IPv6 causes wireless to disconnect/reconnect often

Bug #158481 reported by Thiago Teixeira
18
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
network-manager (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: network-manager

I have had the following bug since Ubuntu 6.10:

- I connect to a wireless network with Network Manager (doesn't matter whether it's hidden or has any type of encryption)
- After a few minutes my connection goes down (usually around 10-30 minutes)
- I can immediately see nm-applet trying to reconnect or connect to another network

My computer is a Thinkpad T60 with an Atheros-based internal wireless interface (more specifically, AR5212 802.11abg NIC) using the default MadWifi drivers that are shipped with Ubuntu.

This is a big problem when doing long downloads, or using SSH or VNC. At times, nm-applet would even fail to reconnect to any of the available networks, requiring me to restart the NetworkManager process by hand.

This does not happen on the same machine when running Windows, so malfunctioning hardware and anything external to the computer are obviously not the underlying cause. Other (Windows) computers on the same wireless networks operate without any problems.

Also, the problem survived through clean installs of Ubuntu 7.04 and, later, 7.10. So this is not an issue related to my specific settings.

After a while looking for a solution for almost 1 year, I finally found a temporary fix: to disable IPv6. I'm not sure *why* this works, but the fact is that it *does*. I've been happily using my WiFi now for 20 days without a single reconnect. This is how I disabled it:

- edit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
- change line "alias net-pf-10 ipv6" to "alias net-pf-10 off ipv6"
- reboot

I explained these steps on another bug report (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/64173), but since I'm not sure whether the original poster's bug was related to mine, I figured it would be better to open a brand new one.

Revision history for this message
Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara) wrote :

Thank you for your report and helping to make Ubuntu better. After you witness your connection going down and nm trying to reconnect, could you capture your /var/log/syslog file? Please add this file to your report as an attachment. Thanks in advance.

Changed in network-manager:
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Thiago Teixeira (tvst) wrote :

i just re-enabled ipv6 and rebooted, and to my surprise i haven't gotten any disconnects yet (for 2hrs now). i'll report back in a few days, but my first impression is that everything is working.

maybe this was fixed in some ubuntu 7.10 update?

Revision history for this message
Thiago Teixeira (tvst) wrote :

After 3 days of use, I finally got 1 (just one!!) crash. Since it's not happening nearly as often as it used to, I'm not sure if its the same issue.

The relevant part of the syslog is attached (i deleted lines upon lines of "-- MARK --" from the beginning of the file). At 11:54 it appears that nm received a "signal 15". I'm not sure what that is, but I had been reading an article online for the previous 5 minutes, so it was not any user interaction that caused signal 15 to be emitted.

Revision history for this message
Basilio Kublik (sourcercito) wrote :

Hi there
do you still experience this issue with the current version of the application?, could you please try to reproduce this using the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Hardy Heron.

Thanks in advance

Changed in network-manager:
importance: Undecided → Low
Revision history for this message
Basilio Kublik (sourcercito) wrote :

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New".

Thanks again!

Changed in network-manager:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Revision history for this message
hants (andreowitsch) wrote :

Same Problem occurres in Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04 (and Debian Lenny).
My WLAN (iwl3945, WPA Encrypted) connection drops randomly after a view minutes and automatic reconnecting often fails (always asking me to reenter the connection details and password).
Blacklisting IPV6 solves the issue.

Revision history for this message
Étienne BERSAC (bersace) wrote :

Hi,

I confirm that NetworkManager 0,8-0ubuntu3 does not like IPv6 and Wifi, using 10.04.

Wired connection is OK with both IPv4 and IPv6.

But NM does attach wifi at all. Even when ignoring IPv6 in the conf dialog :/

It works like a charm on OS X.

Revision history for this message
Étienne BERSAC (bersace) wrote :

Hi,

I upgraded to 0.8.1rc from Network Manager team, and NM still refuses to attach when IPv6 is advertised by the router :/.

Regards,
Étienne

Revision history for this message
cameron byrne (cbyrne) wrote :

I have the same issue. I just received IPv6 support at home from my ISP, Comcast in the USA. But, i cannot connect Ubuntu to the WLAN .... I see the SSID, i connect and everything works for IPv4. I go to Edit Connection -> Wireless -> Edit -> IPv6 Settings, then i change the method from "ignore" to "automatic" and then the connetion drops ... the WLAN disconnects, and i cannot reconnect while the network manager is set to automatic for IPv6 ...

