Bug 279471
Summary: | ath5k does not work properly on Alienware M7700 laptop | ||||||
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Product: | [Fedora] Fedora | Reporter: | Jason <nospam> | ||||
Component: | kernel | Assignee: | John W. Linville <linville> | ||||
Status: | CLOSED CANTFIX | QA Contact: | Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa> | ||||
Severity: | medium | Docs Contact: | |||||
Priority: | medium | ||||||
Version: | 8 | CC: | balay, cebbert, davej, dcbw, jonstanley, sdeasey | ||||
Target Milestone: | --- | ||||||
Target Release: | --- | ||||||
Hardware: | i386 | ||||||
OS: | Linux | ||||||
Whiteboard: | |||||||
Fixed In Version: | Doc Type: | Bug Fix | |||||
Doc Text: | Story Points: | --- | |||||
Clone Of: | Environment: | ||||||
Last Closed: | 2008-08-19 18:36:30 UTC | Type: | --- | ||||
Regression: | --- | Mount Type: | --- | ||||
Documentation: | --- | CRM: | |||||
Verified Versions: | Category: | --- | |||||
oVirt Team: | --- | RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host: | |||||
Cloudforms Team: | --- | Target Upstream Version: | |||||
Embargoed: | |||||||
Attachments: |
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Description
Jason
2007-09-05 21:18:07 UTC
FWIW, it sounds like ath5k is working better for you than for most... kernel-2.6.23-0.212.rc8.git2.fc8 contains some ath5k updates. Can you replicate with that kernel? If anything it is worse, after a long pause it picks up an IP Address but it then attempts to ping the gateway, gets the error message 4 packets transmitted, 0 received, +1 errors, 100% packet loss, time 3011ms, pipe 4 External network device wlan0 is not ready. Aboring.. failed. and of course after that the interface is down. Once again using the madwifi-ng driver all I do is 'sudo make clean && sudo make && sudo make install', change modprobe.conf to read from 'alias wlan0 ath5k' to 'alias wlan0 ath_pci' I also have to rename the ath5k module to something like ath5k.bak, because regardless of what modprobe.conf says it tries to load the ath5k driver rather than ath_pci at boot. Not sure why, but it doesn't seem right... After those three steps everything works as expected (using madwifi-ng) I have a Thinkpad T40 with Atheros AR5211. I've noticed that ath5k [from fredora kernel] never worked - but madwifi-0.9.3.2 - compiled from sources, always worked. This is with 'ifup ath0' - and not NetworkManager. I've checked with a bunch of rawhide kernels [perhaps over the past 2-3 weeks - but not since FC8T3 was released] Perhaps this is the same issue - hence monitoring this bugzilla. Additional Notes: Current kernel I have is 2.6.23-0.217.rc9.git1.fc8 I just tried without encryption [ a different network] - and 'ifup ath0' succeeds. However 'NetworkMonitor applet' says signal strength is 0%. iwconfig gives: Link Signal level=36/127 Madwifi - for the same netowrk [where 'NetworkMonitor shows proper signal] gives: Link Quality=27/70 Signal level=-71 dBm Noise level=-98 dBm The network where I have constant problem with ath5k connecting is my home network - with a 64bit WEP key If you have the ath_info binary from the madwifi package, it may be worthwhile for you to post the information it provides. IIRC, you have to run lspci first to determine the base address assigned to your card by the BIOS, then pass that as an argument to ath_info. Looks like ath_info is in the svn copy - not 0.9.3.2. I've updated madwifi to svn for now. I'm not sure if I'm doing this incorrectly. I get: # lspci |grep Ath 02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5211 802.11ab NIC (rev 01) # ath_info 02:02.0 Mmap of device at 0x00000002 for 0x10000 bytes failed - Invalid argument I've also tried 'lspci -vv' 02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5211 802.11ab NIC (rev 01) Subsystem: Unknown device 17ab:8310 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11 Memory at c0210000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K] Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2 # ath_info c0210000 Unable to read EEPROM Magic value ! # ath_info 0xc0210000 Try that? (Note the "0x".) ok - I get: # ./tools/ath_info 0xc0210000 -==Device Information==- MAC Version: 5211 (0x40) MAC Revision: 5211 (0x42) 5Ghz PHY Revision: 5111 (0x17) 2Ghz PHY Revision: 2111 (0x23) -==EEPROM Information==- EEPROM Version: 3.2 EEPROM Size: 16K Regulatory Domain: 0x61 -==== Capabilities ====- | 802.11a Support: yes | | 802.11b Support: yes | | 