ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting // randomly disconnecting

I just tested this with the live desktop cd for 9.04 on an IBM T43 ( same wifi card ) and I am seeing the same problem. After using 9.04 for a little more than a day now this problem is getting increasingly frustrating and is happening more frequent.

I'm using 9.04 on a Fujitsu Siemens S7020D Centrino-Lifebook and seeing the same entries in dmesg:

[ 1986.538767] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.

This doesn't cause any problems for me, tho. No disconnections or interruptions noticed yet.

I'm having similar problems. I also recently updated to the Jaunty beta and I have an IPW2200 wireless card.

After a while my wireless disconnects and I get the same "ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting" error.
I'm attaching an excerpt of my syslog that I took that shows a call trace along with all the error messages.

You'll see that after the problem occured NetworkManager could not reconnect to the network.
I also tried restarting NetworkManager and still could not connect (killall nm-applet, sudo killall NetworkManager, sudo killall wpa_supplicant) and then restarted NetworkManager and nm-applet.
I was able to connect eventually manually using wpa_supplicant and a manually configured /etc/network/interfaces file.
Oddly it didn't work when I ran sudo ifup eth1 but when I ran sudo ifconfig eth1 up, sudo wpa_supplicant -ieth1 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and sudo dhclient eth1 I was able to connect.

Hi there,

After reading up more on the bug in google I found this link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=75612 . After attempting the hwcrypto=0 option i noticed that it did help a little bit, but it did not fully fix the problem. I was still getting disconnected.

When I originally posted this I was using a Linksys WRT160Nv2 for an access point, since then I have swapped out for a ubiquiti networks nanostation 2 ( http://www.ubnt.com/products/nano.php ). In both instances I was using WPA2. The nanostation 2 is a 802.11 b/g. The WRT is a 802.11 b/g/n. I'm 99% sure I tried to use the mixed mode at first ( b/g/n ) on the Linksys, and moved it to BG-mixed shortly after I bought it.

Since I've setup the nanostation 2 I moved the encryption from WPA2 to WPA for an old windows machine and in either configuration I haven't had a single problem with firmware's restarting, or bandwidth throughput, or any kind of connectivity problems.

Hi,
Same problem on my Sony Vaio FS315H with a Centrino chip. Here is the dmesg output:

[39119.091408] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.

And after a "sudo rmmod ipw2200 && sudo modprobe ipw2200":

[42265.081039] ipw2200 0000:06:04.0: PCI INT A disabled
[42265.265592] ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.2.2kmprq
[42265.265599] ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation
[42265.265716] ipw2200 0000:06:04.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[42265.269476] ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
[42265.269564] ipw2200 0000:06:04.0: firmware: requesting ipw2200-bss.fw
[42265.503698] ipw2200: Detected geography ZZD (13 802.11bg channels, 0 802.11a channels)

I remember I had the same problem some years ago with a fresh install of an old Ubuntu version. But this problem was solved a long time ago and reappears with the 9.04 Ubuntu version.

I can confirm this on Jaunty 9.04.

Can anyone try the following and see if it resolves any problems?

As root:

echo "options ipw2200 hwcrypto=1 associate=0 debug=0x43fff" > /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200

Then reboot and see if it still happens.

Hi,

I have experience exactly the same problem with kernel 2.6.28-11-generic after installing Jaunty 9.04.

However, when I fall back to my previous kernel 2.6.27-11-generic I do not get any firmware errors anymore.

So, do you think this is this something related with just kernel 2.6.28-11-generic?

/Victor

Hi Steven,

I'm still having the same issues. There's plenty of information in my syslog but unfortunately it's 220000 lines long now (presumably due to the debug stuff added to the module options) so I can't really attach it here since it's 25 MB. It also makes it difficult to search through unless I know what I'm looking for.
I see the "Firmware error detected. Restarting" message numerous times mixed in with a ton of debug info.
I'm sure a lot of it's useful so let me know what I should try to paste here or I should just upload the file to something like File Dropper.

Colin

When I turn debug on as Steven suggests above, I can't reproduce the problem. Usually I would reproduce it by downloading a big file like an ISO. The only difference is the debug option.
This is on Linux benzilla 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

The same happens on a Dell Latitude D610 with Ubuntu 9.04.
Dmesg output: "ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting."

