# Wi-Fi connect fails intermittently on WPA2/WPA3 transition-mode APs: 5 s carrier wait in network.sh might be too short (RG35XX Pro, 2601.1)

**URL:** https://community.muos.dev/t/wi-fi-connect-fails-intermittently-on-wpa2-wpa3-transition-mode-aps-5-s-carrier-wait-in-network-sh-might-be-too-short-rg35xx-pro-2601-1/1699
**Category:** 2601 Jacaranda
**Tags:** network
**Created:** [October 2, 2026, 5:29am UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/wi-fi-connect-fails-intermittently-on-wpa2-wpa3-transition-mode-aps-5-s-carrier-wait-in-network-sh-might-be-too-short-rg35xx-pro-2601-1/1699 "2026-10-02T05:29:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![1040da](https://community.muos.dev/user_avatar/community.muos.dev/1040da/32/3586_2.png) [@1040da](https://community.muos.dev/u/1040da)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2026, 5:29am UTC](https://community.muos.dev/t/wi-fi-connect-fails-intermittently-on-wpa2-wpa3-transition-mode-aps-5-s-carrier-wait-in-network-sh-might-be-too-short-rg35xx-pro-2601-1/1699/1 "2026-10-02T05:29:40Z")

</div>

## Device / version

- Anbernic RG35XX Pro (H700), muOS 2601.1 Funky Jacaranda (full image + 2601.1 update applied)
- Wi-Fi driver: Realtek RTW (as shown in dmesg), 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz tested

## Symptom

- On an access point in WPA2/WPA3 transition (mixed) mode, the auto-connect at boot and manual connects fail most of the time and are retried over and over. Sometimes one attempt succeeds by chance.
- Because web services are only started after a successful connect, SSH is often not available even though the device ends up with an IP address a few seconds later (dhcpcd keeps running in the background).

## What I measured

- From wpa\_supplicant start to `/sys/class/net/wlan0/carrier` = 1 (4-way handshake complete): **5.16 s / 5.17 s on 2.4 GHz, 6.18 s on 5 GHz** on the transition-mode AP.
- During the failing attempts dmesg shows `assoc success` followed by repeated `rtw_aes_decrypt(wlan0) no_gkey_bc_cnt` (group key not installed yet), then `link is not ready` when the connect is torn down.
- On a WPA2-PSK-only SSID on the same AP hardware, the device connected on the first try 3 out of 3 times. I now use a dedicated WPA2-PSK-only SSID as a workaround.
- DHCP itself is fast (the lease is granted right after the link comes up), so this is not a DHCP issue.

## Where it happens (`/opt/muos/script/system/network.sh`, 2601.1)

```sh
WAIT_CARRIER() {
	["$IFCE" = "eth0"] && return 0

	I=0
	while ["$I" -lt 5]; do
		["$(cat /sys/class/net/"$IFCE"/carrier 2>/dev/null)" = "1"] && return 0
		I=$((I + 1))
		sleep 1
	done

	LOG_ERROR "$0" 0 "NETWORK" "Link carrier timeout"
	FAIL_WITH "LINK_TIMEOUT" "$RC_LINK_TIMEOUT"
}

```

`WAIT_NETWORK_ASSOC` proceeds as soon as the SSID shows in `iw dev wlan0 link` (association, not handshake completion), so the whole 4-way handshake has to finish inside these 5 seconds. With ~5–6 s handshakes this becomes a race, and a lost race tears down the connection and starts `TRY_CONNECT` from scratch.

## Possibly the same root cause in earlier reports

- [[2508.4][RG40XX-H] WIFI disconnects after 20sec](https://community.muos.dev/t/1185) ([2508.4][RG40XX-H] WIFI disconnects after 20sec) — workaround there was WPA2-only / separate SSIDs
- [Wifi disconnects every now and then](https://community.muos.dev/t/1201) (Wifi disconnects every now and then) — fixed by a separate SSID per band/security mode
- [My Rg35xx-H doesnt want to connect to my internet and does not want to recognize my sd2 roms card](https://community.muos.dev/t/1533) (RG35XX-H doesn’t connect) — advice was “2.4 GHz, not a mixed network”

These all ended with “avoid mixed WPA2/WPA3”, which matches what I saw; the measurements above point at the fixed 5 s carrier window as the reason.

## Suggestions

1. Increase the carrier wait (e.g. 15 s), or make it a setting next to `con_retry` / `wait_timer`.
2. Or wait on the supplicant state instead (`wpa_cli -i wlan0 status` → `wpa_state=COMPLETED`) rather than a fixed carrier window.

## Related observation (separate issue, low priority)

- The wpa\_supplicant config written by `web/password.sh` contains only `ssid` / `scan_ssid` / `psk` (no `key_mgmt`, no `ieee80211w`), so WPA3-SAE-only networks cannot be joined. It may be worth documenting that WPA2-PSK (or transition mode) is required.

Thanks for muOS. It has been a joy to use.