EAPOL handshake timeout or WPA auth failure loop on 6.x kernels

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1

Hello everyone on the KDE Discuss forum. I’ve been using KDE Neon for about six months on my newly purchased Asus Zenbook 14 with AMD Ryzen AI 7. My Linux experience so far has been Ubuntu, and I even have Ubuntu 26.04 installed on an external drive for comparison. I discovered KDE Neon by accident, and it was a good discovery. The graphics are great, the performance is fast, and I’d like to say it’s problem-free, but I can’t. Connecting to Wi-Fi is problematic in my setup. I usually have to enter the password into the pop-up window 5 to 12 times, and finally the system connects to the 5GHz band perfectly, although it occasionally connects to the 2GHz band. My card’s parameters are:

swnw@KDENeon:~$ sudo lspci -d ::0280 -nnk
[sudo] password for swnw:
62:00.0 Network controller [0280]: MEDIATEK Corp. MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter [14c3:0616]
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter [105b:e0de]
Kernel driver in use: mt7921e
Kernel modules: mt7921e

swnw@KDENeon:~$ inxi -Nz
Network:
Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter driver: mt7921e
Looking for a solution, I found only a general description of the problem I was experiencing, but no working solution.

Users of these cards often describe this problem as an EAPOL handshake timeout or WPA auth failure loop on 6.x kernels. It seems like a lot of people with newer laptops (especially those with AMD processors) are struggling with this particular password prompt loop.

2

Does it work any differently on the 7.0 kernel? You should have this by default in neon if you are up to date.

This is the same kernel as in Ubuntu 26.04, as they do backport these regularly from more current releases to the LTS releases, and KDE neon is using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS as the OS.

Mediatek WiFi cards can be troublesome, for sure.

I assume there are no issues with this in Ubuntu for you? This makes me suspect that getting your system up to date and booted to the current kernel might be the fix for you.

3

Yes i’m up to date for sure.

OS: KDE neon User Edition x86_64
Host: ASUS Zenbook 14 UM3406KA_UM3406KA (1.0)
Kernel: Linux 7.0.0-28-generic
Uptime: 4 hours, 18 mins
Packages: 2374 (dpkg), 22 (flatpak), 7 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.2.21
Display (SDC419D): 2880x1800 @ 1.79x in 14", 120 Hz [Built-in]
DE: KDE Plasma 6.7.3
WM: KWin (Wayland)
WM Theme: Breeze
Theme: Breeze (Dark) [Qt], Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3]
Icons: breeze-dark [Qt], breeze-dark [GTK2/3/4]
Font: Noto Sans (10pt) [Qt], Noto Sans (10pt) [GTK2/3/4]
Cursor: breeze (24px)
Terminal: konsole 26.4.3
CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 (16) @ 5.09 GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon 860M Graphics [Integrated]
Memory: 5.10 GiB / 30.47 GiB (17%)
Swap: 0 B / 512.00 MiB (0%)
Disk (/): 230.01 GiB / 457.09 GiB (50%) - ext4
Local IP (wlp98s0): 192.168.0.87/24
Battery (ASUS Battery): 87% [AC Connected]
Locale: en_US.UTF-8

6

More precisely, after 3 days of testing. MediaTek MT7922 Wi-Fi Authentication Loop on Linux

Hardware

Laptop: ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UM3406KA (AMD Ryzen AI 7)

Wireless adapter:

MediaTek MT7922 (RZ616)
PCI ID: 14c3:0616
Subsystem: Foxconn 105b:e0de
Driver: mt7921e

$ sudo lspci -d ::0280 -nnk

62:00.0 Network controller [0280]:
MEDIATEK Corp. MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter [14c3:0616]
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. [105b:e0de]
Kernel driver in use: mt7921e
Kernel modules: mt7921

Operating systems tested

KDE neon (Plasma 6.3.7 Wayland)
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (GNOME, Wayland)

The behavior is essentially identical on both systems.

Description

The Wi-Fi connection frequently fails during the authentication phase immediately after boot or resume.

The saved WPA2 password is correct, but NetworkManager repeatedly asks for it. Sometimes the connection succeeds after the second attempt, sometimes after ten or more attempts, and occasionally it connects automatically after waiting a few minutes.

Once the connection is established, it is completely stable.

Symptoms

repeated password prompts although the password is correct;
occasional “authentication required” loop;
connection may require many retries;
sometimes connecting manually from the NetworkManager menu works;
sometimes nmcli connection up succeeds while the graphical interface does not;
after successful authentication the connection remains stable for hours.

