Bugzilla Bug 149762

I use a compatibility mode b/g network with a US Robotics wireless router
(WPA-PSK security), and an Atheros-based b/g card in my Linux box.

Now when I associate a /b mode device to the network, my Linux box
disassociates almost immediately. All that is logged in syslog is
wpa_cli: interface ath0 DISCONNECTED

NOTHING fixes this condition, no restarting net.ath0, no rebooting, except
turning off or disassociating the /b mode client.

This problem happens only since I upgraded madwifi-ng. With
madwifi-ng-0.0.1531, the overall speed dropped when associating a /b mode
client, but everything went on working.

I'm now downgrading to 0.0.1531, since I didn't notice any problems with it,
but I'm still concerned about what causes this trouble. I guess it would be
nice to upgrade sometime, but only after this issue is fixed.

What the holy cow is going on with this bug? Am I the only one on Earth who has
experienced it?
I mean, for me it was rather consistent. And now the old madwifi-ng versions
got removed.

If there is a known workaround, it is not critical.  While I may be the
maintainer, I do not have the hardware, I have semi-easy access to it (a
co-worker has a card that I can use from time to time.)  I haven't seen anyone
else report this, so yes, it IS possible that you are the only one experiencing
this.  If you would care to donate the hardware so that I could better deal
with bugs with madwifi-ng in a more timely manner to your satisfaction, then I
would be greatly appreciative.  As it stands, I cannot reproduce this, and no
one else has seemed to.

I finally found a solution.

Applying the madwifi-association-fix.patch fixes the problem, and seemingly
improves the stability of the association greatly. I use a US Robotics wireless
router as an access point, with WPA-PSK by wpa-supplicant.

As this patch does seem to cause trouble for some (bug#146459), but is needed
in other setups, I suggest using a new USE flag for toggling it until it
becomes unnecessary.