ipw3945d causing computer to stutter

[Charles Goodwin]

After a updating this morning, ipw3945d made my laptop unusably slow. I had to kill it to regain control - which is a challenge when every few seconds the computer stutters and the last pressed key gets repeated twice!

I'm running Gutsy. I was not connected to a wireless network - connected to a wired network. However there is a wireless network available (whilst ipw3945d was running).

[Charles Goodwin (charlesgoodwin)]

Sample dmesg output whilst ipw3945d is running:

[ 267.032000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 267.032000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd DAEMON (0x10) seq 0x0406 ser 0x004A0000
[ 267.032000] ipw3945: request scan called when driver not ready.
[ 267.032000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 268.404000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 268.828000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 268.828000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd DAEMON (0x10) seq 0x0406 ser 0x004A0000
[ 268.828000] ipw3945: request scan called when driver not ready.
[ 268.828000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 270.200000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 270.624000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 270.624000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd DAEMON (0x10) seq 0x0406 ser 0x004A0000
[ 270.624000] ipw3945: request scan called when driver not ready.
[ 270.624000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 271.996000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 272.420000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 272.420000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd ADD_STA (0x18) seq 0x0407 ser 0x004A0000
[ 272.816000] ipw3945: Error sending cmd #07 to daemon: time out after 500ms.
[ 272.816000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 274.184000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 274.608000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 274.608000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd ADD_STA (0x18) seq 0x0407 ser 0x004A0000
[ 275.076000] ipw3945: Error sending cmd #07 to daemon: time out after 500ms.
[ 275.076000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 276.444000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 276.868000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 276.868000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd ADD_STA (0x18) seq 0x0407 ser 0x004A0000
[ 277.236000] ipw3945: Error sending cmd #07 to daemon: time out after 500ms.
[ 277.236000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 278.608000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 279.032000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 279.032000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd LEDS_CMD (0x48) seq 0x0409 ser 0x004A0000
[ 279.032000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 280.404000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 280.828000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 280.828000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd DAEMON (0x10) seq 0x0406 ser 0x004A0000
[ 281.328000] ipw3945: Error sending LEDS_CMD: time out after 500ms.
[ 281.328000] ipw3945: request scan called when driver not ready.
[ 281.328000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx DMA.
[ 282.696000] ipw3945: Detected geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)
[ 283.120000] ipw3945: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting.
[ 283.120000] ipw3945: Error Reply type 0x00000005 cmd LEDS_CMD (0x48) seq 0x0409 ser 0x004A0000
[ 283.120000] ipw3945: Can't stop Rx D...

[Charles Goodwin (charlesgoodwin)]

Well it seems this might be a duplicate of this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15/+bug/48395

Similar symptons are being reported there (in particular the wifi related dmesg output) and it could be this bug is being caused by location as suggested by some comments there (different wireless access points causing firmware bugs to show up) i.e. I'm in a different wireless hotspot at the moment than I was yesterday, so it may not be apt update related.