802.11g Support: no | | RFKill Support: no | ======================== GPIO registers: CR 00000003 DO 00000000 DI 00000004 -==Device Information==- MAC Version: 5212 (0x50) MAC Revision: 5213 (0x59) PHY Revision: 5112a (0x36) -==EEPROM Information==- EEPROM Version: 4.8 EEPROM Size: 16K Regulatory Domain: 0x0 -==== Capabilities ====- | 802.11a Support: yes | | 802.11b Support: yes | | 802.11g Support: yes | | RFKill Support: yes | | 32KHz Crystal: yes | ======================== Completely fails with an non-upgraded F8T3 install (kernel-2.6.23-0.214.rc8.git2.fc8) It doesn't even pretend to act like it is going to connect, just flat out fails. Using madwifi-ng once again works. kernel-2.6.23-0.220.rc9.git2.fc8 is back to the previous behaviour: 4 packets transmitted, 0 received, +1 errors, 100% packet loss, time 3011ms, pipe 4 External network device wlan0 is not ready. Aboring.. failed. There are some ath5k updates in the kernels here: http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=21169 YMMV, I get an (apparently) different oops now... Do these kernels make a difference for you? Created attachment 230681 [details]
/var/log/messages entries after 'modproble ath5k'
Sorry - my previous message was incomplete. The previously attached log is with kernel-2.6.23.1-16.fc8. Here 'ifup ath0' continues to not work with ath5k driver [wep 64bit, dhcp]. However it works fine with madwifi-0.9.3.2 FYI, info on how to help the ath5k reverse engineering team: http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=119282415503974&w=2 Please try the kernels here: http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=23734 Are these working any better for you? On my Aspire notebook, I don't get any errors and there is now a wlan0 interface where there wasn't one before. But NM doesn't see any wireless networks... No change for me. i.e - WEP64 does not work. - no-encryption works[with 'NetworkMonitor applet' showing no signal strenth] Good news. I just tried 2.6.23.9-78.fc8 from http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=26543 WEP64 finally works with ath5k [with my limited testing] However 'NetworkMonitor applet' continues to show no signal strength [Note: I'm not using NetworkManager] I still have problems with ath5k & kernel-2.6.23.9-78.fc8] When I move from a WEP64 network to encryption=off network. it stops working. [i.e 'ifup wifi0' fails]. I've tried the following: - reload ath5k module - same behavior - reboot- same behavior - reboot to 2.6.23.8-63.fc8 - same behavior - unload ath5k and load ath_pci [in 2.6.23.8-63.fc8], now it works! - unload ath_pci and load ath5k [still in 2.6.23.8-63.fc8] - it works! - reboot to 2.6.23.9-78.fc8 - it works! This happened twice [yesterday, and now today]. I guess I should stay with madwifi for some more time. BTW: wrt "nm-applet not showing signal strength with ath5k", should I file a different bug report? [I'm guessing this is a problem with ath5k driver - as this applet works fine with madwifi] Satish - Yes, please file a separate bug report on the signal strength problem in nm-applet. Also, can you please try a later kernel? Ok - I've retried with kernel-2.6.23.14-111.fc8 - The problem with moving between networks persist [between WEP64 and encryption=off]. I was able to reset the behavior by either booting into windows - or loading madwifi [rebooting with ath5k didn't help] Wrt nm-applet - its behaving better. i.e, I'm able to see the signal strength properly now. However there is still one issue. When the network is down, [with ifdown wifi0] - it still shows signal strength [with the a red x indicating that the network is down though]. I don't know if this is acceptable behavior. With madwifi - the signal strength is 0 after 'ifdown ath0' iwconfig-after-ifdown-ath0: Link Quality=0/70 Signal level=-98 dBm Noise level=-98 dBm iwconfig-after-ifdown-wifi0: Link Quality=54/100 Signal level=-63 dBm Noise level=-98 dBm Because of the first issue [unable to switching between networks], ath5k is still unusable to me. I'll continue to use madwifi. Does the "moving between networks" issue happen when using manual configuration (i.e. iwconfig, iwlist, etc) too? Or only with NetworkManager? The ath5k driver should be using software encryption (i.e. done at the CPU, not on the card itself), so it doesn't make much sense that the problem should survive a reboot. I primarily use ifup/ifdown with /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0,ifcfg-wifi0 