Arch Linux

peti

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-12-14

Posts: 24

Website

Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Hi,

after updating to kernel version 2.6.30, my Belkin Components F5D7050 v4000 USB wireless adapter stopped working properly. In 2.6.29, however, everything is fine. I have no idea what is going wrong, all I can say is that the kernel reports the network device as "not ready", and that is that. I have attached the relevant dmesg output. Does anyone have an idea how to fix this problem?

Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: Linux version 2.6.30-ARCH [...]
[...]
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Using static regulatory domain info
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Regulatory domain: US
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2700 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5170000 KHz - 5190000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5190000 KHz - 5210000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5210000 KHz - 5230000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5230000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 3000 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
[...]
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver zd1211rw
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: DE
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: DE
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (2400000 KHz - 2483500 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5150000 KHz - 5350000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5470000 KHz - 5725000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2698 mBm)
[...]
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel'
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: zd1211rw 1-1:1.0: phy0
[...]
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: usb 1-1: firmware: requesting zd1211/zd1211b_ub
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: usb 1-1: firmware: requesting zd1211/zd1211b_uphr
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: zd1211rw 1-1:1.0: firmware version 4725
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: zd1211rw 1-1:1.0: zd1211b chip 050d:705c v4810 high 00-17-3f AL2230_RF pa0 g--NS
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel: cfg80211: Current regulatory domain intersected: 
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 1700 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Jun 25 21:56:57 peti kernel:     (5490000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Jun 25 21:57:02 peti kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 10
Jun 25 21:57:02 peti kernel: lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
Jun 25 21:57:02 peti kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

ralvez

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-12-06

Posts: 1,694

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Did you try re-installing the driver / firmware ?
For what I have been following in these forums the 2.6.30 kernel broke a whole bunch of things out there but a good number of them seem to get back to working stage after a re-install.
Give it a try, it may just save you some pain.

R.

peti

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-12-14

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Hi Ralvez,

I am not sure what exactly you mean by "re-installing". The driver for the wireless card is found in the standard kernel. The firmware is indeed contained in a separate package, but that firmware is just a bunch of binary files that get loaded at boot-time (and successfully so, according to the diagnostic output).

Take care,
Peter

ralvez

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-12-06

Posts: 1,694

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Yes, looks like this is a problem related to the particular wifi. I found this:https://lists.linux-foundation.org/pipe … 22142.html
It seems the proposed solution that restores the wifi is to downgrade the kernel.

R.

peti

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-12-14

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Yes, the zd1211rw driver in 2.6.29 works. Still, the driver should work in newer kernel versions, too. I don't want to be stuck on 2.6.29 forever. Anyway, it looks like this malfunction is not really related to ArchLinux. There might be more appropriate forums for this question ...

Anyway, thank you for your help.

Peter

scorpio2002

Member

Registered: 2009-03-14

Posts: 10

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

I'm having the same issue with the zd1211rw module shipped with the version 2.6.30. The only solution I found was to downgrade to 2.6.29. have you found a way to fix the module in the 2.6.30 tree?

peti

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-12-14

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Unfortunately, I haven't found a solution either. The driver in 2.6.30 appears to be broken, plain and simple. I'm using 2.6.29 for the time being and hope that eventually these problems will be fixed in newer kernels.

peti

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-12-14

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Alright, I figured it out. The zd1211rw driver *does* work with 2.6.30, but only if wpa_supplicant does scanning and AP selection, i.e. "ap_scan=1" must be set in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. Other settings didn't work for me. According to my understanding, ap_scan=1 implies that the access point must broadcast its SSID. The network cannot be hidden.

ralvez

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-12-06

Posts: 1,694

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

I would not worry much about the network not being hidden. For people that do not know enough to be a threat to your network hidden or not is not a problem and for those that are capable and willing to cause harm the fact that is hidden is not an obstacle.

R.

peti

Member

From: Berlin

Registered: 2008-12-14

Posts: 24

Website

Re: Kernel update to 2.6.30 broke zd1211rw wireless network

Hi Ralvez,

I agree with you that it is useful to distinguish two kinds of attacks when considering this scenario. We can distinguish people who know that my network exists and who want to attack me, specifically, and people who don't know about my network, but rather attack any other network they find. Running a hidden access point -- i.e. an access point that doesn't send out any broadcast packets --, does not help defend against the first type of attack. These attackers don't need the AP to broadcast the fact that it exists; they already know that. The second kind of attacker, however, does not know that the network exists, so if the AP sends out broadcast packets, it does reveal crucial information and thus weakens the security of the network.

Clearly, the fact that the current kernel driver doesn't work with hidden access points is a significant problem that should be taken seriously and that should be fixed. It is, however, not the kind of problem that should make anyone lose sleep at night, because WPA2 encryption is quite secure and very hard to crack regardless of whether the access point is hidden or not.

Take care,
Peter