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Debugging Wireless Issues on Ubuntu Kernels

This document provides a comprehensive guide for debugging WiFi issues on Ubuntu, emphasizing the importance of detailed information in reports to assist developers in resolving wireless driver bugs. It outlines specific questions and data that users must provide, including hardware details, wireless access point configurations, and testing with different kernels and drivers. Additionally, it mentions resources for obtaining newer kernels and reporting bugs effectively to improve wireless driver quality.

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Rabo Karabekian
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26 views

Debugging Wireless Issues on Ubuntu Kernels

This document provides a comprehensive guide for debugging WiFi issues on Ubuntu, emphasizing the importance of detailed information in reports to assist developers in resolving wireless driver bugs. It outlines specific questions and data that users must provide, including hardware details, wireless access point configurations, and testing with different kernels and drivers. Additionally, it mentions resources for obtaining newer kernels and reporting bugs effectively to improve wireless driver quality.

Uploaded by

Rabo Karabekian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Debugging Wireless Issues on Ubuntu Kernels

This page is about debugging 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi issues. Gathering debugging
information is vital for developers to fix wireless driver bugs. This process helps improve the
overall quality of wireless drivers.

Debugging information to provide in your


report
First, please note "I don't know", "I haven't tested this", "I'll test later", "I'm assuming that...",
etc. are not acceptable answers to any of the below. If you don't understand the question, or
have to assume something, please advise to what you don't understand or are assuming
specifically in your report, and it will be clarified. Otherwise, making such a response will
further delay your issue being addressed.

Also, please post in your report both the question and answer, as the presentation of the
information here can change:

1. What is the full computer model number (ex. HP G32-301TX Notebook PC)?
2. If you update your BIOS to the newest version following the guide here, does this
change anything?
3. Regarding your wireless Access Point (WAP):
o 3a. What is the current WAP manufacturer, full model, revision, and firmware
version?
3b. If you update the WAP to the latest firmware does it change anything?
3c. What wireless connection type are you using (802.11ac, 802.11n 150/300,
802.11g, etc.)?
3d. If you switch to a different wireless type (802.11g or 802.11n if you are
using 802.11g) does this change anything?
3e. What channel specifically are you using when this problem is
reproducible?
3f. In order to understand the wireless environment your WAP is working in,
please provide the output of the following terminal command:

sudo iw dev wlan0 scan | grep -i "ds parameter set"

3g. What encryption type are you using (ex. WEP, WPA2-PSK, etc.)?
3h. If you change and remove encryption entirely does this change anything?
3i. Do you have QoS (Quality of Service)/WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia)
enabled?
3j. If you disable/enable QoS/WMM does it change anything?
3k. What is the current beacon interval (usually default is 100)?
3l. If you adjust this to 50 does it change anything?
3m. Does your WAP have a firewall enabled?
3n. If you enable/disable the firewall does it change anything?
3o. What frequency are you using (2.4GHz, 5GHz, etc.)?
3p. If you change frequency does it change anything?

4. Does another wireless device tested with the WAP have the same problem as the
hardware you initially reported with?
5. What is the distance of the wireless device from the WAP?
6. What is the number and type of obstructions between your device and the WAP?
o 6a. If you bring the device close to the WAP and eliminate obstructions, does
this change anything?
7. Does the issue occur with different WAPs?
8. Is it a regression (i.e. did the problem happen in a prior Ubuntu release)? If so, what
release specifically did it last work with? If you do not know, could you please test for
this in the earliest release of Ubuntu that is supported as per Ubuntu Releases?
9. Does this problem occur in the newest mainline kernel following
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/MainlineBuilds? Please mention what specific version
of the mainline kernel you tested with in your report.
10. After testing the latest mainline kernel:
o 10a. If the mainline kernel works, does the development release work? Please
mention in your report the specific version you tested.

10b. If the mainline kernel doesn't work, could you please test compat-
wireless from upstream via here and advise to the results?

11. Only for Broadcom wireless chipsets, does the Broadcom STA driver work following
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx? Please mention what
specific version of Broadcom STA you tested with in your report.
12. Only for Realtek wireless chipsets:
o 12a. Does disabling the firmware power management change anything? This
may be done via a terminal:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/DRIVER.conf


options DRIVER ips=0 fwlps=0

where DRIVER is the kernel driver in use for your card found by executing at
a terminal:

lspci -v

12b. Does the upstream proprietary Realtek driver downloaded from


http://www.realtek.com.tw work? Please mention what specific version of the
drivers you tested with in your report. If it doesn't work, please contact the
card vendor, for example ASUS (not Realtek), file a case number requesting
the driver be fixed, and post the case number to your report.

13. Only for Intel wireless chipsets:


o 13a. Please advise to which firmware version the device is using. Stating
the linux-firmware version (ex. apt-cache policy linux-firmware), while
necessary, is not the firmware version in use, but the package version of linux-
firwmare. In order to find the version in use, one may check dmesg. For
example, if the chipset was using the iwlwifi driver:
o cat /var/log/dmesg | grep "firmware version"
[ 2.820714] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version
25.222.9.0 op_mode iwlmvm

For more on this, please see here.


13b. Did this work on a prior linux-firmware version? If you don't know,
please test a prior release and advise to which version of the firmware, and
kernel you tested specifically.
13c. Does this work, or have a measurable positive impact using the latest
firmware available from Intel? If you don't know, please test this with the
latest mainline kernel, and firmware available for your chipset.

14. Does ndiswrapper work following


https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper? Please mention
what specific version of ndiswrapper you tested with, and a link to the Windows
driver you used in your report. If ndiswrapper does not work, you are welcome to
file a new bug report by executing at a terminal:

ubuntu-bug ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

Compat-wireless from upstream


Upstream has a more bleeding-edge tree called linux-next, that uses the stable tree as it's
base. One would want to test this, as it contains the latest features and fixes, and is a staging
area for code that may be merged into Linus's tree. Testing this gives developers vital
information on what may fix your issue. For more on this, please see here.

The Ubuntu proposed repository


Keep in mind Ubuntu has a "proposed" repository which allows you to get newer stable
kernels (if you are using 2.6.27.10 the proposed repository may have a 2.6.27.14 kernel).
Instructions on enabling this repository may be found here. The kernels are propagated over
time from the proposed repository to updates over a few weeks period of time after general
testing and acceptance.

The Linux wireless guide on reporting bugs


For debugging information preferred by upstream please see:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/Reporting_bugs

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