Madwifi (atheros) driver malfunction induces a system freeze
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
linux-restricted-modules (Ubuntu) |
Won't Fix
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Intrepid |
Invalid
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Hello
I have an extremely annoying situation that has developed recently. It appears that the restricted atheros madwifi drivers :
$lsmod | grep "ath"
ath_rate_sample 14336 1
ath_pci 101024 0
wlan 207728 4 wlan_scan_
ath_hal 192592 3 ath_rate_
are freezing the system. I am unable to find anything in the logs except the following :
/var/log/messages :
Sep 30 11:09:25 vortex kernel: [ 832.123009] wifi0: rx FIFO overrun; resetting
Sep 30 11:09:55 vortex kernel: [ 862.014595] wifi0: rx FIFO overrun; resetting
Sep 30 11:12:04 vortex kernel: [ 991.516595] wifi0: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel 6 (2437 MHz) flags 0xc0 'Hardware didn't respond as expected' (HAL status 3)
I also have these messages :
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.275317] ath_rate_sample: 1.2 (0.9.4)
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279464] wifi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279469] wifi0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279478] wifi0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279482] wifi0: mac 7.8 phy 4.5 radio 5.6
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279486] wifi0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279488] wifi0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279490] wifi0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279491] wifi0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279493] wifi0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.279495] wifi0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons
Sep 30 10:56:51 vortex kernel: [ 44.310805] wifi0: Atheros 5212: mem=0xdfaf0000, irq=19
...
Sep 30 10:58:50 vortex dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/
Sep 30 10:58:53 vortex kernel: [ 200.049868] ADDRCONF(
Sep 30 10:59:03 vortex dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/
Sep 30 10:59:03 vortex dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/
Sep 30 10:59:03 vortex dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/
There appears to be no corelation between a system freeze (display is functional but all input - keyboard, mouse, tablet are all lit and dead - the only way out is a hard reboot) and the uptime. Sometimes the system freezes after hours of use, sometimes, its days, sometimes, its only 10 minutes.
The freeze appears to be more likely when there is more heavy network activity.
This is a new problem - I have used this wireless card for more than a year without any issues - these freezes started after I started using the recent 2.6.2* kernels. Its a bug.
The problem manifests itself by onset of network problems - sometimes the shoutcast stream I am listening to on amarok seizes up, then korganizer loses connection to the calendar server, etc. The problems appear to be intermittent, but a freeze follows sooner or later.
I am using Kubuntu KDE3 with NO desktop effects. I have an ATI card, but please do not waste time telling me to disable desktop effects - I do not use them (I have read plenty of bug reports in my efforts to get rid of this so far to know that that is implicated sometimes).
Further details :
$ uname -r
2.6.24-21-generic
$ apt-cache policy linux-restricte
linux-restricte
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 2.6.24.21.23
Version table:
2.6.24.21.23 0
500 http://
2.6.24.19.21 0
500 http://
500 http://
500 http://
2.6.24.16.18 0
500 http://
(from) $sudo lspci -vv
04:02.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR2413 802.11bg NIC (rev 01)
Subsystem: D-Link System Inc Unknown device 3a1d
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 168 (2500ns min, 7000ns max), Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 19
Region 0: Memory at dfaf0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Changed in linux-restricted-modules: | |
status: | New → Confirmed |
Changed in linux-restricted-modules (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Confirmed → Won't Fix |
I just discovered I do not have linux-restricte d-modules installed, but my kernel's version of that package is installed. Just a note to avoid any confusion.
I have the following :
$ apt-cache policy linux-restricte d-modules- 2.6.24- 20-generic d-modules- 2.6.24- 20-generic: archive. ubuntu. com hardy-proposed/ restricted Packages dpkg/status
linux-restricte
Installed: 2.6.24.14-20.46
Candidate: 2.6.24.14-20.46
Version table:
*** 2.6.24.14-20.46 0
500 http://
100 /var/lib/
$ apt-cache policy kubuntu- restricted- extras restricted- extras: us.archive. ubuntu. com hardy-updates/ multiverse Packages archive. ubuntu. com hardy-updates/ multiverse Packages dpkg/status us.archive. ubuntu. com hardy/multiverse Packages
kubuntu-
Installed: 15.2
Candidate: 15.2
Version table:
*** 15.2 0
500 http://
500 http://
100 /var/lib/
15 0
500 http://
Just installed the linux-restricte d-modules package as well (appears to be a metapackage) :
$ apt-cache policy linux-restricte d-modules d-modules: archive. ubuntu. com hardy-proposed/ restricted Packages dpkg/status us.archive. ubuntu. com hardy-updates/ restricted Packages archive. ubuntu. com hardy-security/ restricted Packages security. ubuntu. com hardy-security/ restricted Packages us.archive. ubuntu. com hardy/restricted Packages
linux-restricte
Installed: 2.6.24.21.23
Candidate: 2.6.24.21.23
Version table:
*** 2.6.24.21.23 0
500 http://
100 /var/lib/
2.6.24.19.21 0
500 http://
500 http://
500 http://
2.6.24.16.18 0
500 http://
Let me know if you need further info.