problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Hi all, My new laptop (asus F80L-4P007C) comes with an Atheros AR5418 wifi chipset, which apparently doesn't work well with madwifi from current Lenny. This chipset is reported to work with madwifi at: http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility/Atheros#AtherosAR5418 I have packet loss varying form 0% to 85%, even pinging my local gateway (which is also the wifi AP). The only other abnormal things I noticed are the message wifi0: unknow hardware address type 801 issued (two times) when I ran 'dhclient ath0' (after configuring the card with iwconfig and bringing it up with ifconfig). Now, after some time using it, I have: [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~% /sbin/iwconfig ath0 ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"freeboite" Nickname:"" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 96:8C:04:33:F8:1C Bit Rate:48 Mb/s Tx-Power:14 dBm Sensitivity=1/1 Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality=65/70 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-96 dBm Rx invalid nwid:47937 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0 I notice that 'Rx invalid nwid' is non-zero, but don't know how to use this information. What can I do in order to debug or work around this problem? For now the options I can see are: 1. Use a more recent madwifi snapshot. 2. Try a 2.6.27 kernel with the new ath9k driver which is supposed to handle my chipset. 3. Use the win32 driver via ndiswrapper. I don't like this option at all, it also forces me to re-install everything in 32bits... Any sensible advice greatly welcome! I include some info which my be useful, feel free to ask more if I forgot something important. TIA, Manuel. [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~% lspci | grep -i wireless 02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5418 802.11abgn Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01) [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~% lspci -v -s 02:00.0 02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5418 802.11abgn Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01) Subsystem: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 3072 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 Memory at fdef (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K] Capabilities: Kernel driver in use: ath_pci Kernel modules: ath_pci, ath5k roth:~# lsmod G 'ath|wlan' wlan_wep9984 1 wlan_scan_sta 17280 1 ath_rate_sample17024 1 ath_pci 241600 0 wlan 223904 5 wlan_wep,wlan_scan_sta,ath_rate_sample,ath_pci ath_hal 334480 3 ath_rate_sample,ath_pci [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~% uname -a Linux roth 2.6.26-1-amd64 #1 SMP Wed Aug 20 12:09:32 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Le (on) mardi 02 septembre 2008 21:50, mpg a écrit (wrote) : > 1. Use a more recent madwifi snapshot. Ok, I just tried this one. Apparently it doesn't help. > 2. Try a 2.6.27 kernel with the new ath9k driver which is supposed to > handle my chipset. Looks like it's time for me to compile my first kernel... Manuel. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Le (on) mardi 02 septembre 2008 22:40, Wayne Topa a écrit (wrote) : >> http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility/Atheros#AtherosAR5418 > > It's reported there to be working on an Apple Macbook. Is that what an > asus F80L-4P007C is? > Not exactly. But I naively thought that the driver was for the chipset only, and didn't depend on the computer around the chipset. > AFAIK the madwifi drivers do not work with '802.11abgn' chipsets. > Bad news for me. > Maybe with a newer kernel that includes the ath9k driver, it 'might' work. > 2.6.27-rc5 is building right now. I'll see. Manuel. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Le (on) mardi 02 septembre 2008 23:30, mpg a écrit (wrote) : >> Maybe with a newer kernel that includes the ath9k driver, it 'might' >> work. >> > 2.6.27-rc5 is building right now. I'll see. > Rebooted on the new kernel. Wireless networking looks working now. I still have a warning/error wmaster: unknown hardware address type 801 when running dhclient, but now 'Rx invalid nwid' stays at 0 in th output of iwconfig, and I don't loose packets any more. Hope it keeps working. Fingers crossed. > Manuel. > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Le (on) mercredi 03 septembre 2008 02:30, Celejar a écrit (wrote) : >> wmaster: unknown hardware address type 801 >> > I think this message is normal; I get it too with both my Atheros and > Broadcom cards. > Ok, thanks for the info. By the way, I was perhaps a bit to fast saying that "it wotks". Actually it worked for the whole day, then there was a general electrical failure, which means my AP when down and my laptop on battery (don't know which one is responsible). When I tried to re-connect to the AP, no way to use the wifi. Even rebooting couldn't change that. Then I tried to reinstall the madwifi drivers, and when I loaded ath_pci (after unloading ath9k) I has what looks like a bad error: Sep 3 21:37:09 roth dhclient: send_packet: No such device Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] irq 17: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option) Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: P 2.6.27-rc5 #1 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Call Trace: Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014][] __report_bad_irq+0x30/0x72 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] note_interrupt+0x207/0x26b Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] handle_fasteoi_irq+0xb1/0xdb Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] do_IRQ+0x6d/0xd6 