GL-SFT1200 Opal WiFi client mode non-functional

cactussnipe · September 21, 2023, 4:45pm

Hi folks,

I’m finding it impossible to get either the 5G or 2.4G radios in the SFT1200 (running V3.216) to work successfully in client (sta) mode.

I’ve tried everything including completely stripping back the wireless config to no-network and re-adding the client network, but nothing seems to work.

Here’s what’s happening:

Under LUCI, in the wireless network section, I can click SCAN, and see the target network I want to join.
I click join next to the SSID of the network I’m trying to join, and walk through the config of joining the network - so far so good.
Once the new client network is configured (along with the new interface), I save the config. Looking at the logs, I can see a successful association with the AP of the network I’m trying to join. But this is where things go no further.

Despite successful association, Layer 2 connectivity is never fully established. The output of iwinfo shows the issues, with no bit rate or TX power, etc:

root@GL-SFT1200:~# iwinfo
wlan0     ESSID: "SOLARGUEST"
          Access Point: 6E:83:C4:[redacted]
          Mode: Client  Channel: 11 (2.462 GHz)
          Tx-Power: 0 dBm  Link Quality: 58/70
          Signal: -52 dBm  Noise: unknown
          Bit Rate: unknown
          Encryption: WPA2 PSK (CCMP)
          Type: nl80211  HW Mode(s): 802.11bgn
          Hardware: unknown [Generic MAC80211]
          TX power offset: unknown
          Frequency offset: unknown
          Supports VAPs: yes  PHY name: phy0

The GUI shows “Wireless not associated”, but sometimes also occasionally shows info similar to the iwinfo output. But either way, the main network interface screen shows the interface status as “Error: Network device not present”.

I’ve tried multiple AP’s of different brands, I’ve tried stripping the MAC address and channel of the SSID, to let it choose, but nothing works.

I’ve been using OpenWRT for years, and have setup many OpenWRT routers as WiFi clients, so I’m generally familiar with the process. But to me this looks like a bug.

Here’s the log output of when the SFT1200 joined the client network:

Wed Sep 20 19:42:20 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: Trying to associate with e0:63:da:[redacted] (SSID='SOLARGUEST' freq=2462 MHz)
Wed Sep 20 19:42:20 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=00:00:00:00:00:00 status_code=1
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: Trying to associate with f0:9f:c2:74:6c:2d (SSID='SOLARGUEST' freq=2412 MHz)
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  826.210753] lmac[0] {CTXT-0} Delete channel context
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  827.531914] lmac[0] {CTXT-1} Create channel context: freq=2412MHz bw=20MHz pwr=20dBm
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  827.544758] lmac[0] {CTXT-1} link to {VIF-0}: status=0 nb_vif=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  827.544801] lmac[0] rc_init: station_id=1 format_mod=2 pre_type=0 short_gi=1 max_bw=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  827.558795] lmac[0] rc_init: nss_max=1 mcs_max=7 r_idx_min=0 r_idx_max=3 no_samples=10
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=00:00:00:00:00:00 status_code=1
Wed Sep 20 19:42:21 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  827.737219] lmac[0] {CTXT-1} unlink from {VIF-0}: status=4 nb_vif=1
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: Trying to associate with e0:63:da:[redacted] (SSID='SOLARGUEST' freq=2462 MHz)
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  827.737258] lmac[0] {CTXT-1} Delete channel context
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  828.424685] lmac[0] {CTXT-2} Create channel context: freq=2462MHz bw=20MHz pwr=20dBm
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  828.437483] lmac[0] {CTXT-2} link to {VIF-0}: status=0 nb_vif=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  828.437517] lmac[0] rc_init: station_id=2 format_mod=2 pre_type=0 short_gi=1 max_bw=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  828.451515] lmac[0] rc_init: nss_max=1 mcs_max=7 r_idx_min=0 r_idx_max=3 no_samples=10
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=00:00:00:00:00:00 status_code=1
Wed Sep 20 19:42:22 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  828.629974] lmac[0] {CTXT-2} unlink from {VIF-0}: status=4 nb_vif=1
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: Trying to associate with e0:63:da:[redacted] (SSID='SOLARGUEST' freq=2462 MHz)
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: Associated with e0:63:da:[redacted]
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SUBNET-STATUS-UPDATE status=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  828.630005] lmac[0] {CTXT-2} Delete channel context
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  829.576748] lmac[0] {CTXT-0} Create channel context: freq=2462MHz bw=20MHz pwr=20dBm
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  829.589432] lmac[0] {CTXT-0} link to {VIF-0}: status=0 nb_vif=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  829.589455] lmac[0] rc_init: station_id=3 format_mod=2 pre_type=0 short_gi=1 max_bw=0
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.warn kernel: [  829.603221] lmac[0] rc_init: nss_max=1 mcs_max=7 r_idx_min=0 r_idx_max=3 no_samples=10
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with e0:63:da:[redacted] [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.info kernel: [  829.634837] lb-fmac 11000000.wifi-lb wlan0: Add key for sta 3 (e0:63:da:[redacted])
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.info kernel: [  829.643134] lb-fmac 11000000.wifi-lb wlan0: Add key for vif(0), key index : 2
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to e0:63:da:[redacted] completed [id=0 id_str=]

