# (atheros) wifi is constantly disconnecting and going down



## aimeec1995 (Jan 28, 2020)

So I am having an issue with the wifi on my laptop.
In pci-conf, the chip identies itself as ' QCA9565 / AR9565 '

And now the issue, it is constantly dropping connection from my wireless network every 30s or so.

Most of the time it manages to reconnect itself, but eventually it fails and the interface goes down and I have to bring it back up and reconnect.

my system has not given me much useful information as to why this is happening, dmesg only states that the interface is going down and the output of wpa_supplicant only states the same

Things I already tried: 
- other wireless networks
- other operating systems, in which the issue was not present
- disabling all power saving/management and anything sleep related

I do not have another wifi card, I have more of the same model and that is all

Output of wpa_supplicant, it is just a repeat of this:



```
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
wlan0: Trying to associate with 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 (SSID='Myers-2G' freq=2412 MHz)
Failed to add supported operating classes IE
wlan0: Associated with 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96
wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 completed [id=0 id_str=]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 reason=0
wlan0: Trying to associate with 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 (SSID='Myers-2G' freq=2412 MHz)
Failed to add supported operating classes IE
wlan0: Associated with 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96
wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 completed [id=0 id_str=]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=00:fb:55:bb:ff:96 reason=0
```


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## aimeec1995 (Jan 28, 2020)

So I think this might be related to my use of KDE5

Is this possible?


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## mark_j (Jan 28, 2020)

Can you get any information off your router?
The obvious thing is to test using another wifi device to connect to the same router.
I had issues with drop-outs (not exactly the same as you, though) and it eventually lead to a replacement wifi card for the laptop; Realtek to intel.


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## aimeec1995 (Jan 28, 2020)

mark_j said:


> Can you get any information off your router?
> The obvious thing is to test using another wifi device to connect to the same router.
> I had issues with drop-outs (not exactly the same as you, though) and it eventually lead to a replacement wifi card for the laptop; Realtek to intel.



I tried other wireless networks,   it is the same. I tried an neighbors's wifi and that of a coffee shop.
I think my laptop has a whitelist, I'll see about a replacement


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## mark_j (Jan 28, 2020)

Perhaps try a USB Live Linux version to see if that can connect to your WiFi? If that works, then you know it is FreeBSD and stops you replacing hardware for no reason.


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## aimeec1995 (Jan 29, 2020)

mark_j said:


> Perhaps try a USB Live Linux version to see if that can connect to your WiFi? If that works, then you know it is FreeBSD and stops you replacing hardware for no reason.



Sorry, I did not include this in my main post as I did not want to make a rude comparison thread.

I did try it in windows (8 and 10), linux  and even macos (el capitan). The same wifi card has rock solid stability on all 3 of those.

I will update my post.


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## mark_j (Jan 29, 2020)

Ah, well that clears it up.
Perhaps you could take the time to post a bug report so that the driver can be fixed?

The error "Failed to add supported operating classes IE"  occurs because it cannot negotiate 802.11 which you'd think was pretty basic. So maybe the driver does not support your 802.11[abcn...]?

Your error message is, according to the source code, caused by "Disconnected, data connection is not available"




aimeec1995 said:


> So I think this might be related to my use of KDE5
> 
> Is this possible?


Anything is possible!  I doubt it, but... anything's possible.

Why not install XFCE (or some similar interface) and see? It will only take a few minutes and won't interfere with KDE once you reset your xinitrc or startx.


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## aimeec1995 (Jan 30, 2020)

mark_j said:


> Ah, well that clears it up.
> Perhaps you could take the time to post a bug report so that the driver can be fixed?
> 
> The error "Failed to add supported operating classes IE"  occurs because it cannot negotiate 802.11 which you'd think was pretty basic. So maybe the driver does not support your 802.11[abcn...]?
> ...



I am sorry for the delay, a tree fell on my house.

Yes, I will try this, good idea. I would just use xfce4 instead permanently, but it always makes me click a confirm dialog when opening shortcuts on my desktop, it's really annoying.


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## aimeec1995 (Jan 30, 2020)

I think this goes deeper.
I changed to windowmaker and the issue still occured, only after extended use I started to experience weirder problems.

My interface is up and I am connected to a wireless network, but all I can really do is ping google with about 50% packet loss
90% of other websites time out, i've triedother DNS servers
I havent changed any settings.. I guess Freebsd wireless drivers are not that mature.

In the meantime, I am going to collect more info then make a new thread since these issues go beyond the scope of this one


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## mark_j (Jan 30, 2020)

aimeec1995 said:


> I am sorry for the delay, a tree fell on my house.




A tree? That's no excuse!  I hope all is well, no humans or animals injured and insurance is covering the cost?



aimeec1995 said:


> Yes, I will try this, good idea. I would just use xfce4 instead permanently, but it always makes me click a confirm dialog when opening shortcuts on my desktop, it's really annoying.



I have to say I've never experienced that, BUT, I have a desktop which is basically blank. There's probably some obscure setting to stop it doing that, you would think.

But to your issue, it might just be a good thing to try to at least rule out KDE.


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## mark_j (Jan 30, 2020)

aimeec1995 said:


> I think this goes deeper.
> I changed to windowmaker and the issue still occured, only after extended use I started to experience weirder problems.
> 
> My interface is up and I am connected to a wireless network, but all I can really do is ping google with about 50% packet loss
> ...



I can't vouch for the drivers, but they can't be that bad. I don't see any major bugs regarding them (ie rendering them unusable). The sort of intermittent nature of the drop outs would suggest some loss of signal power. Perhaps up the power (if you can) on the router for the WiFi? It's 2GHz isn't it? That's pretty resilient for going through walls etc, whereas 5GHz is often a problem (even with 100% transmission power).

You're probably correct; a new thread is called for.

You need to get as much information as you can, like what it's attempting to connect at (802.11ab for example), and you probably need tools like mtr.
Stuff like wpa_supplicant (sans passwords of course) and all other config files, /var/log/messages output relevant to the card etc plus output of ifconfig.


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## Phishfry (Jan 30, 2020)

How about some more background.
Did this module ever work OK on FreeBSD?
Is this a M.2 NGFF module or mPCIe? AR9580 comes in both flavors.
Have you moved the computer recently? Some old walls use lath inside and this is a blocker. Brick fireplaces too can cause blockage.

I have to say I use ath0 in around 6 different laptops and the AR9380 module works very well for me.
I can get around 7-10MB/sec and I use a AR9580 module on my FreeBSD Wireless Access Point build on an APU2.

```
ath0@pci0:4:0:0:    class=0x028000 card=0xd01419b6 chip=0x0033168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Qualcomm Atheros'
    device     = 'AR958x 802.11abgn Wireless Network Adapter'
    class      = network
```

Is this module in a laptop? Could it be getting too hot perhaps?


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## aimeec1995 (Jan 31, 2020)

Phishfry said:


> How about some more background.
> Did this module ever work OK on FreeBSD?
> Is this a M.2 NGFF module or mPCIe? AR9580 comes in both flavors.
> Have you moved the computer recently? Some old walls use lath inside and this is a blocker. Brick fireplaces too can cause blockage.
> ...



Thanks for replying, this is an old mini pcie wireless card, it is in use on a laptop which is being used in various places but mostly in my bed, the issues seem to persist regardless of where I am
It is an atheros qcwb335 wireless + bluetooth card

I didn't know these cards could get hot, I can try gleing a small thermal pad or something to it?


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