wilc3000 client failing to connect in AP mode

[jackmitch]

I have an issue where clients are struggling to connect to the a wilc3000 AP. I am running the latest git heads of both the driver and firmware. Please find attached a dmesg log, and hostapd configuration + test script. Is there any further debug I can enable, or any ideas for what the issue may be?

I have an Android Pixel 2 which manages to connect maybe 50% of the time, and an Intel based laptop which fails to connect 100% of the time. Even when the Android device is connected the iperf3 throughput is erratic at best. Any input would be appreciated.

ap_log.txt hostapd.txt udhcpd.txt

root@wilc:~# hostapd -v       
hostapd v2.9
User space daemon for IEEE 802.11 AP management,
IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP/RADIUS Authenticator
Copyright (c) 2002-2019, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> and contributors
root@wilc:~# uname -a
Linux wilc 5.3.0 #1 SMP Fri Jan 17 15:23:52 UTC 2020 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux
root@wilc:~# 

#! /usr/bin/env sh

function finish {
    echo "Cleaning up"
    killall udhcpd
    killall hostapd
}
trap finish INT

modprobe wilc-spi
/usr/sbin/hostapd hostapd.conf -P /run/hostapd.pid -B
ip addr flush dev wlan0
ip addr add 10.0.50.1/24 dev wlan0
udhcpd udhcpd.conf
iperf3 -s

[AdhamAbozaeid]

Do you have more information about the cause of the failure? Does it happen during the authentication/Association, or while obtaining the IP address?

[jackmitch]

Hi, so I have managed to get my laptop connected by switching to dnsmasq rather than udhcpd, I'm not sure what the difference is. However it's still very erratic when searching for the AP, it only maybe sees the beacon 10% of the time and then only manages to connect 25% of the time. I'm not sure what I can provide for debugging as it feels like it's in the firmware side and it's not passing information down to the driver.

Once connected the throughput is fairly steady, but I do see a lot of retries when using iperf as shown below.

Connecting to host 172.24.1.1, port 5201
[  5] local 172.24.1.63 port 35524 connected to 172.24.1.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  1.22 MBytes  10.2 Mbits/sec    4   31.1 KBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  1.12 MBytes  9.38 Mbits/sec    4   29.7 KBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  1018 KBytes  8.34 Mbits/sec    1   33.9 KBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  1.30 MBytes  10.9 Mbits/sec    0   53.7 KBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  1.12 MBytes  9.38 Mbits/sec    2   36.8 KBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  1.12 MBytes  9.39 Mbits/sec    0   56.6 KBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.18 MBytes  9.90 Mbits/sec    2   55.1 KBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  1.24 MBytes  10.4 Mbits/sec    0   69.3 KBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  1.30 MBytes  10.9 Mbits/sec    1   60.8 KBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  1.12 MBytes  9.38 Mbits/sec    0   72.1 KBytes       
[  5]  10.00-11.00  sec  1.30 MBytes  10.9 Mbits/sec    1   62.2 KBytes       
[  5]  11.00-12.00  sec  1.12 MBytes  9.38 Mbits/sec    0   73.5 KBytes       
[  5]  12.00-13.00  sec  1.30 MBytes  11.0 Mbits/sec    1   65.0 KBytes       
[  5]  13.00-14.00  sec  1.12 MBytes  9.38 Mbits/sec    0   74.9 KBytes       
[  5]  14.00-15.00  sec  1.30 MBytes  10.9 Mbits/sec    0   87.7 KBytes       
[  5]  15.00-16.00  sec  1.12 MBytes  9.38 Mbits/sec    1   76.4 KBytes       
[  5]  16.00-17.00  sec  1.37 MBytes  11.5 Mbits/sec    0   86.3 KBytes       
^C[  5]  17.00-17.35  sec   445 KBytes  10.3 Mbits/sec    1   62.2 KBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-17.35  sec  20.8 MBytes  10.1 Mbits/sec   18             sender
[  5]   0.00-17.35  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  receiver
iperf3: interrupt - the client has terminated

If you have any suggestions or extra debug I can enable, please let me know.

[AdhamAbozaeid]

How busy is the environment you are testing in? Can you redo the test in a quite place or in shielded room?