Re: Bug? Kernels 2.6.2x drops TCP packets over wireless(independent of card used)

From: Stephen Hemminger
Date: Thu Feb 07 2008 - 11:18:17 EST


On Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:04:00 +0100
Marcin Koziej <marcinkoziej@xxxxx> wrote:

>
> Hello, I have problem with wireless network connectivity;
> I have tested this on two wireless cards, both giving same results:
> These are:
> 1) 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
> working under madwifi-0.9.3.3
> 2) 00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Linksys, A Division of Cisco Systems [AirConn] INPROCOMM IPN 2220 Wireless LAN Adapter (rev 01)
> working under ndiswrapper on neti2220 driver
>
> On kernel 2.6.19 both cards are working fine (with same network configuration)
>
> Problems arise on kernels 2.6.2x, information below is from 2.6.23, but 2.6.24-rc8-git7 also was tested:
> Both cards can associate with ap, and get TCP/IP configuration from the router.
> Both cards can ping the router (0% packet loss), resolve hostnames using DNS (suggesting UDP is working fine).
> However, when any kind of TCP connection is made, it hangs after initial handshake and maybe some ammount of data interchanged. This is checked by tcpdump provided below.
>
> This happens every time to all tcp connections.
>

You have the wrong mailing list:

1. You are using proprietary drivers (ndiswrapper and madwifi both have binary only parts).
2. The network developers read netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sounds like you have a TCP corrupting firewall that mangles the window scaling.
This is a known issue with buggy middleboxes that can not be fixed in Linux without
limiting performance. Complain to the middlebox vendors or IETF.

--
Stephen Hemminger <stephen.hemminger@xxxxxxxxxx>
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