I tried again to switch to a stable kernel more recent than 4.9.

  I again run into troubles with my audio and WiFi card.  However this
time i managed to solve the issue. It's a problem with the modules's
automatic load mechanism.  I'm letting everyone know in case someone
else might run into similar issues.

  Booting a 4.18 kernel (like in the past happened with all kernels past
4.12) I do not have any sound and the WiFi interface is missing:

[root@wkstn02 ~]# alsactl init
alsactl: init:1757: No soundcards found...
[root@wkstn02 ~]#

[root@wkstn02 ~]# ip link list
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode
DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast
state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1a:92:5f:1a:73 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
[root@wkstn02 ~]#


  Audio does work if I remove the already loaded snd_hda_intel module
and reload it:

[root@wkstn02 ~]# rmmod snd_hda_intel
[root@wkstn02 ~]# modprobe snd_hda_intel
[root@wkstn02 ~]# alsactl init
Found hardware: "HDA-Intel" "Realtek ALC269VC"
"HDA:10ec0269,10cf2000,00100203 HDA:80862806,10cf1778,00100000" "0x10cf"
"0x1757"
Hardware is initialized using a generic method
[root@wkstn02 ~]#


  The Ethernet interface is present, but it cannot be configured:

[root@wkstn02 ~]# ifup eth0
Cannot get device udp-fragmentation-offload settings: Operation not
supported
Cannot get device udp-fragmentation-offload settings: Operation not
supported
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.3.5
Copyright 2004-2016 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

socket: Address family not supported by protocol - make sure
CONFIG_PACKET (Packet socket) and CONFIG_FILTER
(Socket Filtering) are enabled in your kernel
configuration!

If you think you have received this message due to a bug rather
than a configuration issue please read the section on submitting
bugs on either our web page at www.isc.org or in the README file
before submitting a bug.  These pages explain the proper
process and the information we find helpful for debugging..

exiting.
ifup: failed to bring up eth0
[root@wkstn02 ~]# 


  This issue is resolved modprobing the af_packet module:

[root@wkstn02 ~]# modprobe af_packet
[root@wkstn02 ~]# ifup eth0
Cannot get device udp-fragmentation-offload settings: Operation not
supported
Cannot get device udp-fragmentation-offload settings: Operation not
supported
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.3.5
Copyright 2004-2016 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/eth0/01:4c:64:5f:3e:38
Sending on   LPF/eth0/01:4c:64:5f:3e:38
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.0.16 on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPOFFER of 192.168.0.16 from 192.168.0.1
DHCPACK of 192.168.0.16 from 192.168.0.1
bound to 192.168.0.16 -- renewal in 35978 seconds.
invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of alarm.
[root@wkstn02 ~]#


  The WiFi interface shows up if I remove the already loaded iwlwifi
module and reload it, and then load the iwldvm module:


[root@wkstn02 ~]# rmmod iwlwifi
[root@wkstn02 ~]# modprobe iwlwifi
[root@wkstn02 ~]# ip link list dev wlan0
Device "wlan0" does not exist.
[root@wkstn02 ~]# modprobe iwldvm
[root@wkstn02 ~]# ip link list dev wlan0
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode
DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 60:36:dd:5e:0a:ba brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
[root@wkstn02 ~]#


  However, it cannot connect to my home AP:

[root@wkstn02 ~]# ifup wlan0
run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wlan0 exited with return code 255
ifup: failed to bring up wlan0
[root@wkstn02 ~]#


  The problem lies with wpa_supplicant failing authentication:


[root@wkstn02 ~]# tail /var/log/syslog
Oct  6 10:17:12 wkstn02 wpa_supplicant[18350]: wlan0: WPA: Failed to set
PTK to the driver (alg=3 keylen=16 bssid=3d:ae:45:7a:f0:a9)
Oct  6 10:17:12 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3225.952220] wlan0: deauthenticating
from 4f:d3:6b:87:40:12 by local choice (Reason: 1=UNSPECIFIED)
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.608306] wlan0: authenticate with
4f:d3:6b:87:40:12
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.610878] wlan0: send auth to
4f:d3:6b:87:40:12 (try 1/3)
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.613211] wlan0: authenticated
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.616956] wlan0: associate with
4f:d3:6b:87:40:12 (try 1/3)
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.619645] wlan0: RX AssocResp from
4f:d3:6b:87:40:12 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=2)
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.621945] wlan0: associated
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 wpa_supplicant[18350]: wlan0: WPA: Failed to set
PTK to the driver (alg=3 keylen=16 bssid=3d:ae:45:7a:f0:a9)
Oct  6 10:17:13 wkstn02 kernel: [ 3226.980433] wlan0: deauthenticating
from 4f:d3:6b:87:40:12 by local choice (Reason: 1=UNSPECIFIED)
[root@wkstn02 ~]#

  I got a good pointer to the cause of the failure in this bug report:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=749201


  Authentication to the AP works if I modprobe the ccm "crypto-rfc4309"
module:


[root@wkstn02 ~]# modprobe ccm
[root@wkstn02 ~]# ifup wlan0
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.3.5
Copyright 2004-2016 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/wlan0/0a:4f:d3:35:41:d7
Sending on   LPF/wlan0/0a:4f:d3:35:41:d7
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
DHCPREQUEST of 192.168.1.13 on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPOFFER of 192.168.1.13 from 192.168.1.1
DHCPACK of 192.168.1.13 from 192.168.1.1
bound to 192.168.1.13 -- renewal in 38568 seconds.
invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of alarm.
[root@wkstn02 ~]#


  Maybe these problems are caused by an old kmod package and hopefully
they will go away when a package with a newer version will land in the
repos, however I remember I've been having these issues since kernels
4.11 or 4.12, which means since May or July 2017.


--
Alessandro Selli <alessandroselli@???>
VOIP SIP: dhatarattha@???
Chiave firma e cifratura PGP/GPG signing and encoding key:
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