Hello,

I'm also having this issue, and it happens very frequently.
I using WPA1 and TKIP.

On attachment goes the debug log for a session where the issue happens at 13:28.

Hope this helps the devs and is fixed soon.

Thanks,

Pedro Saraiva

Possibly the same? https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/331103

I've always had the firmware errors occasionally but recently moved to a location with many more wireless networks. Now I get the firmware error every couple of seconds which makes my wireless completely unusable. I can't even connect to the access point.

Jul 15 23:04:39 diamond kernel: [ 37.731758] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Jul 15 23:04:41 diamond kernel: [ 40.474120] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Jul 15 23:04:44 diamond kernel: [ 42.890225] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Jul 15 23:04:47 diamond kernel: [ 45.585245] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Jul 15 23:04:49 diamond kernel: [ 47.993096] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.

I've attached a syslog with debug enabled. (ipw2200 debug output starts around line 1200.)

(Under Windows everything works perfectly.)

Hi all,

I started having the same problem after upgrading to Jaunty. When the card disconnects the only way to reconnect is to either reboot or do
rmmod ipw2200 && modprobe ipw2200
however the rmmod command completely hangs the laptop in about 20% of the cases.

I will try Steven's suggestion.

I sometimes get "Firmware error detected" in isolation, but it doesn't cause any disconnect that I'm aware of. When I'm disconnected I get the below in /var/log/messages:

Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.275714] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322839] ipw2200/0: page allocation failure. order:6, mode:0x8020
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322851] Pid: 23189, comm: ipw2200/0 Tainted: P 2.6.28-15-generic #48-Ubuntu
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322859] Call Trace:
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322877] [<c04fdfc6>] ? printk+0x18/0x1a
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322890] [<c0194507>] __alloc_pages_internal+0x387/0x490
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322904] [<c01087d3>] dma_generic_alloc_coherent+0x73/0xe0
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322916] [<c0108760>] ? dma_generic_alloc_coherent+0x0/0xe0
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322946] [<f841208b>] ipw_load_firmware+0x27b/0x460 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.322985] [<f84040b2>] ? ipw_stop_nic+0x32/0x60 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323009] [<f841446d>] ipw_load+0x42d/0x7a0 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323021] [<c012a5b0>] ? __wake_up+0x40/0x50
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323057] [<f8414857>] ipw_up+0x77/0x430 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323067] [<c014bae5>] ? queue_delayed_work+0x25/0x30
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323092] [<f8414e00>] ? ipw_bg_adapter_restart+0x0/0x40 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323116] [<f8414c44>] ipw_adapter_restart+0x34/0x60 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323128] [<c04fef4b>] ? mutex_lock+0xb/0x20
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323151] [<f8414e29>] ipw_bg_adapter_restart+0x29/0x40 [ipw2200]
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323162] [<c014b0dd>] run_workqueue+0x8d/0x150
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323173] [<c014f03a>] ? prepare_to_wait+0x3a/0x70
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323182] [<c014b358>] worker_thread+0x88/0xf0
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323192] [<c014ede0>] ? autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x50
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323202] [<c014b2d0>] ? worker_thread+0x0/0xf0
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323211] [<c014ea3c>] kthread+0x3c/0x70
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323220] [<c014ea00>] ? kthread+0x0/0x70
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323230] [<c0105477>] kernel_thread_helper+0x7/0x10
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323236] Mem-Info:
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323241] DMA per-cpu:
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323247] CPU 0: hi: 0, btch: 1 usd: 0
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323253] Normal per-cpu:
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323258] CPU 0: hi: 186, btch: 31 usd: 29
Aug 16 19:22:04 largo kernel: [82534.323264] ...

I'm not sure how helpful this will be but I finally solved this by ditching my AP.

I noticed that very often the AP (A D-LINK DWL-2000AP+) would often crash when I lost the connection. I didn't spot it at first because I was so busy looking at the laptop and trying to fix things there. I realised I could reliably cause the AP to crash and require hard-reboot simply by initiating a couple of large file transfers to the laptop. Most of the time it would be ok except when traffic was heavy.

So I er, bought another AP! I've got a Netgear WG602v4 and it's working very nicely with no change in config on the laptop.