Revision history for this message
cameron byrne (cbyrne) wrote :

Also, i am using Ubuntu 10.04

uname -a
Linux troika 2.6.32-23-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jun 11 07:54:58 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
cbyrne@troika:~$

Revision history for this message
cameron byrne (cbyrne) wrote :

A little more googling solved my problem, it is with UFW ... not NM ...
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1467542

Revision history for this message
Misoldgit (simonrhart) wrote :

I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 on a Dell Vostro 1510 laptop.
I have an HE IPv6 tunnel connected to the external address of my home gateway which is an Ubuntu server 10.04.2 LTS.
I have IPv6 enabled on my internal network via radvd on the Ubuntu server. The radvd config is below (sanitised):

interface eth1
  {
     AdvSendAdvert on;
     prefix xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/64
       {
          AdvOnLink on;
          AdvAutonomous on;
          AdvRouterAddr on;
       };
     RDNSS 2001:470:20::2 {};
};

radvd responds to IPv6 NDP (Network Dicovery Protocol) router enquiries by supplying the router address and network prefix information. This allows the wireless NIC to auto-discover it's v6 address network prefix then generate a unique address using EUI-64.

Very regularly my wireless connection disconnects then immediately reconnects - normally it's 10 minutes almost to the second but sometimes it doesnt disconnect at all.

The default time for MaxRtrAdvInterval in radvd is 600 seconds - coincidence?

If I set my IPv6 network-manager settings to 'ignore' the disconnect doesnt seem to happen.

Let me know if there is other information you need.

Changed in network-manager (Ubuntu):
status: Invalid → New
Revision history for this message
Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox) wrote :

Misoldgit, please file a new bug instead of adding information here. What you're seeing is most likely a totally different issue.

FWIW, I've been running NM in wifi only with IPv6 set to Automatic for the past few days with no issues at all; and previously for a few months with both wired and wifi with IPv6 enabled and "Automatic", with no issues either. I'll set this back to Invalid because IPv6 does not appear to cause an issue with wireless itself and because this bug was filed a long time ago, when NM didn't even really support IPv6 so much.

If you're still seeing issues, please don't hesitate to file a new, separate bug so that it can be looked into. The easiest way to do this is with the command: "ubuntu-bug network-manager"

Changed in network-manager (Ubuntu):
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Misoldgit (simonrhart) wrote : Re: [Bug 158481] Re: IPv6 causes wireless to disconnect/reconnect often
Download full text (3.2 KiB)

OK thanks for your help.

On 3 May 2011 14:49, Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre <email address hidden> wrote:

> Misoldgit, please file a new bug instead of adding information here.
> What you're seeing is most likely a totally different issue.
>
> FWIW, I've been running NM in wifi only with IPv6 set to Automatic for
> the past few days with no issues at all; and previously for a few months
> with both wired and wifi with IPv6 enabled and "Automatic", with no
> issues either. I'll set this back to Invalid because IPv6 does not
> appear to cause an issue with wireless itself and because this bug was
> filed a long time ago, when NM didn't even really support IPv6 so much.
>
> If you're still seeing issues, please don't hesitate to file a new,
> separate bug so that it can be looked into. The easiest way to do this
> is with the command: "ubuntu-bug network-manager"
>
> ** Changed in: network-manager (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Invalid
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/158481
>
> Title:
> IPv6 causes wireless to disconnect/reconnect often
>
> Status in “network-manager” package in Ubuntu:
> Invalid
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: network-manager
>
> I have had the following bug since Ubuntu 6.10:
>
> - I connect to a wireless network with Network Manager (doesn't matter
> whether it's hidden or has any type of encryption)
> - After a few minutes my connection goes down (usually around 10-30
> minutes)
> - I can immediately see nm-applet trying to reconnect or connect to
> another network
>
> My computer is a Thinkpad T60 with an Atheros-based internal wireless
> interface (more specifically, AR5212 802.11abg NIC) using the default
> MadWifi drivers that are shipped with Ubuntu.
>
> This is a big problem when doing long downloads, or using SSH or VNC.
> At times, nm-applet would even fail to reconnect to any of the
> available networks, requiring me to restart the NetworkManager process
> by hand.
>
> This does not happen on the same machine when running Windows, so
> malfunctioning hardware and anything external to the computer are
> obviously not the underlying cause. Other (Windows) computers on the
> same wireless networks operate without any problems.
>
> Also, the problem survived through clean installs of Ubuntu 7.04 and,
> later, 7.10. So this is not an issue related to my specific settings.
>
> After a while looking for a solution for almost 1 year, I finally
> found a temporary fix: to disable IPv6. I'm not sure *why* this works,
> but the fact is that it *does*. I've been happily using my WiFi now
> for 20 days without a single reconnect. This is how I disabled it:
>
> - edit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
> - change line "alias net-pf-10 ipv6" to "alias net-pf-10 off ipv6"
> - reboot
>
> I explained these steps on another bug report
> (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-
> manager/+bug/64173), but since I'm not sure whether the original
> poster's bug was related to mine, I figured it would be better to open
> a brand new one.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad...

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