Atheros wireless AR9285 keeps disconnecting

Bug #1361646 reported by Ian Booth
38
This bug affects 8 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

lspci
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

dmesg log gets filled with the info below. After a random time (sometimes minutes, sometimes hours, but mostly minutes), I lose wifi connection and the only solution I know is to reboot. It only started happening a week ago. I have been running kernel 3.13.0-34-generic but downgraded to 3.13.0-27-generic and that seems to have slightly reduced the frequency of the issue but I'm not sure. It happens many times per day.

[ 1026.507787] ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
[ 1026.507789] ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, reset status -22
[ 1026.507798] ath: phy0: Unable to set channel
[ 1026.574954] ath: phy0: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x18f!
[ 1026.588276] ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
[ 1026.588285] ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
[ 1026.705655] ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
[ 1026.705658] ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, reset status -22
[ 1026.705669] ath: phy0: Unable to set channel
[ 1026.822978] ath: phy0: RX failed to go idle in 10 ms RXSM=0xffffffff
[ 1026.836305] ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
[ 1028.354924] ath: phy0: Failed to wakeup in 500us
[ 1028.473207] ath: phy0: RX failed to go idle in 10 ms RXSM=0xffffffff
[ 1028.486727] ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-27-generic 3.13.0-27.50
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-27.50-generic 3.13.11
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-27-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.3
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ian 3653 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Aug 26 22:50:01 2014
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. N53SV
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-27-generic root=UUID=fb2b1d14-6b3b-4c2d-a133-2d08a1ec0b12 ro quiet splash
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-27-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-27-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.127.5
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
WifiSyslog:

dmi.bios.date: 01/09/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: N53SV.215
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: N53SV
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrN53SV.215:bd01/09/2012:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnN53SV:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnN53SV:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: N53SV
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Revision history for this message
Ian Booth (wallyworld) wrote :
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Brad Figg (brad-figg) wrote : Status changed to Confirmed

This change was made by a bot.

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury) wrote :

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.17 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17-rc2-utopic/

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Ian Booth (wallyworld) wrote :

I ran the 3.17-rc2 kernel and the issue still occurs.

tags: added: kernel-bug-exists-upstream
Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Ian Booth (wallyworld) wrote :

Any update on this? It's still happening quite regularly on wily on kernel 4.2.0-15

Revision history for this message
Jim Watson (f-jim-1) wrote :

I have been struggling with very frequent wifi drops. In my regular quest for a solution I stumbled upon this post.

My kernel version is 4.2.0-16-generic
Linux 4.2.0-16-generic #19-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 8 15:35:06 UTC 2015

Most recent kern.log entries indicate
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.308586] ath: phy41: Chip reset failed
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.308590] ath: phy41: Unable to reset channel (2457 Mhz) reset status -22
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.308592] ath: phy41: Unable to set channel
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.408415] ath: phy41: RX failed to go idle in 10 ms RXSM=0x0
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.418500] ath: phy41: Failed to wakeup in 500us
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.428492] ath: phy41: Failed to wakeup in 500us
Nov 7 05:37:28 watsonit-150411 kernel: [419299.727544] ath: phy41: RX failed to go idle in 10 ms RXSM=0x306e82a7

Based on the above I came across a post @ http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?2239557 and implemented the proposed script in /etc/pm/sleep.d/

case "{$1}" in
    hibernate|suspend)
        # disable wlan0
        ifdown wlan0 --force
        ;;
    resume|thaw)
        # enable wlan0
        ## service networking restart
        ifup wlan0
        ;;
esac

The belief is that for some reason wpa_supplicant does not stop before going to sleep, but then tries to start again upon resume in order to negotiate keys. Let's see if stopping wpa_supplicate before sleep (assuming this code achieves that and that the system really is suspending) solves this issue.

Worth noting here that I am not using network-manager since the problem was even greater with that additional service running.

It is yet to be determined whether or not this resolves, or improves things. What I have noticed since making this last change this morning is that the workstation eventually became unreachable from other LAN locations; however, upon returning to the workstation and unlocking the screen ifconfig and ping proved that connectivity was good.... perhaps the suspend/resume script did help. Ultimately, I still need to avoid having the connection drop at all -- no suspend, no bringing the interface down.

Hopefully some of this information sounds familiar to others and helps. If anyone has further suggestions on permanently resolving this issue, would love to hear them.

Revision history for this message
Ian Booth (wallyworld) wrote :

My problem is worse than described Jim's previous comment - I don't need to suspend or bring the interface down to see the issue. It happens randomly, sometimes at very short intervals. Each time requires a reboot to reset the network card/chipset so that it starts working again (for an indeterminate time).

Revision history for this message
Arush (arushgyl) wrote :

Any solution to this? This started happening to me on Atheros AR9565 Wireless card. Along with random disconnects the laptop also freezes sometimes (which i suspect is due to indeterminate chip resets above).

Also sometimes the wireless card is not detected at all by `lspci`, `lshw` or `rfkill list`? This may be a hardware problem but I dont have any way to check.

Ubuntu: 16.06 with kernel 4.4.0-21-generic

Revision history for this message
Alan Reynolds (alan40) wrote :

I am having the same Issue with my wireless card and it is very frustrating. it will just disconnect me randomly and the only fix seems to be ti reboot. under windows it worked flawlessly, for some reason under latest ubuntu build, its random. doesnt mean im going back to windows as 20 quick linux reboots is still faster than one windows reboot, it is annoying and wish there was a fix. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Revision history for this message
Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng) wrote :

@Alan Reynolds, is it AR9285 on Linux kernel 3.13? If it's not, please file a new bug.

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