I've made a few rough notes at
http://theaccidentalarborist.blogspot.com/2009/09/wireless-networking.html

Dougie

It seems that this error happens more often when I am uploading a lot of data. For example using bittorrent (donwload/upload) or when watching a movie from another computer with an uPNP AV server on my laptop.

I will try Steven's solution tonight and see if it happens again.

Hi again,
here is my dmesg output. I am connected using WEP (yeah, I know... but my NDS does not support WPA). The access point is a french Freebox V5.

Now I will try Steven's solution.

Still not working... here is the new dmesg with the debug info.

Just for info, if I connect to an open access point, (no WPA nor WEP) everything works fine.
I will now try WEP with hwcrypto=0.

Hello
I've tried with WEP and hwcrypto=0. There seems to be more stability but the problem still persists.

Unlike Dinofly above, I use an open access point and have this problem with 9.04 and a 2200BG - it doesn't happen all the time and seems to occur completely at random. dmesg output is:

[ 6934.655680] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.

If I disable my wireless (I have a hardware switch) sometimes this fixes things. Other times no - I think when it doesn't I get the following dmesg output:

[ 8824.136054] ipw2200: Failed to send CARD_DISABLE: Command timed out.

I'm connecting to a Netgear DG834Gv3 and have no problems in windows.

Just lik Rui Nóbrega, using hwcrypto=0 is far more stable but does not solve the problem. Now I can sometimes be connected during a whole day before a firmware error occurs.

when compiz is enabled I still have the same error...it seems the problem is somehow related to the resources

Hi all,

I was experiencing the "ipw2200: firmware error detected..." error on my laptop / xubuntu 9.04 with network disconnect every 3-5 mn.

I Think I have solved the (or at least my) problem. Here are the steps I followed:
1. I downloaded the latest ipw2200 firmware from the sourceforge web site (don't remember the link) -> KO
2. set "options ipw2200 hwcrypto=1 associate=0 " in /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200 -> KO
3. upgraded to Karmik (Linux Quark 2.6.31-11-generic #38-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 2 11:55:55 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux) ->KO
4. noticed a kernel warning stating to add "pci=assign-busses" for yenta module (may be not relevant but is part of the updates I made) -> KO
5. on comment #20 of post https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/331103 someone stated that the issue is not present on Linux Mint. I downloaded the last livecd (7.0 XFCE CE) and giave it a try. I noticed that they were using "WICD" network manager instead of "network-manager" present on xubuntu. I reverted back to xubuntu and installed WICD (synaptic proposed to remove network-manager which I approved ;-) ). I set WICD and rebooted my laptop. -> OK

I haven't experienced any disconnection since then. Neither with deluge bittorrent nor usual ftp downloads went wrong (I usually test using xubuntu iso)

Hope the problem is now solved. I'll see in a week...

Well,

I still experience the "ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting." error.
Even if the link seems a lot more stable (no longer disconnected doing usual work) I still have issues while using Deluge...
I noticed alos that when I get the error "ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.", the IPW2200 process takes 100% cpu and the only way to reconnect is using the following script:
# service wicd stop
# rmmod ipw2200
# modprobe ipw2200
# service wicd start

Lets hope this will help someone.

Ok,

I was bored being disconnected so I restinalled my laptop with ArchLinux and guess what my wifi using IPW2200 driver works very well.

Had this nuisance on Jaunty, and, to my surprise, find it still present on Karmic. Yet it was not on Intrepid. A new release should always bring more improvements than regressions, especially in areas like connectivity where Linux should shine brighter! When you get disconnected every so often, would you call it a stable release? When you're forced to google around for a solution rather than doing your things, would you say it's ready for production? Wouldn't it be better to just wait longer and have everything fixed before every release?

Now on Karmic, using hwcrypto=0 does not seem to slow down the firmware errors anymore :-(

I have this problem too on my old IBM ThinkPad T42p. Is there any way to get this wireless to work? I'm alweys getting "Firmware error detected. Reseting". And it's spaming syslog. I noticed that process ipw2200/0 is using 100% of CPU when I load ipw2200 module.

Same problem here with a Toshiba Satellite M70 with the ipw2200 driver.

I'm getting this error without anything to add that's not been added before really...

