Bug#403727: [pkg-wpa-devel] Bug#403727: Disconnects every few seconds on madwifi

[Maik Zumstrull]

Kel Modderman wrote:

> > Where this is an option (i.e. the above networks without actual
> > WPA), I also tested using only the driver and ifupdown, without
> > starting wpa_supplicant. In this scenario, the dropouts do not
> > occur.
> 
> Dropouts do not occur? Or dropouts are not "noticed" because
> ifup/ifdown is not called when the driver borks? The roaming setup
> you use is very sensitive to driver stability, or lack of. Using
> static ifupdown stanzas on the other hand is quite insensitive to
> transient dropouts.

Good question. I'll recheck right now (I'm on the university WLAN
without wpa_supplicant).

> Is it your opinion that these transient lapses in operation _only_
> occur in conjunction with wpa_supplicant?

Yes, I feel 99% sure.

I have looked carefully at a "watch iwconfig" and didn't see it switch
to Non-Associated even once over a few minutes -- with wpa_supplicant,
the connection would have dropped about five times in that time period.

Also, the vpnc VPN client I'm using on top of the link is extremely
sensitive to packet loss and should have frozen up on any dropout, even
if ifupdown isn't called. It didn't.

Of course, none of these actually guarantee that there were no
mini-dropouts. Is there a way to get a complete log of any
(dis)association from the driver? That way I could give you a
definitive answer.

> Do you experience any momentary pauses in operation when not using
> wpa_supplcant?

No.