_driver_madwifi_del_key: keyidx=3
1161224313.987555: wpa_driver_madwifi_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
1161224313.987582: wpa_driver_madwifi_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1
1161224313.987614: Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
1161224313.987998: ctrl_interface_group=0
1161224313.988063: Added interface ath0
1161224313.988092: Daemonize..                                            [ ok ]
 *   Starting wpa_cli on ath0 ...                                         [ ok ]
 *     Backgrounding ...
spitfire stardotstar # ifconfig ath0 && iwconfig ath0ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CB:BE:72:D3  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1078 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:831 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:766809 (748.8 Kb)  TX bytes:202155 (197.4 Kb)

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"sentinel"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.432 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:BF:E3:EC:84   
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:15 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:9A4A-B4F2-F5   Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=20/94  Signal level=-75 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:34575  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
spitfire stardotstar # ifconfig ath0 && iwconfig ath0
ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CB:BE:72:D3  
          inet addr:192.168.100.244  Bcast:192.168.100.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1092 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:842 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:770611 (752.5 Kb)  TX bytes:203434 (198.6 Kb)

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"sentinel"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.432 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:BF:E3:EC:84   
          Bit Rate:24 Mb/s   Tx-Power:15 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:9A4A-B4F2-F5   Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=21/94  Signal level=-74 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:34846  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
spitfire stardotstar # ifconfig ath0 && iwconfig ath0
ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CB:BE:72:D3  
          inet addr:192.168.100.244  Bcast:192.168.100.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1092 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:842 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:770611 (752.5 Kb)  TX bytes:203434 (198.6 Kb)

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"sentinel"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.432 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:BF:E3:EC:84   
          Bit Rate:24 Mb/s   Tx-Power:15 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:9A4A-B4F2-F5   Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=21/94  Signal level=-74 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:34846  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

spitfire stardotstar # ifconfig ath0 && iwconfig ath0
ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CB:BE:72:D3  
          inet addr:192.168.100.244  Bcast:192.168.100.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1092 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:842 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:770611 (752.5 Kb)  TX bytes:203434 (198.6 Kb)

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"sentinel"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.432 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:BF:E3:EC:84   
          Bit Rate:24 Mb/s   Tx-Power:15 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3  
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:9A4A-B4F2-F5   Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=21/94  Signal level=-74 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:34846  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

It will drop out soon and I can't reassociate with /etc/init.d/net.ath0 restart - I have to go through the whole process again. I really don't know what other information I can provide to assist debugging.

stardotstar · 10-18-2006, 10:04 PM

OK Some success!

This finally works for my wpa-psk network. Notice the other option types I played with to finally end up with the critical option scan_ssid=1 and eapol_version=2

Code:

spitfire stardotstar # cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf 
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
ap_scan=1
update_config=1
eapol_version=2
network={
        scan_ssid=1
#       mode=0
        ssid="Casper"
#       bssid=00:13:46:4c:43:0c
        psk="verysecretpassphrase"
#       proto=WPA
#       key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
#       pairwise=TKIP
#       group=TKIP WEP104 WEP40
#       auth_alg=OPEN
}

This works with the broadcast ssid on the AP on or off thankfully - we are supposed to have ssid broadcast OFF around the office.

So now I must turn to the other wierdness that is happening to my other AP sentinel.

Thanks for the suggestion about broadcasting/scanning...

stardotstar · 10-18-2006, 10:22 PM

OK I got it.

The eapol_version=2 and scan_ssid=1 had to be set for the two problematic network blocks - I am not sure if this is associated with the card features/capabilities or the APs in question!