Wireless interface connects to wrong AP on boot

[Pawel Stolowski]

Hello,

I've a strange issue with wireless connection. Some setup information first:
- I've atheros-based NIC that works well with madwifi
- I've removed NetworkManager as I need a fixed (static) connection
- my ath0 interface is configured via /etc/network/interfaces with "auto" flag
- I use WPA2 and it's properly configured in the "interfaces" file

Now onto the problem... For some reason ath0 attempts to connect to wrong access point on startup (e.g. when Ubuntu boots up), but I can bring it up manually with no problems (sudo ifup ath0 - connects to correct AP and works fine).

Any idea on what may be wrong?

PS. BTW, I tried wicd (just out of curiosity) and it also would not connect to my AP automatically on boot - I had to manually select my AP to connect to it (and yes, "Automatically connect" option was set). I noticed that I had to click "Refresh" in wicd for my AP to appear on the list - is it possible the my AP gets unnoticed due to some delays in response? I haven't had any problems with any distro with this so far -- just with Hardy.

[chili555]

my ath0 interface is configured via /etc/network/interfacesI suggest specifying the MAC address of the access point you want to connect to in interfaces. Determine it with:sudo iwlist ath0 scanYou will get a result like this:Cell 01 - Address: 99:13:19:62:8D:F7
ESSID:"mylilrouter"
Mode:Master
Channel:11
=== snip ===Then specify it in interfaces:auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid mylilrouter
wireless-key 096c7fblahfoo
wireless-ap 99:13:19:62:8D:F7

[Pawel Stolowski]

I suggest specifying the MAC address of the access point you want to connect to in interfaces.
(...)


Hello,

That didn't help. My current interfaces entry for ath0 is:

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet static
wpa-ssid foobar
wpa-bssid 00:08:B1:C1:D1:01
wpa-ap-scan 0
wpa-scan-ssid 0
wpa-driver wext
wpa-proto WPA2
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk "********"
address 192.168.0.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.254


The only workaround I've found so far is to remove "auto ath0" and add "/sbin/ifup ath0" line to /etc/rc.local, but I don't like it... Any other ideas on what maybe wrong?

Thanks,

Pawel

[Pawel Stolowski]

Ok, It looks like I've finally found a workaround for my problem. The solution is to configure wireless interface with dedicated wpa_supplicant config file. My entry for ath0 in /etc/network/interfaces:


auto ath0
iface ath0 inet static
address 192.168.0.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.254
wpa-driver madwifi
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf


And in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf I have:


ap_scan=1
network={
key_mgmt=NONE
priority=-9999999
}
network={
ssid="foobar"
proto=RSN
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
psk="************"
priority=1
}


Some conclusions:
- if I entered the above settings in "interfaces" file directly (no separate wpa config file) - it didn't work
- adding pairwise and group parameters seem to be crucial too

It tooks me several hours and a lot of frustration to figure this out... Maybe this helps someone.