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] ret_from_intr+0x0/0x29 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014][] menu_reflect+0x0/0x61 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] acpi_idle_enter_c1+0x14c/0x194 [processor] Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] acpi_idle_enter_c1+0xe8/0x194 [processor] Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] cpuidle_idle_call+0x94/0xd1 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] cpu_idle+0x8e/0xd6 Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] handlers: Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] (ath_intr+0x0/0x3f59 [ath_pci]) Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Disabling IRQ #17 (IRQ 17 was used by the wireless chip). After that, I rebooted and everything works fine again with ath9k. Do you have any idea how to investigate this? Thanks, Manuel. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Le (on) mercredi 03 septembre 2008 22:20, mpg a écrit (wrote) : > which means my AP when down and my laptop on battery (don't know which one > is responsible). > Well, I did the test. When the AP gets down, I can see wlan0: No ProbeResp from current AP - assume out of range which looks perfectly correct. The problem is, after this, when the AP is back, I can try ifdown wlan0; ifup wlan0 or whater using iwconfig, ifconfig and dhclient, it doesn't associate any more with the AP, and I get messages like ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready The only way I found to make the thing work again is to modprobe -r ath9k && modprobe ath9k (that is, unload and relaod the driver). Then it authenticates and associates back with the AP and everything's fine. Is something wrong with my config, am I doing something wrong, or is it a problem with the driver? For what it's worth, the relavant section of my /etc/network/interfaces looks like: allow-hotplug wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wireless-essid wireless-key and I'm using WEP authentication. Thanks, Manuel. > When I tried to re-connect to the AP, no way to use the wifi. Even > rebooting couldn't change that. Then I tried to reinstall the madwifi > drivers, and when I loaded ath_pci (after unloading ath9k) I has what > looks like a bad error: > > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth dhclient: send_packet: No such device > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] irq 17: nobody cared (try > booting with the "irqpoll" option) > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Pid: 0, comm: swapper Tainted: > P 2.6.27-rc5 #1 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Call Trace: > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014][] > __report_bad_irq+0x30/0x72 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > note_interrupt+0x207/0x26b > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > handle_fasteoi_irq+0xb1/0xdb > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > do_IRQ+0x6d/0xd6 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > ret_from_intr+0x0/0x29 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014][] > menu_reflect+0x0/0x61 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > acpi_idle_enter_c1+0x14c/0x194 [processor] > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > acpi_idle_enter_c1+0xe8/0x194 [processor] > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > cpuidle_idle_call+0x94/0xd1 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > cpu_idle+0x8e/0xd6 > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] handlers: > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] [] > (ath_intr+0x0/0x3f59 [ath_pci]) > Sep 3 21:37:09 roth kernel: [ 729.016014] Disabling IRQ #17 > > (IRQ 17 was used by the wireless chip). After that, I rebooted and > everything works fine again with ath9k. > > Do you have any idea how to investigate this? > > Thanks, > Manuel. > > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: problems with madwifi and Atheros AR5418
Le (on) Thursday 04 September 2008 02:40, Celejar a écrit (wrote) : >> ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready > > This line generally appears when the card comes on-line; if all goes well, > it should soon be followed by something like 'ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): > eth0: link becomes ready' > Well, the whole point is, it isn't followed by any "link becomes ready" message (unless I modprobe -r ath9k && modprobe ath9k, which is a pain). > ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready > eth0: direct probe to AP 00:17:5a:4f:31:c0 try 1 > eth0 direct probe responded > eth0: authenticate with AP 00:17:5a:4f:31:c0 > eth0: authenticated > eth0: associate with AP 00:17:5a:4f:31:c0 > eth0: RX AssocResp from 00:17:5a:4f:31:c0 (capab=0x401 status=0 aid=53) > eth0: associated > ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready > It's exactly what happens on my box /after/ I removed and reprobed the driver, and what I would like to happen automatically. > I'm not much of an expert, but here are a couple of suggestions: > > Try disabling WEP, and see if the problem persists. It does. > Try configuring the interface manually, without DHCP: > ifconfig wlan0 up > iwconfig wlan0 essid > ifconfig wlan0 x.x.x.x > I tried. I doesn't change anything. The chip remains "non associated" to any AP, and the only things I can see in syslog is the above mentionned "links is not ready" message when I try tu use dhclient. Static IP configuration doesn't work either. Unless somebody comes with an idea about what I'm doing, I'll assume this is a problem with the driver and report on ath9k-devel. Thanks for your suggestions, Manuel. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]