config files [And I haven't used NM in a while because it didn't work predictably for me - when I tried using it.] Wrt reboot not resetting settings - I'm guessing that its not the enc-settings per-say - but some bad state the hardware goes into or something. So far I tried switching between 'wep64-> enc-off' and 'enc-off -> wep-64'. Both failed. [I tried reboot/winxp reset only between 'wep64-> enc-off' transition]. However I suspect the problem might be there when switching between any two networks - irrespective of encryption. [I don't have access to enough networks to try...] Perhaps someone else with a Thinkpad T40 [with atheros] can try reproducing this problem. Could you attach the contents of your ifcfg-* files? Feel free to obscure your WEP keys as you desire. Contents of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wifi0 >>>>>>>>>>>> # Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt # for the documentation of these parameters. IPV6INIT=no ONBOOT=no USERCTL=no PEERDNS=no TYPE=Wireless DEVICE=wifi0 HWADDR= BOOTPROTO=dhcp NETMASK=255.255.255.0 DHCP_HOSTNAME= DOMAIN= CHANNEL=1 MODE=Managed RATE=0kb/s ESSID=xxxx <<<<<<< Contents of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/keys-wifi0 >>> KEY=xxxx <<< --------------------------------------------------------- When switching networks - I just modify keys-wifi0 with both ESSID,KEY fields updated. ath5k fails to load on my Z60t: $ dmesg ... ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:13:00.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 21 PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:13:00.0 to 64 ath5k_pci 0000:13:00.0: registered as 'phy0' ath5k phy0: failed to resume the MAC Chip ACPI: PCI interrupt for device 0000:13:00.0 disabled ath5k_pci: probe of 0000:13:00.0 failed with error -5 ... $ lspci -nvv 13:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC [168c:1014] (rev 01) Subsystem: IBM ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter (AR5BXB6) [1014:058a] Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 21 Memory at a7f00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=64K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel modules: ath_pci, ath5k madwifi from livna works on this machine. It looks like this: $ modprobe ath_pci ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel. ath_hal: 0.9.18.0 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413) wlan: 0.8.4.2 (0.9.3.3) ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (0.9.3.3) ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:13:00.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 21 PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:13:00.0 to 64 ath_rate_sample: 1.2 (0.9.3.3) wifi0: 11a rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps wifi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps wifi0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps wifi0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP wifi0: mac 10.3 phy 6.1 radio 10.2 wifi0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic wifi0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic wifi0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic wifi0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic wifi0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic wifi0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons wifi0: Atheros 5212: mem=0xa7f00000, irq=21 $ sudo ./ath_info 0xa7f00000 Warning: Invalid EEPROM Magic number! -==Device Information==- MAC Version: 2424 (0xa0) MAC Revision: 5424 (0xa3) 5Ghz PHY Revision: SChip (0xa2) 2Ghz PHY Revision: SChip (0xa2) -==EEPROM Information==- EEPROM Version: 5.3 EEPROM Size: 4K Regulatory Domain: 0x62 -==== Capabilities ====- | 802.11a Support: yes | | 802.11b Support: yes | | 802.11g Support: yes | | RFKill Support: yes | | 32KHz Crystal: no | ======================== GPIO registers: CR 0001800f DO 00000003 DI 0000000b $ rpm -q kernel kernel-2.6.23.14-115.fc8 Stephen, I have copied the information from comment 27 to bug 254192 comment 96. Please direct your attention there...thanks! OK, it's been a while...is this still a problem with current F8 (or F9) kernels? I've upgraded to a machine with intel 3945ABG - so I can't test this anymore.. I've been trying F8 updates, with no joy. Just tried F9 and it works! At least, it does for a simple unencrypted connection. Progress! Are current kernels working to your satisfaction? Closed due to lack of response... |