Hi I can confirme that: My `uname -r`is: 2.6.15-23-686 iwlist ath0 scanning . hangs and no way to kil the process. dmesg related to this issue is: --------------------- [4296203.478000] ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel. [4296203.480000] ath_hal: 0.9.14.9 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413) [4296203.548000] wlan: 0.8.6.0 (EXPERIMENTAL) [4296203.565000] ath_rate_sample: 1.2 [4296203.604000] ath_pci: 0.9.6.0 (EXPERIMENTAL) [4296203.606000] PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002) [4296203.606000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10 [4296204.044000] Build date: May 29 2006 [4296204.044000] Debugging version (IEEE80211) [4296204.045000] ath0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps [4296204.045000] ath0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps [4296204.045000] ath0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps [4296204.045000] ath0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP [4296204.045000] ath0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 4.6 [4296204.045000] ath0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic [4296204.045000] ath0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic [4296204.045000] ath0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic [4296204.045000] ath0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic [4296204.045000] ath0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic [4296204.045000] ath0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons [4296204.045000] Debugging version (ATH) [4296204.045000] ath0: Atheros 5212: mem=0x22000000, irq=10 [4296551.417000] pcmcia: Detected deprecated PCMCIA ioctl usage. [4296551.417000] pcmcia: This interface will soon be removed from the kernel; please expect breakage unless you upgrade to new tools. [4296551.418000] pcmcia: see http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/pcmcia.html for details. [4296602.490000] cs: memory probe 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff: clean. [4296643.973000] pccard: card ejected from slot 0 [4296644.027000] ACPI: PCI interrupt for device 0000:02:00.0 disabled [4296644.028000] PCMCIA: socket cf1e1028: *** DANGER *** unable to remove socket power [4296651.097000] pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0 [4296651.098000] PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002) [4296651.098000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10 [4296651.515000] Build date: May 29 2006 [4296651.515000] Debugging version (IEEE80211) [4296651.516000] ath0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps [4296651.516000] ath0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps [4296651.517000] ath0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps [4296651.518000] ath0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP [4296651.519000] ath0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 4.6 [4296651.519000] ath0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic [4296651.520000] ath0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic [4296651.520000] ath0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic [4296651.521000] ath0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic [4296651.521000] ath0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic [4296651.522000] ath0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons [4296651.522000] Debugging version (ATH) [4296651.522000] ath0: Atheros 5212: mem=0x22000000, irq=10 [4296758.452000] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000ffff [4296758.452000] printing eip: [4296758.452000] d0b73313 [4296758.452000] *pde = 00000000 [4296758.452000] Oops: 0000 [#1] [4296758.452000] PREEMPT SMP [4296758.452000] Modules linked in: ath_pci ath_rate_sample wlan ath_hal usbhid ppdev speedstep_lib cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_stats freq_table cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_conservative video tc1100_wmi sony_acpi pcc_acpi hotkey dev_acpi container button acpi_sbs battery ac i2c_acpi_ec ipv6 dm_mod md_mod lp pcmcia joydev snd_nm256 snd_ac97_codec snd_ac97_bus snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss tsdev snd_pcm snd_timer snd_page_alloc parport_pc parport pcspkr snd soundcore floppy yenta_socket rsrc_nonstatic pcmcia_core psmouse serio_raw 3c59x mii i2c_piix4 i2c_core shpchp pci_hotplug intel_agp agpgart evdev ext3 jbd ide_generic uhci_hcd usbcore ide_disk piix generic thermal processor fan capability commoncap vga16fb vgastate fbcon tileblit font bitblit softcursor [4296758.452000] CPU: 0 [4296758.452000] EIP: 0060:[] Tainted: P VLI [4296758.452000] EFLAGS: 00210246 (2.6.15-23-686) [4296758.452000] EIP is at read_ap_result+0x1c3/0x55b [wlan] [4296758.452000] eax: 0000ffff ebx: c239de94 ecx: 00000000 edx: ca2b8000 [4296758.452000] esi: ca2b80f5 edi: c28d701c ebp: c28d701c esp: c239dd70 [4296758.452000] ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0068 [4296758.452000] Process iwlist (pid: 8890, threadinfo=c239c000 task=cac51ab0) [4296758.452000] Stack: d09059a1 d0914888 c104335c c0151a22 c0151fe7 c104335c c23c0760 c28d8000 [4296758.452000] c0152686 c104335c 00000000 4495548c 06ccc5b0 00000001 00000000 c104335c [4296758.452000] cfccd9ac 00200246 c0356984 00000002 00000000 00000044 c0152931 c0356180 [4296758.452000] Call Trace: [4296758.452000] [] ext3_dirty_inode+0x71/0x90 [ext3] [4296758.452000] [] bad_range+0x42/0x60 [4296758.452000] [] prep_new_page+0x47/0x80 [4296758.452000] [] buffered_rmqueue+0x116/0x260 [4296758.452000] [] get_page_from_freelist+0x71/0xc0 [4296758.452000] [] __alloc_pages+0x5e/0x320 [4296758.452000] [] ieee80211_iterate_nodes+0x6c/0xbc [wlan] [4296758.452000] [] read_ap_result+0x0/0x55b [wlan] [4296758.452000] [] ieee80211_ioctl_giwscan+0x5c/0xa8 [wlan] [4296758.452000] [] read_ap_result+0x0/0x55b [wlan] [4296758.452000] [] wireless_process_ioctl+0x667/0x7d0 [4296758.452000] [] ath_ioctl_giwscan+0x0/0x18 [ath_pci] [4296758.452000] [] dev_ioctl+0x28d/0x2f0 [4296758.452000] [] do_ioctl+0x3b/0xa0 [4296758.452000] [] vfs_ioctl+0x6b/0x230 [4296758.452000] [] sys_ioctl+0x88/0xa0 [4296758.452000] [] sysenter_past_esp+0x54/0x75 [4296758.452000] Code: 8b 43 04 89 42 04 89 ca 8b 84 24 dc 00 00 00 89 50 10 c7 03 00 00 00 00 66 c7 43 02 05 8b 8b 94 24 e0 00 00 00 8b 82 28 01 00 00 <0f> b7 00 69 c0 a0 86 01 00 89 43 04 66 c7 43 08 01 00 8b 8c 24 [4296758.452000] <6>note: iwlist[8890] exited with preempt_count 1 --------------------------------- I'am using xubuntu dapper with the above kernel Thanks for this great distribution. I 'll try another wifi card to see if it is related to atheros driver only Karim