USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

a7ch · 2015-01-01 20:09:27

I boot up and my onboard wifi adapter, Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230, successfully connects to my access point.

I plug in a USB device (or if it was already plugged in while the laptop booted up, same thing happens) Alfa AWUS036H. This device connects/disconnects every 4-5 seconds. If i were to open the network gui utility provided by gnome3 I can see the USB-WIFI device connect and drop ever 4-5 seconds. dmesg shows this loop:

[  616.983966] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 81
[  617.397443] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 82 using xhci_hcd
[  617.708035] ieee80211 phy203: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  617.708224] ieee80211 phy203: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:69:83:50, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[  617.717312] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  617.717664] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[  617.728608] rtl8187 3-4:1.0 wlp0s20u4: renamed from wlan0
[  619.786263] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 82
[  620.186364] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 83 using xhci_hcd
[  620.498260] ieee80211 phy204: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  620.498506] ieee80211 phy204: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:69:83:50, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[  620.507212] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  620.507643] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[  620.518420] rtl8187 3-4:1.0 wlp0s20u4: renamed from wlan0
[  622.551859] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 83
[  622.958613] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 84 using xhci_hcd
[  623.269153] ieee80211 phy205: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  623.269350] ieee80211 phy205: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:69:83:50, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[  623.278624] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  623.279071] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[  623.290310] rtl8187 3-4:1.0 wlp0s20u4: renamed from wlan0
[  625.337339] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 84
[  625.974345] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 85 using xhci_hcd
[  626.284073] ieee80211 phy206: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  626.284312] ieee80211 phy206: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:69:83:50, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[  626.293498] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  626.293858] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[  626.304998] rtl8187 3-4:1.0 wlp0s20u4: renamed from wlan0

This adapter should not be attempting to connect to a wireless network as I want to place it in monitor/promiscuous mode and use wireshark to sniff traffic.

My best theory right now is both adapters are attempting to connect on the same channel (might be the wrong word), usually channel 1 and that is causing a conflict. If i go into the nifty GUI app for networking provided by gnome3 and then turn the onboard WIFI off then the USB wifi will stop disconnecting. However as soon as i attempt to connect to a network with either adapter the USB adapter disconnects and the loop of connect/disconnect starts back up.

This is what dmesg shows when this happens.

[  848.501676] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, device number 37
[  848.908505] usb 3-4: new high-speed USB device number 38 using xhci_hcd
[  849.219830] ieee80211 phy283: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  849.220082] ieee80211 phy283: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:69:83:50, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[  849.229445] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  849.229810] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[  849.240453] rtl8187 3-4:1.0 wlp0s20u4: renamed from wlan0
[  851.137843] wlp10s0: deauthenticating from 90:3e:ab:96:33:b0 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
[  851.142578] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain

At one point yesterday this was functioning properly. Perhaps I joined a network with the USB adapter and now that is causing a conflict. Is there any place that might show a real error message or can somebody see the actual error message in my dmesg output?

a7ch · 2015-01-01 21:04:40

I came across this.

sudo tail -n 50 /var/log/messages.log

Jan  1 12:59:12 kernel: usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 50 using xhci_hcd
Jan  1 12:59:12 kernel: ieee80211 phy171: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:69:83:50, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
Jan  1 12:59:12 kernel: rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
Jan  1 12:59:12 kernel: rtl8187: wireless switch is on
Jan  1 12:59:12 mtp-probe[8544]: checking bus 3, device 50: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2"
Jan  1 12:59:12 mtp-probe[8544]: bus: 3, device: 50 was not an MTP device
Jan  1 12:59:12 colord[955]: /usr/lib/colord/colord-sane: error while loading shared libraries: libsane.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Jan  1 12:59:12 NetworkManager[523]: <info> rfkill173: found WiFi radio killswitch (at /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/ieee80211/phy171/rfkill173) (driver rtl8187)
Jan  1 12:59:12 systemd[1]: Starting Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status of rfkill173...
Jan  1 12:59:12 kernel: rtl8187 3-2:1.0 wlp0s20u2: renamed from wlan0
Jan  1 12:59:12 systemd[1]: Started Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status of rfkill173.
Jan  1 12:59:12 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): using nl80211 for WiFi device control
Jan  1 12:59:12 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): new 802.11 WiFi device (driver: 'rtl8187' ifindex: 174)
Jan  1 12:59:12 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): exported as /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/173
Jan  1 12:59:12 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): device state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed') [10 20 2]
Jan  1 12:59:14 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): preparing device
Jan  1 12:59:14 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2) supports 4 scan SSIDs
Jan  1 12:59:14 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): supplicant interface state: starting -> ready
Jan  1 12:59:14 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): device state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant-available') [20 30 42]
Jan  1 12:59:14 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): supplicant interface state: ready -> disconnected
Jan  1 12:59:14 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2) supports 4 scan SSIDs
Jan  1 12:59:15 kernel: usb 3-2: USB disconnect, device number 50
Jan  1 12:59:15 NetworkManager[523]: <info> (wlp0s20u2): device state change: disconnected -> unmanaged (reason 'removed') [30 10 36]
Jan  1 12:59:15 NetworkManager[523]: <info> radio killswitch /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/ieee80211/phy171/rfkill173 disappeared
Jan  1 12:59:15 systemd[1]: Stopping Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status of rfkill173...
Jan  1 12:59:15 systemd[1]: Stopped Load/Save RF Kill Switch Status of rfkill173.
Jan  1 12:59:15 systemd-udevd[261]: error opening USB device 'descriptors' file
Jan  1 12:59:15 colord[955]: /usr/lib/colord/colord-sane: error while loading shared libraries: libsane.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Jan  1 12:59:15 colord[955]: /usr/lib/colord/colord-sane: error while loading shared libraries: libsane.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

bmanuel · 2015-04-05 19:27:03

I've the same problem: did you find a solution for this?

parazyd · 2015-04-06 08:04:59

If you want to use monitoring and injection, you should kill/stop all wpa_supplicant and NetworkManager instances. Or Wicd, or whatever you're using.

seiichiro0185 · 2015-04-07 07:55:49

There should be an option to tell NM to not manage a specific device somewhere. I can't tell exactly where/how to configure it from the top of my head, but it should definitly be there. The manpage for NetworkManager.conf should tell you more I think.

Last edited by seiichiro0185 (2015-04-07 07:59:35)

comm1x · 2016-05-19 21:01:24

Also have the same problem. Cannot find solution for 4 days.
I have 2 operation systems on laptop: arch and ubuntu. In ubuntu RTL8187 works perfectly from box. But in arch do not works absolutely.
I also try fresh LiveCD archbang, and it does not works there too.

Any ideas?

Arch Linux

#1 2015-01-01 20:09:27

USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

#2 2015-01-01 21:04:40

Re: USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

#3 2015-04-05 19:27:03

Re: USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

#4 2015-04-06 08:04:59

Re: USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

#5 2015-04-07 07:55:49

Re: USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

#6 2016-05-19 21:01:24

Re: USB wifi Alfa AWUS036H constantly connecting and disconnecting

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