WiFi regulatory domain changes between reboots

25 Nov 2023

      Greetings all,

Recently I had an issue with connecting a 5GHz AP, and as Jaron
correctly pointed out, the issue was with the regdomain. The problem I'm
having now is the regdomain spontaneously changes between reboots.

I'm in Singapore and I bought the laptop in Singapore. I am certain that
my hardware/firmware supports 5GHz networks. Following Arch Wiki [1], I
installed the wireless-regdb package and uncommented
WIRELESS_REGDOM="SG" line in the /etc/conf.d/wireless-regdom file.
Things were working fine for a couple days after I made the changes. But
then, sometimes, when I reboot, I see the regdomain changes to ID (I
guess for Indonesia). I checked that ID is commented out in
/etc/conf.d/wireless-regdom.

I recorded the output of "iw reg get" both when it is working and when
it is not. When it's working, the output is:

global
country 00: DFS-UNSET
	(2402 - 2472 @ 40), (6, 20), (N/A)
	(2457 - 2482 @ 20), (6, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(2474 - 2494 @ 20), (6, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5170 - 5250 @ 80), (6, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5250 - 5330 @ 80), (6, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5490 - 5730 @ 160), (6, 20), (0 ms), DFS, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5735 - 5835 @ 80), (6, 20), (N/A), PASSIVE-SCAN
	(57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A)

phy#0 (self-managed)
country SG: DFS-UNSET
	(2402 - 2437 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(2422 - 2462 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(2447 - 2482 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(5170 - 5190 @ 160), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5190 - 5210 @ 160), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5210 - 5230 @ 160), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5230 - 5250 @ 160), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5250 - 5270 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5270 - 5290 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5290 - 5310 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5310 - 5330 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5490 - 5510 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5510 - 5530 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5530 - 5550 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5550 - 5570 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5570 - 5590 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5590 - 5610 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5610 - 5630 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5630 - 5650 @ 160), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5650 - 5670 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5670 - 5690 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5690 - 5710 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5710 - 5730 @ 80), (6, 22), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5735 - 5755 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ
	(5755 - 5775 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ
	(5775 - 5795 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ
	(5795 - 5815 @ 80), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ
	(5815 - 5835 @ 20), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ, PASSIVE-SCAN

When it's not working, the output is

global
country 00: DFS-UNSET
	(2402 - 2472 @ 40), (6, 20), (N/A)
	(2457 - 2482 @ 20), (6, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(2474 - 2494 @ 20), (6, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5170 - 5250 @ 80), (6, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5250 - 5330 @ 80), (6, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5490 - 5730 @ 160), (6, 20), (0 ms), DFS, PASSIVE-SCAN
	(5735 - 5835 @ 80), (6, 20), (N/A), PASSIVE-SCAN
	(57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A)

phy#0 (self-managed)
country ID: DFS-UNSET
	(2402 - 2437 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(2422 - 2462 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(2447 - 2482 @ 40), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ
	(5735 - 5815 @ 20), (6, 22), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-HT40MINUS, NO-HT40PLUS, NO-80MHZ, NO-160MHZ, NO-320MHZ

I have been using this machine for more than 2 years, and have been
connecting to 5GHz band fine in the past. This behavior is almost
certainly new. I first ran into this, I think, on November 14, 2023.

Appreciate any help!

-- 
Regards,
Sadeep
PGP: 103BF9E3E750BF7E

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration/Wireless#Respecting_t...

WiFi regulatory domain changes between reboots

Sadeep Madurange