It's on a T43 ThinkPad with Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] card connecting to a D-Link DSL-2640B router. Happens fairly regularly, when copying files of about 700Mb I'll loose my connection about 50% of the time. Running Xubuntu if that makes any differences with these packages. Works again if I reinstall the ipw2200 module with modprobe.

It's annoying as hell :-P

Also experiencing this problem with a T43p in Lucid beta 2.6.32-16-generic

Same problem here:

* ThinkPad T43p
* multiple routers tested - bug is "always" there, just frequency of occurrence changes
* # uname -a
  Linux XXX 2.6.31-20-generic #58-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 12 05:23:09 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
* # cat /etc/lsb-release | tail -1
  DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.10
* # lspci | grep -i Net
  02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11)
  0b:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
* # uptime; dmesg | grep "ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting." | wc -l
  20:05:55 up 1 day, 9:06, 4 users, load average: 0.02, 0.14, 0.16
  59
* # modinfo ipw2200
  filename: /lib/modules/2.6.31-20-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw2x00/ipw2200.ko
  [...]
  version: 1.2.2kmprq
  description: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver
  srcversion: 99130395C362697D0971661
  [...]
  vermagic: 2.6.31-20-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586
  parm: disable:manually disable the radio (default 0 [radio on]) (int)
  parm: associate:auto associate when scanning (default off) (int)
  parm: auto_create:auto create adhoc network (default on) (int)
  parm: led:enable led control on some systems (default 1 on) (int)
  parm: debug:debug output mask (int)
  parm: channel:channel to limit associate to (default 0 [ANY]) (int)
  parm: rtap_iface:create the rtap interface (1 - create, default 0) (int)
  parm: qos_enable:enable all QoS functionalitis (int)
  parm: qos_burst_enable:enable QoS burst mode (int)
  parm: qos_no_ack_mask:mask Tx_Queue to no ack (int)
  parm: burst_duration_CCK:set CCK burst value (int)
  parm: burst_duration_OFDM:set OFDM burst value (int)
  parm: mode:network mode (0=BSS,1=IBSS,2=Monitor) (int)
  parm: bt_coexist:enable bluetooth coexistence (default off) (int)
  parm: hwcrypto:enable hardware crypto (default off) (int)
  parm: cmdlog:allocate a ring buffer for logging firmware commands (int)
  parm: roaming:enable roaming support (default on) (int)
  parm: antenna:select antenna 1=Main, 3=Aux, default 0 [both], 2=slow_diversity [...]
* # ifconfig eth1
  eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
          inet addr:10.XX.XX.XX Bcast:10.XX.XX.255 Mask:255.255.254.0
          inet6 addr: XX::XX:XX:XX:XX/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:353364 errors:4 dropped:4 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:353521 errors:0 dropped:3 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:356051366 (356.0 MB) TX bytes:169257557 (169.2 MB)
          Interrupt:21 Base address:0xe000 Memory:b4001000-b4001fff
* # iwconfig eth1
  eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"XXX"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/0
          Retry limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:...

As alread reported in bug #331103:

This bug affects me too. I am running Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx with recent updates on Thinkpad T43p with ipw2200 drivers on a PRO/Wireless 2915ABG chipset .

The connection to two different access point will get a disconnect under heavy usage, sometimes the connection will break just randomly. In often cases NetworkManager is able to reconnect and will not show the disconnect even though it is visible in syslog. If the connection breaks NM may not be able to reconnect. If I switch to another channel, deactive NM and reactivate it the connection can be brought up again.

See attached documents for details and feel free to ask for more information.

Addendum: The access points I use encrypt with WPA and WPA2. Using Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron I do not experience those issues. I will go and try Stevens suggestion and post syslog and dmesg again these days. Is there any more information I should provide?

Under heavy network load it sometimes goes really bad:(
btw. this bug affects several Intel wifi cards and it occurred at least in last four Ubuntu releases.

[101022.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[101142.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[101267.848008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[101382.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[101502.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[101627.880007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[106302.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[106422.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[106542.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[106662.923572] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[106787.868007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[106902.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[107022.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[107147.900008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[107382.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[107502.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[107622.921673] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[107747.856007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[112062.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[112182.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[112307.884007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[112667.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[112782.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[112902.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[113022.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[113142.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[113382.958604] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[113862.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[113982.920009] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114102.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114227.864007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114342.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114462.918622] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114587.900007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114822.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[114942.916038] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[115062.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[115187.852007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[115302.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[115422.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[118062.916007] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[118302.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[118542.920008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[118662.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[119142.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[119262.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[119502.916008] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[119622.923094] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
[119747.884008]...