Wireless performance after connection

The wireless link itself appears to work correctly.

Typical values:

Signal strength: approximately -44 dBm
5 GHz connection
RX bitrate up to 866.7 Mbit/s
Internet throughput approximately 480–500 Mbps

There are no stability problems after authentication succeeds.

Troubleshooting already performed

removed and recreated NetworkManager connection
verified stored WPA password
tested both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands
forced 5 GHz only
disabled Wi-Fi power saving
tested different NetworkManager settings
repeated testing under both KDE neon and Ubuntu
verified driver and hardware information
checked NetworkManager logs

None of these changes eliminated the authentication loop.

Observation

The problem appears to occur during WPA authentication (possibly EAPOL handshake) rather than during normal wireless operation.

Because the same behavior occurs on two different Linux distributions using the same driver, this may be related to the mt7921e driver, MediaTek firmware, or their interaction with certain access points.

The hardware itself does not appear to be faulty because, once authenticated, the wireless connection performs normally and remains stable.

Any suggestions for additional debugging or patches to test would be appreciated.

7

As you can see it was 3 days, both KDE neon and Ubuntu 26.04 test.
MediaTek MT7922 Wi-Fi Authentication Loop on Linux

Hardware

Laptop: ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED UM3406KA (AMD Ryzen AI 7)

Wireless adapter:

MediaTek MT7922 (RZ616)
PCI ID: 14c3:0616
Subsystem: Foxconn 105b:e0de
Driver: mt7921e

$ sudo lspci -d ::0280 -nnk

62:00.0 Network controller [0280]:
MEDIATEK Corp. MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter [14c3:0616]
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. [105b:e0de]
Kernel driver in use: mt7921e
Kernel modules: mt7921

Operating systems tested

KDE neon (Plasma 6, Wayland)
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (GNOME, Wayland)

The behavior is essentially identical on both systems.

Description

The Wi-Fi connection frequently fails during the authentication phase immediately after boot or resume.

The saved WPA2 password is correct, but NetworkManager repeatedly asks for it. Sometimes the connection succeeds after the second attempt, sometimes after ten or more attempts, and occasionally it connects automatically after waiting a few minutes.

Once the connection is established, it is completely stable.

Symptoms

repeated password prompts although the password is correct;
occasional “authentication required” loop;
connection may require many retries;
sometimes connecting manually from the NetworkManager menu works;
sometimes nmcli connection up succeeds while the graphical interface does not;
after successful authentication the connection remains stable for hours.

Wireless performance after connection

The wireless link itself appears to work correctly.

Typical values:

Signal strength: approximately -44 dBm
5 GHz connection
RX bitrate up to 866.7 Mbit/s
Internet throughput approximately 480–500 Mbps

There are no stability problems after authentication succeeds.

Troubleshooting already performed

removed and recreated NetworkManager connection
verified stored WPA password
tested both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands
forced 5 GHz only
disabled Wi-Fi power saving
tested different NetworkManager settings
repeated testing under both KDE neon and Ubuntu
verified driver and hardware information
checked NetworkManager logs

None of these changes eliminated the authentication loop.

Observation

The problem appears to occur during WPA authentication (possibly EAPOL handshake) rather than during normal wireless operation.

Because the same behavior occurs on two different Linux distributions using the same driver, this may be related to the mt7921e driver, MediaTek firmware, or their interaction with certain access points.

The hardware itself does not appear to be faulty because, once authenticated, the wireless connection performs normally and remains stable.

Any suggestions for additional debugging or patches to test would be appreciated.

Next mystery

I have two Zenbook 14 computers at home, one with an Intel Core 5 processor and the other with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor. During testing, I discovered that Ubuntu 26.04 runs on both computers, while KDE Neon only runs on Ryzen. Both systems are installed on external SSDs, using the Ryzen computer.

Best regards, swnw

8

Please, don’t keep repeating your post.

The wifi issue will very likely be more hardware and Ubuntu-specific, and may be outside the experience of many KDE users here.

Something to possibly look at:

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=451644

fwiw the last few times I had a mediatek wifi card, I have ended up replacing it with an Intel one. These are cheap (if they are the m.2 type), but replacements are are not always feasible, and the antenna wires tend to have fragile and tiny connectors.

9

This is what I expected. A simple, unexplained, yet decisive answer.
Best regards, swnw.