Broadcom4313 random disconnect

[biodojo]

We have 200 new Acer Aspire One 722 with the BCM4313 card. There were major connection problems with 11.04, but upgrading to 12.04 on kernel 3.3 has been more reliable. However, there was an issue where the laptops were connecting and then losing the ability to ping. The issue is intermittent, while trying to track it down I ran tail -f /var/log/syslog and see that every 20 seconds or so this message is displayed.

brcms_ops_bss_info_changed: qos enabled: true (implement)

About every 60 seconds this message is also mixed in:

brcms_c_dotxstatus: Intermediate but not AMPDU

These messages are appearing while the laptop is succefully connected and constantly ping testing (I am getting 97% successful ping returns), so they are aren't error messages per se, but I was wondering if they might be a clue to why there are occasional losses of connectivity. Trouble shooting intermittent issues is tough!

[biodojo]

We are using WPA and WPA2 personal. In additional testing we are losing ping ability when we run some network traffic on the netbook (stream a video and run speedtest.net). The network manager reports connectivity and there are no disconnect messages in dmesg, but ping says unknown host for LAN or internet addresses. After about 1 minute connectivity returns.

So while the brcmsmac driver in 12.04 seems better than in 11.04 it still isn't good enough for actual use. Does anyone have reliable internet with the Broadcom4313 on the Acer Aspire One 722?

[chili555]

We are using WPA and WPA2 personal.

Will you please try setting your router to WPA2 only, not mixed mode? I think it's actually an issue with wpa_supplicant, not the brcmsmac driver. Many an Ubuntuan has changed drivers again and again when the fault was likely elsewhere.

[biodojo]

This might explain why I don't get any issues when I test these laptops at home but then they have connection issues at our school. I will talk to the folks in charge of our wifi system and see what options they have.

[chili555]

This might explain why I don't get any issues when I test these laptops at home but then they have connection issues at our school. I will talk to the folks in charge of our wifi system and see what options they have.

Indeed. I will be interested in your report. My investigation and understanding of brcmsmac, and wpa_supplicant, for that matter, is a work in progress.

[AnotherMuggle]

I have a HP Mini 210 with a Broadcom 4312 which seems to be behaving in a similar fashion. Internet access seems to mysteriously stop from time to time, usually after a few hours of use.

Network manager thinks I am connected and as far as I can see the system is quite happy, but internet access is gone and pings to the router fail.

Disabling wireless, waiting a moment, then re-enabling fixes the problem every time.

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

TK

[chili555]

I have a HP Mini 210 with a Broadcom 4312 which seems to be behaving in a similar fashion. Internet access seems to mysteriously stop from time to time, usually after a few hours of use.

Network manager thinks I am connected and as far as I can see the system is quite happy, but internet access is gone and pings to the router fail.

Disabling wireless, waiting a moment, then re-enabling fixes the problem every time.

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [14e4:4315] (rev 01)

TK

Since you don't have a 4313, the subject of this thread, please start a new thread. Include:

lsmod | grep -e wl -e b43

Thanks.

[biodojo]

Hi Another Muggle even though it is a slightly different card it is nice to know that someone else has experienced a similar issue. Got the school network to WPA2 only instead of mixed. Will do some testing. It is always tough to test intermittent issues.

[CharlesA]

Threads merged. Please do not create duplicate threads.

[biodojo]

Well I was able to get a network loss even on WPA2 only (though it seemed a bit harder and I only tested for an hour) However I can't reproduce the error on my home network at all. One thing I have noticed is that on the school network dmesg | grep iee is constantly (every 20 seconds) reporting these messages:
brcms_ops_bss_info_changed: qos enabled: true (implement)
brcms_c_dotxstatus: INTERMEDIATE but not AMPDU


This occurs whether wifi is working or not. At home I don't get those messages. I do know that we use VoIP at school and our routers have qos features enabled to make sure the voice communications get priority. Perhaps the brcms driver isn't handling some aspect of the network prioritization correctly. I am getting better packet transmission percentages at home though I definitely have slower wifi at home than at school when I run speedtest.net