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Russel_Winder's avatar
Russel_Winder
Aspirant
Jun 22, 2011

DGN3500 crashes with Linux 2.6.39-2-amd64 kernel

I posted http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=631289 but it has been closed with the response "So there's a bug in the router."

I have Lenovo X201 and T500 laptops running Debian Testing connecting via WiFi to the DGN3500 ADSL router/WiFi access point. With kernel 2.6.38-2-amd64 everything worked tickety-boo. With the updated kernel of a couple of days ago (2.6.39-2-amd64) the DGN3500 crashes totally within a couple of minutes of being connected to via WiFi. This renders the DGN3500 totally useless and needing a power cycle to get going again.

The DGN3500 is running firmware V1.1.00.28_1.00.28 which I believe is the latest -- there is 1.1.00.30 but this is marked NA for North America only, and therefore not approriate for my router.

Given the Debian folk have marked this as not their problem, but Netgear's problem, I now have a problem, either I use the older kernel or I don't have WiFi.

I fear I am the only person in the world with this problem, even though it is entirely reproducible.

9 Replies

  • grandtheft's avatar
    grandtheft
    Aspirant
    Jun 23, 2011
    The same bug affects me too. With a WRT120N by Linksys/Cisco. I dont have got the slightest idea how a laptop can crash the wireless of a router, but I hope to stay updated how to fix it. Pls let me be of help if I can.

    And sry for abusing the netgear forums while having a different router, but I use several switches of yours ;) , which are damn good.

    regards,
    gt
  • grandtheft's avatar
    grandtheft
    Aspirant
    Jun 23, 2011
    with my router, the connection seems to stay on if I limit the operating mode to WLAN-g.

    gt
  • ogni65's avatar
    ogni65
    Luminary
    Jun 24, 2011
    I had the same with Apple TV 2 so it's not just Linux ... Try to deactivate IPV6 or give it a fix IP instead of DHCP that help a little for messed up routs
  • Russel_Winder's avatar
    Russel_Winder
    Aspirant
    Jun 27, 2011
    A rough and ready experiment: I tried varying the WiFi connection speed on the ADSL router and the kernel version. I also tried Ubuntu Natty as well as Debian Testing, both the 2.6.38 kernel and 2.6.39 kernel -- Natty only has a 2.6.38 kernel as far as I can tell.

    The 2.6.38 kernel works fine with the router at "upto 270", "upto 130" , and "g only".

    The 2.6.39 kernel fails to work on higher loads at "upto 270" and "upto 130", but works fine at "g only".

    The deduction from this is that something has changed in the 802.11n aspects of the 2.6.39 kernel that either:

    -- has diverged from the standard as implemented in the router.

    -- has corrected a divergence from the standard, that is incompatible with the router.

    I am sure there are other possibilities, but these seem the most obvious.

    I will put this anecdotal data my Debian bug report http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=631289, to see if anyone upstream from Debian in the Linux world (especially iwlagn world) is going to worry about this. Hopefully the Netgear folk already do.
  • grandtheft's avatar
    grandtheft
    Aspirant
    Jul 02, 2011
    Russel_Winder wrote:

    but works fine at "g only".


    so it's the same as I said above for the WRT120N.

    Btw. it happens with DGN3500B, too. Temporary solution: either stick with 2.6.38 for now or reduce to g-speed.

    Regards,
    gt
  • Neilgreen's avatar
    Neilgreen
    Aspirant
    Oct 30, 2011
    I'm seeing this problem too. Ubuntu 11.10 with 3.0.0-12 amd64 kernel. The router seems to stay up with a number of devices connected (windows laptop, mobile phone, ...). A few minutes after connecting a laptop running linux the wireless networking stops and the router needs power cycling. This is easily and consistently reproducible.

    Does anyone have any advice on an official fix?