And here’s my wireless config (note this is after I tried stripping out the SSID MAC and channel, but it made no difference allowing the SFT1200 to scan for these dynamically):

root@GL-SFT1200:~# cat /etc/config/wireless 

config wifi-device 'radio0'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option txpower_max '25'
	option band '5G'
	option hwmode '11a'
	option netisolate '0'
	option max_all_num_sta '64'
	option path 'platform/17800000.wifi-hb'
	option htmode 'VHT80'
	option disabled '0'
	option acs_noradar '1'
	option country 'AU'
	option legacy_rates '1'
	option channel '52'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
	option type 'mac80211'
	option txpower_max '20'
	option band '2.4G'
	option hwmode '11g'
	option netisolate '0'
	option max_all_num_sta '64'
	option path 'platform/11000000.wifi-lb'
	option legacy_rates '1'
	option htmode 'HT20'
	option disabled '0'
	option country 'AU'
	option channel 'auto'

config wifi-iface
	option network 'wwan'
	option ssid 'SOLARGUEST'
	option device 'radio1'
	option mode 'sta'
	option key 'redacted'
	option encryption 'psk2+ccmp'

I’ve tried using radio0 (5G) as the target network supports both frequencies, but get exactly the same results. So I’m at a loss! Any pointers most appreciated!

shivadow · September 21, 2023, 9:27pm

Channel 52 is a dfs channel. Make sure it is allowed in your region. Beyond that… No clue.

This bit looks important “CTRL-EVENT-ASSOC-REJECT bssid=00:00:00:00:00:00 status_code=1”

alzhao · September 22, 2023, 2:25am

You should not use Luci to configure client. Why don’t just use the default Ui to set up a repeater?

cactussnipe · September 22, 2023, 9:17am

I thought that too, but if you look further down the logs, it does successfully associate with the AP. The fact that error has a BSSID of all zeroes makes me think that initial event is spurious.

I think this indicates some high degree of success:

Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with e0:63:da:[redacted] [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.info kernel: [  829.634837] lb-fmac 11000000.wifi-lb wlan0: Add key for sta 3 (e0:63:da:[redacted])
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 kern.info kernel: [  829.643134] lb-fmac 11000000.wifi-lb wlan0: Add key for vif(0), key index : 2
Wed Sep 20 19:42:23 2023 daemon.notice wpa_supplicant[19927]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to e0:63:da:[redacted] completed [id=0 id_str=]

cactussnipe · September 22, 2023, 9:18am

What I’m trying to achieve is using the 2.4GHz radio to connect to a cellphone hotspot for internet (separate layer 3 interface). This will be used for the Opal to build a VPN tunnel (client mode). I then want the 5GHz to act as a regular 5GHz AP for clients to connect to the internet, via the VPN tunnel.

I’m not sure if the basic GUI in repeater mode would permit that configuration??

cactussnipe · September 22, 2023, 4:12pm

Thank you alzhao, I have now had a chance to try your solution and it works perfectly so far (I’ve yet to try the VPN, but everything else is working now). I did not realise that repeater mode did exactly what I had wanted to achieve. Much appreciated!!