Bug 520535 - Poor throughput ATH9K using AR5008
Summary: Poor throughput ATH9K using AR5008
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED INSUFFICIENT_DATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: kernel
Version: 11
Hardware: i386
OS: Linux
low
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: John W. Linville
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
: 520537 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2009-09-01 00:10 UTC by Steve Baker
Modified: 2010-03-31 16:40 UTC (History)
11 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2010-03-31 16:40:06 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
Mesages output for wlan0 (21.75 KB, text/plain)
2009-09-01 00:10 UTC, Steve Baker
no flags Details

Description Steve Baker 2009-09-01 00:10:05 UTC
Created attachment 359335 [details]
Mesages output for wlan0 

Description of problem:

Slow sluggish throughput.
What does this mean...
Hit enter or click then wait....for web page to display. 
Usually paints the screen in bursts.
Fairly useless this way.

Same response when accessing local device (Router)

Never never approaches "N" Speeds
Using WPA2 AES mode.

Router = Dlink DIR-655 latest firmware.
Card = Dlink DWA-652

Note: Cards must be inserted and ejected twice to work. 

I have two card with the same chipset they both behave the same way.
Ath5k on the same system works well, using of course a different card.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):


How reproducible:
Always


Steps to Reproduce: See above.
1.
2.
3.
  
Actual results:


Expected results:


Additional info:

iwconfig output:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"ReKaB164"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.442 GHz  Access Point: 00:19:5B:60:2F:6B   
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B   
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=60/100  Signal level:-50 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0


lspci-vv output:

02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
	Subsystem: D-Link System Inc Device 3a6e
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 168, Cache Line Size: 128 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
	Region 0: Memory at 44000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k

Dmesg output:

pcmcia_socket pcmcia_socket0: pccard: card ejected from slot 0
wlan2: deauthenticating by local choice (reason=3)
ath5k 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
pcmcia_socket pcmcia_socket0: pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 10 32bit mmio: [0x000000-0x00ffff]
ath9k 0000:02:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
ath9k 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKF] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
wmaster0 (ath9k): not using net_device_ops yet
phy7: Selected rate control algorithm 'ath9k_rate_control'
wlan0 (ath9k): not using net_device_ops yet
Registered led device: ath9k-phy7:radio
Registered led device: ath9k-phy7:assoc
Registered led device: ath9k-phy7:tx
Registered led device: ath9k-phy7:rx
phy7: Atheros AR5416 MAC/BB Rev:2 AR2133 RF Rev:81: mem=0xf8180000, irq=11
cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Note: Stalled here ejected card to "wake it up"

pcmcia_socket pcmcia_socket0: pccard: card ejected from slot 0
wlan0: deauthenticating by local choice (reason=3)
ath9k 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
pcmcia_socket pcmcia_socket0: pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 10 32bit mmio: [0x000000-0x00ffff]
ath9k 0000:02:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
ath9k 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKF] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
wmaster0 (ath9k): not using net_device_ops yet
phy8: Selected rate control algorithm 'ath9k_rate_control'
wlan0 (ath9k): not using net_device_ops yet
Registered led device: ath9k-phy8:radio
Registered led device: ath9k-phy8:assoc
Registered led device: ath9k-phy8:tx
Registered led device: ath9k-phy8:rx
phy8: Atheros AR5416 MAC/BB Rev:2 AR2133 RF Rev:81: mem=0xf81a0000, irq=11
cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ALSA sound/core/pcm_lib.c:166: BUG: stream = 0, pos = 0x4000, buffer size = 0x4000, period size = 0x372
wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:19:5b:60:2f:6b
wlan0: authenticated
wlan0: associate with AP 00:19:5b:60:2f:6b
wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:19:5b:60:2f:6b (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=3)
wlan0: associated
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present

Comment 1 Steve Baker 2009-09-01 00:40:28 UTC
*** Bug 520537 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 2 Steve Baker 2009-09-02 11:39:42 UTC
"Component" doesn't list the ath9k driver so I changed it to Kernel.

Comment 3 Steve Baker 2009-10-03 15:17:55 UTC
Is this bug assigned to the correct area / person?
I corrected the mistake I made in component selection, does this then change the assignee?

Comment 4 Chuck Ebbert 2009-10-08 14:12:19 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> Is this bug assigned to the correct area / person?
> I corrected the mistake I made in component selection, does this then change
> the assignee?  

It's supposed to, but it didn't.

Comment 5 John W. Linville 2009-10-08 15:09:16 UTC
Which kernel are you using?

