Bug 716652

One possible cause is bug#716013 if the firewall is activated.
Another possible cause is that the system is trying to set the wifi interface to power saving, which my interface is not supporting and results in an error message after which the interface is not set up any further. This was found by configuring the ifup traditional set up in which the parameter WIRELESS_POWER in /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-wlan0 was set to "no", which caused the error. After setting this parameter to "none", the interface is working.
The interface shows itself as "AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter".

If the wireless adapter or driver does not support power saving (anymore),
the '/etc/sysconfig/network/scripts/ifup-wireless' script returns an error.
Because the 'ifup-wireless' script returns an error,
the DHCP client is not started.


In '/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg.template' for 'WIRELESS_POWER' it says:
"
# Note, that this setting is not supported by all cards resp. drivers
# and shall be tested before the user decides to set it.
"
However, nowhere is this tested.
(Note that 'ifcfg.template' says '## Default: "none"', but the actual default is '""'.)


In '/usr/share/YaST2/modules/LanItems.ycp' the 'WIRELESS_POWER' is always set to either 'no' or 'yes'.  So when the 'Traditional Method with ifup' is used, YaST never sets 'WIRELESS_POWER' to ' "" ' nor ' "none" ' and 'iwconfig <iface> power ..' is always called.


Error message:
"
# ifup wlan0
    wlan0     device: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)
command 'iwconfig wlan0 power period 2' returned
 Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
    wlan0     warning: WPA configured, but is untested
    wlan0     warning: with this device
    wlan0     starting wpa_supplicant
"

Notes:
- The power saving in the driver for the Intel 4965 AGN has been disabled in the version in openSUSE 12.1 M5, but was enabled in openSUSE 11.4.


Workaround:
Set ' WIRELESS_POWER="" ' in '/etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-wlan0' and set this each time after you run 'YaST > Network Devices > Network Settings'.


Attached Solution:
If 'iwconfig <iface> power off' returns error 250, power saving is unsupported an the error is ignored.
The patch tests for the error 250.  And if iwconfig ever changes the error number for the 'unsupported operation' error, the ifup-wireless' script must be updated.

Created attachment 452882 [details]
Ignore error if power saving is unsupported.

Thanks,

fixed in http://gitorious.org/opensuse/sysconfig/commit/9eb69f41 and
will be in the submit to factory.

Marius, please don't forget to commit this to Factory - it broke wireless (which I need for internet access) on my system after updating from 11.4 to Factory (slightly newer than beta1) :-(

The good news is: I manually applied Manuel's patch - it works (with traditional network configuration).

Fixed and requested submit in https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/86630

Why it is marked as "solved"? I have the same issue after upgrading to openSUSE 12.2

It affects the most up-to-date openSUSE 12.2

Hmm... Have to take a closer look -- did the return code changed?

Yes. After upgrade from 11.4 to 12.2 I got

command 'iwconfig wlan0 power period 2' returned
 Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

By turning off the power management on WLAN0 via Yast as described above I got rid of the error. I had to connect Internet via cable to learn the solution though.

linux:~ # ip link set up wlan0
linux:~ # iwconfig wlan0 power period 2 ; echo "power period 2: $?"
Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
power period 2: 250
linux:~ # iwconfig wlan0 power off ; echo "power off: $?"
power off: 0

Created attachment 510912 [details]
ifup-wireless: do not fail on unsupported power options

I'd say, this patch should fix it. I've applied it at:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/mtomaschewski:/branches:/openSUSE:/12.2:/Update/standard/x86_64/

please wait a bit until it rebuilds (> sysconfig-0.76.4-1.3.1).

Does it work for you now?

This is typically a problem during installation from DVD or CD, so further testing only makes sense for 12.3. The problem does not exist after installation, because after installation I use NetworkManager. You generated something for 12.2, which makes no sense to me. I can do a test on my laptop with generating oS 12.3 some Milestone in which this change is present. So please give me a warning when this change is available in a 12.3 Milestone, I assume it is not available in M0. Will it be in M1?

Which package from the repository should I test?

(In reply to comment #15)
This one, please:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/mtomaschewski:/branches:/openSUSE:/12.2:/Update/standard/x86_64/sysconfig-0.76.4-1.4.1.x86_64.rpm

(submitted as rq 139466) or the most recent sysconfig-0.76.6 from factory.

(In reply to comment #14)
> This is typically a problem during installation from DVD or CD

Well, it may cause a problem while installation too, but it is not limited
to the installation flow. It can be tested in a normal system using:

/sbin/ifup wlan0 ; echo "return code: $?"

or incl. collecting some trace output:

{ bash -x /sbin/ifup wlan0 ; echo "return code: $?"; } &>/tmp/ifup.wlan0.out

Note, that an error message like:
  Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
      SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
from ifup-wireless will still occur -- but the error code will be not
forwarded to ifup any more.

Please reopen / let me know when it still causes problem. Thanks!

BTW: When you have some problems, uninstall "samba-client" package and retry.
The samba-client installs some if-up.d hooks which sometimes triggers a systemd
deadlock / blocks ifup and finally causes "rcnetwork" timeouts (see bnc#780644).

This is an autogenerated message for OBS integration:
This bug (716652) was mentioned in
https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/141173

This is an autogenerated message for OBS integration:
This bug (716652) was mentioned in
https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/142549 Maintenance /

This is an autogenerated message for OBS integration:
This bug (716652) was mentioned in
https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/142552 Maintenance /

openSUSE-RU-2012:1602-1: An update that has four recommended fixes can now be installed.

Category: recommended (low)
Bug References: 716652,780644,784952,785240
CVE References: 
Sources used:
openSUSE 12.2 (src):    sysconfig-0.76.4-1.4.1

This is an autogenerated message for OBS integration:
This bug (716652) was mentioned in
https://build.opensuse.org/request/show/144440 Maintenance /

openSUSE-RU-2012:1651-1: An update that has 5 recommended fixes can now be installed.

Category: recommended (moderate)
Bug References: 716652,775281,780644,784952,785240
CVE References: 
Sources used:
openSUSE 12.1 (src):    sysconfig-0.75.4-2.16.1

Update released for: sysconfig, sysconfig-debuginfo, sysconfig-debugsource
Products:
SLE-DEBUGINFO 11-SP2 (i386, ia64, ppc64, s390x, x86_64)
SLE-DESKTOP 11-SP2 (i386, x86_64)
SLE-SERVER 11-SP2 (i386, ia64, ppc64, s390x, x86_64)
SLES4VMWARE 11-SP2 (i386, x86_64)