2019-08-21 14:32:51

by Nigel Sollars

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [linuxwifi] Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300 regression

Thanks for the feedback I will look into this and report my findings,
to answer your question, yes I can build a kernel to do this testing.

I will also update my Redhat Bug Ticket with this information also

Regards
Nigel Sollars

On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 2:08 AM Luciano Coelho <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi Nigel,
>
> Unfortunately we don't actively support these old devices anymore, though we try to help as much as we can.
>
> This error is -EINVAL, which means that the driver is not recognizing a parameter passed to it. It's hard to tell exactly what is causing that without further investigation. Are you able to compile the kernel and do some tests? One way you could do it is to replace the -EINVAL with a line number, so we can try to see where the invalid parameter error is coming from. Doing something like this: http://pastebin.coelho.fi/03fa29d951db5405.txt
>
> Then the returned error should correspond to a line number on the driver.
>
> Another thing you could try is to bisect the kernel between the last known good version and the one that fails. To do that you should try to find a newer kernel than 4.15 that works, preferrably as close to 5.1 as possible.
>
> HTH.
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Luca.
>
>
> On Thu, 2019-08-08 at 10:42 -0400, Nigel Sollars wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> So I have been trying to reach out in aim to get this driver fixed as its regressed now to a total non working state.
>
> The card can see access points, but thats about as good as it gets as trying to connect to any networks ( either 2.4 ot 5 Ghz ) results in the following,
>
> wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-22 retry=1
>
> ( alot of these ) which then resets connection status with a failed timeout.
>
> I am currently running FedoraCore 30 with the 5.2.5-200 kernel updated from 5.1.x yesterday. The firmware loaded is,
>
> loaded firmware version 9.221.4.1 build 25532 op_mode iwldvm
>
> Now with all that said, using a Linux Mint live boot from a usb device yeilds the card working fine at both 2.4 and 5ghz speeds, it connects within seconds. The kernal in this live boot is 4.15.x and uses the same firmware build as my FC install.
>
> I did see strange behavior with this card from around 4.18 to 20, thinking the card might have developed a fault and obtained a new one. This proved that this was not the case as I get the exact same behavior from both cards.
>
> Hope this information is helpful to solve quickly, please reach out for more information if required
>
> Thanks
> Nige
>


--
“Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.”

Alan Turing


2019-08-21 23:52:30

by Alexander Wetzel

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [linuxwifi] Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300 regression

>> So I have been trying to reach out in aim to get this driver fixed as its regressed now to a total non working state.
>>
>> The card can see access points, but thats about as good as it gets as trying to connect to any networks ( either 2.4 ot 5 Ghz ) results in the following,
>>
>> wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-22 retry=1
>>
>> ( alot of these ) which then resets connection status with a failed timeout.
>>
>> I am currently running FedoraCore 30 with the 5.2.5-200 kernel updated from 5.1.x yesterday. The firmware loaded is,
>>
>> loaded firmware version 9.221.4.1 build 25532 op_mode iwldvm
>>
>> Now with all that said, using a Linux Mint live boot from a usb device yeilds the card working fine at both 2.4 and 5ghz speeds, it connects within seconds. The kernal in this live boot is 4.15.x and uses the same firmware build as my FC install.

I'm also using a "Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (rev 3e)"
card and it's working perfectly with 5.3.0-rc4-wt here.
(And with most wireless-testing kernels for the last years, too..)

Now there was one noteworthy bug in the last year we handled on the
mailing list:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/[email protected]/

But then this was a null pointer and does not match to what you observe.
(And that really should be fixed in any 5.2 kernel...)

I'm using a Gentoo ~amd64 system and wpa_supplicant more or less
tracking git upstream and the wireless-testing kernels with the same
firmware as you.

So whatever it is, it's not affecting me. I would suggest to try a
vanilla 5.2 kernel and maybe also an updated wpa_supplicant version next...

Alexander

2019-08-22 00:17:50

by Nigel Sollars

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [linuxwifi] Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300 regression

Interesting to be sure, so here are the versions of kernel and wpa_supplicant,

5.2.9-200.fc30.x86_64
wpa_supplicant-2.8-2.fc30.x86_64


On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 5:45 PM Alexander Wetzel
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> So I have been trying to reach out in aim to get this driver fixed as its regressed now to a total non working state.
> >>
> >> The card can see access points, but thats about as good as it gets as trying to connect to any networks ( either 2.4 ot 5 Ghz ) results in the following,
> >>
> >> wlp3s0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-22 retry=1
> >>
> >> ( alot of these ) which then resets connection status with a failed timeout.
> >>
> >> I am currently running FedoraCore 30 with the 5.2.5-200 kernel updated from 5.1.x yesterday. The firmware loaded is,
> >>
> >> loaded firmware version 9.221.4.1 build 25532 op_mode iwldvm
> >>
> >> Now with all that said, using a Linux Mint live boot from a usb device yeilds the card working fine at both 2.4 and 5ghz speeds, it connects within seconds. The kernal in this live boot is 4.15.x and uses the same firmware build as my FC install.
>
> I'm also using a "Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (rev 3e)"
> card and it's working perfectly with 5.3.0-rc4-wt here.
> (And with most wireless-testing kernels for the last years, too..)
>
> Now there was one noteworthy bug in the last year we handled on the
> mailing list:
> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-wireless/[email protected]/
>
> But then this was a null pointer and does not match to what you observe.
> (And that really should be fixed in any 5.2 kernel...)
>
> I'm using a Gentoo ~amd64 system and wpa_supplicant more or less
> tracking git upstream and the wireless-testing kernels with the same
> firmware as you.
>
> So whatever it is, it's not affecting me. I would suggest to try a
> vanilla 5.2 kernel and maybe also an updated wpa_supplicant version next...
>
> Alexander



--
“Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.”

Alan Turing

2019-08-23 08:52:37

by Antanas Uršulis

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [linuxwifi] Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300 regression

I was investigating what appears to be the same issue on my T420
Thinkpad and at least found a workaround (and perhaps a clue for where
the bug could lie).

On 22/08/2019 01:12, Nigel Sollars wrote:
> Interesting to be sure, so here are the versions of kernel and wpa_supplicant,
>
> 5.2.9-200.fc30.x86_64
> wpa_supplicant-2.8-2.fc30.x86_64

Are you using NetworkManager by chance? I stumbled across a Red Hat bug
report[0] involving 'CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-FAILED ret=-22' and the proprietary
broadcom driver. A comment there[1] describes a workaround for their
issue, by making NetworkManager not randomise the MAC address during
access point scans.

Adopting that workaround also works for my Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (rev
3e). Create a config file /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/iwl.conf with contents:

[device]
match-device=driver:iwlwifi
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

Then restart NetworkManager. Alternatively, downgrading wpa_supplicant
(to 2.7-r3 on Gentoo ~amd64) also works for me.

- Antanas

[0] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1703745
[1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1703745#c56