This just happened to me on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverik Beta..

I was using the net for more than 10 hours, made downloads. All was working fine until the wireless connection dropped.
Network manager was trying to bring the connection up again and asked me for the WPA/WPA2 password. The password was correct so I just pressed ok.
What seems weird is that the connection to the router seemed to be established (from the network manager status...)
But it was still trying to connect... and after a while it asked me the WPA/WPA2 password again. And again.. and again...

After right-clicking on the network status icon and removing the check on "Enable Wireless" and then re-enabling it reconnected to the wireless network again.

After right-clicking on the network status icon and removing the check on "Enable Wireless" and then re-enabling it started working fine again:

Oct 7 00:06:44 machados-laptop kernel: [43718.678051] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Oct 7 00:08:35 machados-laptop kernel: [43829.725625] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 7 00:14:23 machados-laptop kernel: [44177.377869] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop kernel: [44182.864792] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth1: link becomes ready

I have not made any change to modprobe or anything suggested here. I'm using what comes with Maverick with no changes

It is interesting to see that during the day that message was also logged but the connection didn't drop:

Oct 6 16:34:08 machados-laptop kernel: [16562.971983] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 16:54:45 machados-laptop kernel: [17799.349886] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 16:56:52 machados-laptop kernel: [17926.751444] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Oct 6 17:00:52 machados-laptop kernel: [18166.767650] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Oct 6 18:55:38 machados-laptop kernel: [25053.165446] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 19:10:53 machados-laptop kernel: [25967.372717] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid

.....

Oct 6 21:24:03 machados-laptop kernel: [33958.248261] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 21:26:15 machados-laptop kernel: [34089.370274] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 11
Oct 6 21:31:15 machados-laptop kernel: [34389.382601] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 22:00:27 machados-laptop kernel: [36141.505662] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Oct 6 22:05:39 machados-laptop kernel: [36454.076384] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 22:15:37 machados-laptop kernel: [37052.027982] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid
Oct 6 23:05:00 machados-laptop kernel: [40014.923813] Skipping EDID probe due to cached edid

I'm attaching syslog where you can see NetworkManager associating with the wifi router but failing to do the 4-way handshake:

Oct 7 00:06:44 machados-laptop kernel: [43718.678051] ipw2200: Firmware error detected. Restarting.
Oct 7 00:06:44 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
Oct 7 00:06:44 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: completed -> disconnected
Oct 7 00:06:44 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
Oct 7 00:06:45 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: Trying to associate with 00:05:ca:a6:09:18 (SSID='Maradona' freq=2412 MHz)
Oct 7 00:06:45 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> associating
Oct 7 00:06:45 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: Associated with 00:05:ca:a6:09:18
Oct 7 00:06:45 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associating -> associated
Oct 7 00:06:46 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associated -> 4-way handshake
Oct 7 00:06:52 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: WPA: 4-Way Handshake failed - pre-shared key may be incorrect
Oct 7 00:06:52 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
Oct 7 00:06:52 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: 4-way handshake -> disconnected
Oct 7 00:06:52 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
Oct 7 00:06:52 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
Oct 7 00:06:53 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: Trying to associate with 00:05:ca:a6:09:18 (SSID='Maradona' freq=2412 MHz)
Oct 7 00:06:53 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> associating
Oct 7 00:06:54 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: Associated with 00:05:ca:a6:09:18

... This happens many times until I disable wireless and re-enable it .....

Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop kernel: [44182.864792] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth1: link becomes ready
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associated -> 4-way handshake
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:05:ca:a6:09:18 [PTK=CCMP GTK=TKIP]
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop wpa_supplicant[869]: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:05:ca:a6:09:18 completed (auth) [id=0 id_str=]
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: 4-way handshake -> group handshake
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: group handshake -> completed
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> Activation (eth1/wireless) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful. Connected to wireless network 'Maradona'.
Oct 7 00:14:28 machados-laptop NetworkManager[752]: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 3...

