I was finally able to capture an event that shows a device of some sorts not able to connect while trying for several hours. While I was trying to capture some info another device came along, connected, and seemed to jar something in ath9k. The first device that was unable to connect, suddenly connected, shows up under an iw station dump, stayed connected for a few minutes and went right back to a disconnected state.

Here is the event as it happened,


{{{
STA xxxxxxxxx:15:8d IEEE 802.11: disassociated due to inactivity
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: did not acknowledge authentication response
daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: did not acknowledge authentication response
daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: did not acknowledge authentication response
daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: did not acknowledge authentication response
}}}

New client/device comes along and connects,



{{{
STA xxxxxxxb0:a7 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxxb0:a7 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxxb0:a7 IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 2)
local6.notice coova-chilli[1931]: chilli.c: 3248: New DHCP request from MAC=xxxxxxxB0-A7
local6.notice coova-chilli[1931]: chilli.c: 3209: Client MAC=xxxxxxxB0-A7 assigned IP xxxxxx.191.7

iw dev wlan0 station dump
Station xxxxxxxb0:a7 (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  20 ms
        rx bytes:       216411
        rx packets:     841
        tx bytes:       863930
        tx packets:     873
        signal:         -73 dBm
        tx bitrate:     65.0 MBit/s MCS 7
}}}

Now the first device after having what appeared to be connection problems for hours suddenly is allowed to connect for a brief moment,


{{{
xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: authenticated
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
local6.notice coova-chilli[1931]: chilli.c: 3248: New DHCP request from MAC=xxxxxxx15-8D
local6.notice coova-chilli[1931]: chilli.c: 3209: Client MAC=xxxxxxx15-8D assigned IP xxxxxxx.191.8

Station xxxxxxx15:8d (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  54661090 ms
        rx bytes:       0
        rx packets:     0
        tx bytes:       0
        tx packets:     0
        signal:         0 dBm
        tx bitrate:     1.0 MBit/s
Station xxxxxxxb0:a7 (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  6240 ms
        rx bytes:       1020221
        rx packets:     3773
        tx bytes:       3407449
        tx packets:     3508
        signal:         -72 dBm
        tx bitrate:     52.0 MBit/s MCS 5

and iw a couple seconds later (copy paste only the first device info)

Station xxxxxxx15:8d (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  7150 ms
        rx bytes:       937
        rx packets:     7
        tx bytes:       0
        tx packets:     0
        signal:         -78 dBm
        tx bitrate:     1.0 MBit/s
}}}

A couple seconds later and the first client goes back to disconnected while the second client stays connected and is still connected,


{{{
xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: disassociated due to inactivity
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: Station tried to associate before authentication (aid=-1 flags=0x0)
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: Station tried to associate before authentication (aid=-1 flags=0x0)
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: Station tried to associate before authentication (aid=-1 flags=0x0)
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: Station tried to associate before authentication (aid=-1 flags=0x0)
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: Station tried to associate before authentication (aid=-1 flags=0x0)
daemon.info hostapd: wlan0: STA xxxxxxx15:8d IEEE 802.11: Station tried to associate before authentication (aid=-1 flags=0x0)
}}}