Atheros wireless problems.

Sun Sep 28 00:06:48 UTC 2008

On Thu, 2008-09-25 at 08:53 -0700, Sam Leffler wrote:
> Frank Mayhar wrote:
> > So I obtained a D-Link DWL-AG660 cardbus card, which has a 5213 (I
> > believe) Atheros chipset in it; it's an a/b/g card.  This is to use
> > while the chipset embedded in my laptop isn't supported.  It came today,
> > I installed it tonight and, well, problems.
> The status codes look bogus.  In 0.10.5.10 there is a code path through 
> reset where status is not set if the chip is not brought out of low 
> power mode.  Why this might happen is beyond me (could be a cardbus 
> problem) but if you initialize status to a known value before the hal 
> calls that are failing this might confirm that as the problem.  I've 
> fixed the hal fwiw.

That's definitely not the problem, it seems.  I modified the driver to
zero 'status' in each of the routines that emit the message.  When I ran
it today, it emitted the 'device timeout' and 'unable to reset hardware'
messages:

Sep 27 14:33:59 auton kernel: ath0: device timeout
Sep 27 14:33:59 auton kernel: ath0: ath_reset: unable to reset hardware; hal status 19600117
Sep 27 14:34:21 auton kernel: ath0: device timeout
Sep 27 14:34:21 auton kernel: ath0: ath_reset: unable to reset hardware; hal status 19600117

The only difference was that this time the status was always 19600117.

A verbose boot, btw, gets this:

Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: <Atheros 5212> mem 0xf2110000-0xf211ffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on cardbus0
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Reserved 0x10000 bytes for rid 0x10 type 3 at 0xf2110000
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: cbb0: Opening memory:
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: cbb0: Normal: 0xf2110000-0xf211ffff
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: [MPSAFE]
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: [ITHREAD]
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2412/a0 -> 1 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2412/c0 -> 1 maxpow 36 minpow -2 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2417/a0 -> 2 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2417/c0 -> 2 maxpow 36 minpow -2 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2422/a0 -> 3 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2422/c0 -> 3 maxpow 36 minpow -2 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2427/a0 -> 4 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2427/c0 -> 4 maxpow 36 minpow -2 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2432/a0 -> 5 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2432/c0 -> 5 maxpow 36 minpow -2 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2437/a0 -> 6 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2437/c0 -> 6 maxpow 36 minpow -2 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2437/d0 -> 6 maxpow 32 minpow -2 maxreg 20
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2442/a0 -> 7 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2442/c0 -> 7 maxpow 36 minpow -1 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2447/a0 -> 8 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2447/c0 -> 8 maxpow 36 minpow -1 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2452/a0 -> 9 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2452/c0 -> 9 maxpow 36 minpow -1 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2457/a0 -> 10 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2457/c0 -> 10 maxpow 36 minpow -1 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2462/a0 -> 11 maxpow 36 minpow -3 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 2462/c0 -> 11 maxpow 36 minpow -1 maxreg 27
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5180/140 -> 36 maxpow 34 minpow -8 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5200/140 -> 40 maxpow 34 minpow -8 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5200/150 -> 40 maxpow 32 minpow -8 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5210/2150 -> 42 maxpow 32 minpow -7 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5220/140 -> 44 maxpow 34 minpow -7 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5240/140 -> 48 maxpow 34 minpow -7 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5240/150 -> 48 maxpow 32 minpow -7 maxreg 17
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5250/2150 -> 50 maxpow 32 minpow -7 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5260/140 -> 52 maxpow 34 minpow -7 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5280/140 -> 56 maxpow 34 minpow -6 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5280/150 -> 56 maxpow 32 minpow -6 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5290/2150 -> 58 maxpow 32 minpow -6 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5300/140 -> 60 maxpow 34 minpow -6 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5320/140 -> 64 maxpow 34 minpow -5 maxreg 23
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5745/140 -> 149 maxpow 34 minpow 10 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5760/2150 -> 152 maxpow 32 minpow 10 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5765/140 -> 153 maxpow 34 minpow 11 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5765/150 -> 153 maxpow 32 minpow 11 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5785/140 -> 157 maxpow 34 minpow 11 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5800/2150 -> 160 maxpow 32 minpow 12 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5805/140 -> 161 maxpow 34 minpow 12 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5805/150 -> 161 maxpow 32 minpow 12 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: hal channel 5825/140 -> 165 maxpow 34 minpow 13 maxreg 30
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: WARNING: using obsoleted if_watchdog interface
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: bpf attached
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: 11a rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: turboA rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: sturboA rates:
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 3.6
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic
Sep 27 14:38:43 auton kernel: ath0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons
Sep 27 14:38:52 auton kernel: ath0: Reserved 0x10000 bytes for rid 0x10 type 3 at 0xf2110000

Anything else I might try?
-- 
Frank Mayhar frank at exit.com     http://www.exit.com/
Exit Consulting                 http://www.gpsclock.com/
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