Hi,

I have ipw2200 in my laptop. I experienced the same 3-4 min periodic disconnection.
I had my AP configured to use 802.11g+n mode. Since (as far as I know) this interface does not support n mode I changed the AP to 802.11g. Voila! It works stable.
Hope it helps!

Regards,
konti

Thanks - but my AP has no 802.11n mode at all (just the supported 802.11b and 802.11g modes), anyhow I have this problem every day (at a signal strenght at 50-60%).

This also doesn't work for me. I disabled n but it still happens.

I have an ipw2200 too and the disconnections disappeared since I use WPA2. Before I had a router with WEP only. The new router runs with the Linux-based open-source firmware Tomato. I don't know if WPA2 or the firmware fixed it. Testing WPA2 is not a big effort, but the reporter of this bug wrote that he is affected using WPA2.

It's not completely solved for me, but disconnections are very rare now. My investigations of this bug let me think that it's a kind of buffer overflow in the firmware or driver for ipw2200 adapters (or similar). The more data I sent or received, the more often it got disconnected (try "cp /mnt/nfs-server/bigfile /dev/null"!). Switching speed did not help. I think a high relation of "currently used bandwidth" against "theoretical maximum" is what triggers this bug.

@ Oliver Joos: I can't confirm this correlation between the data rate and this bug but I'm just using the adapter with the internet (so I have max. 8 MBit/s here) – maybe you are talking about much higher data rates…

Since I'm seeing this bug everyday for years now I'd bet it has something to do with the signal strength and/or radio interferences.

Ok, then your and my bug appear to be different. With some kernels/drivers I were able to reach more than 30MBit/s, and then the firmware errors got very frequent. Newer kernels/drivers only reach about 28MBit/s and firmware errors are rare. So I speculated that there is a kind of workaround built-in now.

As your symptoms are different, I will open a new bug if mine get more annoying again.

This bug was filed against a series that is no longer supported and so is being marked as Won't Fix. If this issue still exists in a supported series, please file a new bug.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

Since I suppose this bug is caused by the ipw2200-firmware which is included in package linux-firmware, I suggest the kernel module in linux (Ubuntu) was never really affected – I filed it against 'linux-firmware' now. According to the linux-firmware changelog the firmware was updated to the current version (3.1) in July 2009.

However, on Ubuntu 11.04 I can still find some of these error messages but I don't really recognize these errors anymore, which means the reconnecting-problem after the firmware error seems to be solved – at least for me.

One more guess: In the last days I learned that there are quite strong interferences between bluetooth and wireless LAN since they both use the ISM band (2.4 to 2.4835 GHz) – see bug #219057.

Try to send a big file to your mobile phone and at the same time try to watch a movie online – at least for me this doesn't work; the data rate of my WLAN connection will be much slower than without using bluetooth at the same time & the connection will even be interrupted several times. My syslog then looks like this:

Aug 27 03:10:15 rosa wpa_supplicant[952]: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=00:1a:4f:93:9b:52 reason=0
Aug 27 03:10:15 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: completed -> disconnected
Aug 27 03:10:15 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa wpa_supplicant[952]: Trying to associate with 00:1a:4f:93:9b:52 (SSID='wg-floragasse' freq=2417 MHz)
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> associating
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa wpa_supplicant[952]: Associated with 00:1a:4f:93:9b:52
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa wpa_supplicant[952]: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:1a:4f:93:9b:52 completed (reauth) [id=0 id_str=]
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associating -> associated
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: associated -> completed
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa wpa_supplicant[952]: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=00:1a:4f:93:9b:52 reason=0
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: completed -> disconnected
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa wpa_supplicant[952]: Trying to associate with 00:1a:4f:93:9b:52 (SSID='wg-floragasse' freq=2417 MHz)
Aug 27 03:10:16 rosa NetworkManager[870]: <info> (eth1): supplicant connection state: scanning -> associating

I just took some lines out of the logfile, but I think you get the idea. Now, since nothing has been changed in the ipw2200-firmware over the last year but at the same time the behavior of the WLAN adapter changed radically (the number of firmware errors decreased enormously), I make a guess: maybe it's because bluetooth (bluez) works much better now and the interferences decreased?

BTW; in the meantime I had only _one_ firmware error with a connection problem after the firmware-restart and it even happens that I don't get a single "Firmware error detected"-message for several days. Great! :)

I don't think this was ever an issue with the linux-firmware package.