Comment 6 Steve Baker 2009-10-08 15:25:50 UTC
Currently using Kernel 2.6.30.8-64 FC 11 I586

I installed the latest stable Compat-wireless for 2.6.30 two days ago
This added a problem of not wanting to re-associate.
Throughput issue is unchanged.

Comment 7 John W. Linville 2009-10-08 17:07:01 UTC
First guess would be a problem with the ath9k rate scaling algorithm -- maybe Luis has some insight?

Comment 8 Pehr Arnqvist 2009-11-02 12:00:07 UTC
I can confirm. I have the same problem. Some variables differs: FC 12 i686, kernel 2.6.31. I could install FC 11 and reproduce the problem, if it's needed.

Comment 9 Luis R. Rodriguez 2009-11-02 17:27:44 UTC
Can you please try bleeding edge compat-wireless:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download

This was just updated and synced with John's wireless-testing.

Comment 10 Steve Baker 2009-11-03 14:47:21 UTC
compat-wireless-2009-11-03

Complied and installed on Fedora 11 with 2.6.30.9-90

Looks like a winner! 
Issue resolved.

Thanks.

Comment 11 Pehr Arnqvist 2009-11-04 07:28:54 UTC
I can also confirm that it's solved with compat-wireless-2009-11-03.

Thanks!

Comment 12 John W. Linville 2009-11-04 13:49:46 UTC
Luis, and idea of specific patches that may be involved?

Comment 13 Michal Jaegermann 2009-11-08 19:39:59 UTC
Smells like http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=13807, including cures given there, will be relevant.  Also bug 532465 is likely a duplicate.

Comment 14 Aniket 2009-12-02 21:13:32 UTC
I still had problems using compat-wireless-2009-11-22 and compat-wireless-2009-12-01 . I used the command "iwconfig wlan0 power off" as suggested on the kernel bugzilla . 

I have atheros 9280 card, using ath9k driver.

Comment 15 David A. De Graaf 2010-02-01 16:56:15 UTC
I am delighted to report that the bleeding edge driver package, 
downloaded today from
  http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download
has cured all my problems with ath9k.

  -rw-rw-r--  1 dad dad 2354151 Feb  1 10:07 compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
  drwxr-xr-x 11 dad dad    4096 Feb  1 10:28 compat-wireless-2010-01-31/

After installing this latest ath9k driver today, my ASUS N10J netbook
can communicate without dropout under the heaviest load I can generate.
Using my dircmp script to compare photo files on the netbook with
identical files on another local machine, which involves repeated use
of the cmp command, the wireless connection transferred data at 2.7 to
3.3 Mb/s without interruption for about 23 minutes.  In particular, there
wasn't a single incident of NetworkManager dissociating and re-associating
with the DLink DWL-524 wireless router.

In contrast, yesterday the same experiment, using the standard ath9k
driver provided in Fedora 12, kernel 2.6.31.12-174.2.3.fc12.i686.PAE,
produced frequent dropouts - about every 10 seconds, or so.
In /var/log/messages these events recurred:

  Jan 31 13:39:54 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  completed -> disconnected
  Jan 31 13:39:54 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  disconnected -> scanning
  Jan 31 13:39:55 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  scanning -> associating
  Jan 31 13:39:55 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  associating -> associated
  Jan 31 13:39:55 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  associated -> completed

  Jan 31 13:40:04 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  completed -> disconnected
  Jan 31 13:40:04 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  disconnected -> scanning
  Jan 31 13:40:05 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  scanning -> associating
  Jan 31 13:40:05 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  associating -> associated
  Jan 31 13:40:05 localhost NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0):
  supplicant connection state:  associated -> completed

and so forth, every ten seconds for a couple of hours.
Needless to say, the effective data transfer rate was pretty poor.

These disconnections occurred only under heavy load.  During even a
large yum update, the transfer rate wasn't high enough to provoke them,

This new ath9k driver is a vast improvement.  Thanks to everyone who
fixed it.  Please move it into official status ASAP.

My stuff:
Computer:   ASUS N10J netbook, Atom N270 cpu, 2GB RAM
Router:     DLink DI-524
lspci:      02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc.
            AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
OS:         Fedora 12
kernel:     2.6.31.12-174.2.3.fc12.i686.PAE

During massive data transfer:

# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"DATIX"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.442 GHz  Access Point: 00:13:46:D1:EB:C8
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=43/70  Signal level=-67 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Comment 16 John W. Linville 2010-03-01 19:19:10 UTC
Have you tried a 2.6.32-based F-11 kernel?

http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=158901

Does this improve things for you?

Comment 17 John W. Linville 2010-03-31 16:40:06 UTC
Closing due to lack of response...please reopen if this issue persists with 2.6.32-based kernels.


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