8086:008a Wifi slowly degrades until no data transfer

[Benjamin Kerensa]

My wifi has been slowly degrading at random times to the point of no data transfer but network-manager still shows connected. Only thing that resolves it seems to be manually disconnecting from wifi AP via network-manager and reconnecting also toggling N off in iwlwifi seems to have some effect (maybe coincidence though)

I have ruled out the issue being a result of interference by checking signal quality (iwconfig) when it occurs and my cable modem is online with no issues and so is Wireless AP and other devices do not have this issue.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-5-generic 3.11.0-5.10
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-5.10-generic 3.11.0
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-5-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.12.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: bkerensa 1871 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: bkerensa 1871 F...m pulseaudio
Date: Fri Sep 6 10:33:30 2013
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=42166247-fbbd-410b-acc0-b951406b36bc
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-07-27 (41 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Dell System Inspiron N411Z
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-5-generic root=UUID=132b8e71-0e4d-42f4-bb3d-8b0a25d42a35 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-5-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-5-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.113
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-07-27 (41 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/24/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A00
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: 0VK06J
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: FAB1
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA00:bd06/24/2011:svnDellInc.:pnDellSystemInspironN411Z:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0VK06J:rvrFAB1:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Dell System Inspiron N411Z
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Did this issue start happening after an update/upgrade? Was there a kernel version where you were not having this particular problem? This will help determine if the problem you are seeing is the result of the introduction of a regression, and when this regression was introduced. If this is a regression, we can perform a kernel bisect to identify the commit that introduced the problem.

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

@Joseph:

This has been happening since the first 13.10 image was available and I installed it so several months now. So it happened in 3.10 and is still occuring in 3.11. I just had it happen again this evening and looked at dmesg and saw some odd looking messages about iwlwifi:

[ 80.035772] Call Trace:
[ 80.035777] [<ffffffff816f2351>] dump_stack+0x45/0x56
[ 80.035781] [<ffffffff81061cfd>] warn_slowpath_common+0x7d/0xa0
[ 80.035783] [<ffffffff81061dda>] warn_slowpath_null+0x1a/0x20
[ 80.035788] [<ffffffffa02ed225>] iwl_trans_pcie_send_hcmd+0x575/0x5d0 [iwlwifi]
[ 80.035794] [<ffffffffa0459b0b>] ? iwlagn_set_rxon_chain+0x16b/0x260 [iwldvm]
[ 80.035799] [<ffffffffa0459cc2>] iwl_dvm_send_cmd+0x52/0x130 [iwldvm]
[ 80.035804] [<ffffffffa045a0e1>] iwl_dvm_send_cmd_pdu+0x41/0x50 [iwldvm]
[ 80.035808] [<ffffffffa04628f4>] iwl_power_set_mode+0x1b4/0x300 [iwldvm]
[ 80.035813] [<ffffffffa0462ae7>] iwl_power_update_mode+0xa7/0x190 [iwldvm]
[ 80.035818] [<ffffffffa0466b91>] iwlagn_mac_config+0x2f1/0x390 [iwldvm]
[ 80.035824] [<ffffffffa0383892>] ieee80211_hw_config+0x72/0x320 [mac80211]
[ 80.035835] [<ffffffffa03bf3ae>] ieee80211_recalc_ps.part.21+0x17e/0x200 [mac80211]
[ 80.035845] [<ffffffffa03c0ca7>] ieee80211_rx_mgmt_beacon+0xd17/0x1110 [mac80211]
[ 80.035848] [<ffffffff8101a2e5>] ? native_sched_clock+0x15/0x80
[ 80.035850] [<ffffffff81098d68>] ? __enqueue_entity+0x78/0x80
[ 80.035852] [<ffffffff8109d96d>] ? enqueue_entity+0x2ad/0xb80
[ 80.035854] [<ffffffff81098206>] ? arch_vtime_task_switch+0x96/0xa0
[ 80.035856] [<ffffffff8109cef8>] ? check_preempt_wakeup+0x1a8/0x270
[ 80.035858] [<ffffffff81092675>] ? check_preempt_curr+0x85/0xa0
[ 80.035860] [<ffffffff810926a9>] ? ttwu_do_wakeup+0x19/0xd0
[ 80.035863] [<ffffffff810945b0>] ? try_to_wake_up+0x200/0x2b0
[ 80.035865] [<ffffffff8109b7ac>] ? update_curr+0xec/0x180
[ 80.035874] [<ffffffffa03c2503>] ieee80211_sta_rx_queued_mgmt+0x2c3/0x540 [mac80211]
[ 80.035876] [<ffffffff8109cef8>] ? check_preempt_wakeup+0x1a8/0x270
[ 80.035878] [<ffffffff81092675>] ? check_preempt_curr+0x85/0xa0
[ 80.035880] [<ffffffff810926a9>] ? ttwu_do_wakeup+0x19/0xd0
[ 80.035882] [<ffffffff810945b0>] ? try_to_wake_up+0x200/0x2b0
[ 80.035885] [<ffffffff8104deb9>] ? default_spin_lock_flags+0x9/0x10
[ 80.035893] [<ffffffffa039343c>] ieee80211_iface_work+0x25c/0x360 [mac80211]
[ 80.035895] [<ffffffff8107afd9>] ? pwq_activate_delayed_work+0x39/0x80
[ 80.035897] [<ffffffff8107cfbc>] process_one_work+0x17c/0x430
[ 80.035899] [<ffffffff8107dc0c>] worker_thread+0x11c/0x3c0
[ 80.035901] [<ffffffff8107daf0>] ? manage_workers.isra.24+0x2a0/0x2a0
[ 80.035904] [<ffffffff81084710>] kthread+0xc0/0xd0
[ 80.035906] [<ffffffff81084650>] ? kthread_create_on_node+0x120/0x120
[ 80.035909] [<ffffffff8170212c>] ret_from_fork+0x7c/0xb0
[ 80.035912] [<ffffffff81084650>] ? kthread_create_on_node+0x120/0x120
[ 80.035913] ---[ end trace e07b3e760c09dab0 ]---
[ 80.035916] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Command POWER_TABLE_CMD: a command is already active!
[ 80.035919] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: set power fail, ret = -5

