intel 4965 won't maintain connectivity

[Dustin Kirkland ]

Earlier today, I replaced my Atheros 802.11abg PCI-e adapter inside my Thinkpad t61p with an Intel 4965abgn PCI-e.

I'm running up-to-date 64-bit Intrepid, with 'propsed' enabled.

Linux t61p 2.6.27-11-generic #1 SMP Fri Dec 19 16:29:35 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I have the backports packages installed.

ii linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-11-generic 2.6.27-11.10 Ubuntu supplied Linux modules for version 2.
ii linux-backports-modules-intrepid 2.6.27.11.14 Generic Linux backported drivers.
ii linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic 2.6.27.11.14 Backported drivers for generic kernel image

I have not been able to successfully associate with any wireless access point yet, however.

I see one of two problems... Either:
a) the device initializes, network-manager scans and sees access points, but cannot connect
b) or, the device does not initialize properly and network-manager is not able to see any access points.

I don't know what sends me down path (a), or (b), but it seems to be somewhat randomly determined at reboot.

:-Dustin

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

When in state (b), dmesg says the following:

[ 256.259974] iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
[ 256.260096] iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
[ 256.260736] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 256.260879] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 256.260947] iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
[ 256.301347] iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
[ 256.303969] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 256.304417] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
[ 277.433587] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 277.433848] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: restoring config space at offset 0x1 (was 0x40100102, writing 0x40100106)
[ 277.434321] firmware: requesting lbm-iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
[ 277.536855] iwlagn loaded firmware version 228.57.2.23
[ 277.814657] Registered led device: iwl-phy0:radio
[ 277.814673] Registered led device: iwl-phy0:assoc
[ 277.814688] Registered led device: iwl-phy0:RX
[ 277.814704] Registered led device: iwl-phy0:TX
[ 330.140757] iwlagn: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting 0x82000000.
[ 330.165228] iwlagn: No space for Tx
[ 330.165248] iwlagn: Error sending REPLY_TX_PWR_TABLE_CMD: enqueue_hcmd failed: -28

And lshw -class network says:
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wmaster0
       version: 61
       serial: 00:1d:e0:00:89:5b
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn latency=0 module=iwlagn multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn

:-Dustin

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Sorry, the former post is actually state (a), as described above.

:-Dustin

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

In the "other" case, dmesg says:

[ 69.810973] iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
[ 69.811108] iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
[ 69.811328] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 69.811465] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 69.811515] iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
[ 69.851960] iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
[ 69.852396] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 69.852799] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
[ 91.062785] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 91.063040] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: restoring config space at offset 0x1 (was 0x40100102, writing 0x40100106)
[ 91.063520] firmware: requesting lbm-iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
[ 91.189469] iwlagn loaded firmware version 228.57.2.23
[ 95.188032] iwlagn: START_ALIVE timeout after 4000ms.
[ 95.188116] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 95.203320] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 95.203467] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: restoring config space at offset 0x1 (was 0x100102, writing 0x40100106)
[ 99.208095] iwlagn: START_ALIVE timeout after 4000ms.
[ 99.208178] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled

And lshw says:
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wmaster0
       version: 61
       serial: 00:1d:e0:00:89:5b
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn latency=0 module=iwlagn multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn

:-Dustin

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Note that in the first case, the dmesg errors are:
[ 330.140757] iwlagn: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting 0x82000000.
[ 330.165228] iwlagn: No space for Tx
[ 330.165248] iwlagn: Error sending REPLY_TX_PWR_TABLE_CMD: enqueue_hcmd failed: -28

Versus in the latter:
[ 99.208095] iwlagn: START_ALIVE timeout after 4000ms.
[ 99.208178] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A disabled

Also, in the latter:
  *-network DISABLED

While in the first case, "ifconfig wlan1 up" will bring up the interface (though it won't associate). In the latter case:
$ sudo ifconfig wlan1 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Connection timed out

:-Dustin

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Okay, in the lucky case when I'm able to boot into situation (a), I have actually successfully associated with three different access points, one "open", and the other two are "wpa2".

I am very briefly (less than a minute or so) able to send and receive real data wirelessly.

That is, until I see the following message in dmesg:
[ 846.966473] iwlagn: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting 0x2000000.

So it looks like that's the real kicker. Once that message is thrown, my wireless network connectivity is done. Boom.

:-Dustin

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Dustin,

One additional test you may want to try is using the latest compat-wireless stack from upstream. They have it packeged nicely in a tarball to install and test with simple directions explaining how - http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download#DownloadlatestLinuxwirelessdrivers . It would be great to know if this exists upstream as well. Thanks.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hey Dustin,

This looks to be a duplicate of bug 200509 so I'm marking it as such. Some of the latest comments there (not all) claim this to be resolved for them with Karmic. Thanks.