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

Also it is my understanding looking at Redhat Bugzilla and Launchpad that Intel still has not solidly implemented 802.11n in the iwlwifi driver for all cards. Although I have tweaked with module settings such as disabling N I'm unsure if the issue is even related since the slowdown seems to happen even with N toggled off.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Benjamin Kerensa, as per http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/Product/inspiron-n411z an update is available for your BIOS (A06). If you update to this, does it change anything?

If not, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Thank you for your understanding.

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

Hi,

Christopher that is actually just a bios update adding Windows 8 support likely flashing to some sort of UEFI. Are you suggesting this might have some benefit because I do not see anything other than Windows 8 support being added.

My version was a Win 7 so mine is actually latest at A00.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Benjamin Kerensa, unfortunately, because vendors don't reveal what precisely they fix under the hood with BIOS updates (ex. I and others had a touchpad problem that was resolved by a BIOS update, and the update page noted nothing about the touchpad) , despite their preamble statement, I wouldn't know how the BIOS is being altered (ex. BIOS changing from non-UEFI to UEFI). However, you may want to check in with Dell support on how you had Win7 by default, and would this change anything for your option to use/dual-boot Win7.

I would presume no, as one may toggle the drop down to Win7, and it reveals the A06 BIOS. As well, kernel upstream likes to see the latest BIOS for a given hardware chipset.

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

Christopher,

So the problem then is that I do not believe I can flash this bios without using Windows which is not an option for me.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Benjamin, a fellow Ubuntu community member with a Dell (I helped previously with another report) successfully flashed his BIOS via http://askubuntu.com/questions/100945/how-do-i-update-the-bios-of-a-dell-laptop#237742 . Would this work for you?

[Seth Forshee (sforshee)]

Benjamin: A few questions.

Have you noticed whether or not the problems always coincide with the stack trace from comment #4? Or with the "fail to flush all tx fifo queues" messages?

If you still have the stack trace from comment #4 in the logs, can you please attach the full log? There may be some other useful information surrounding the error.

Can you also capture a full dmesg (dmesg > dmesg.txt) and a copy of /var/log/syslog as soon as you start noticing the issues and attach them here?

Thanks!

[Benjamin Kerensa (bkerensa)]

@Seth:

They always seem to coincide with the "fail to flush", "inactive and mapped to fifo" or IPv6 Duplicate Address messages. See attached as requested.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]