this today from realtek.  Haven't had a chance to test it yet.  I don't
quite understand the email message & don't have time to crash my laptop
today trying to fix this, maybe someone else can give it a go?  

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: roger_liang <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: RE: rtl8192se_pci linux driver bug
Date: 	Mon, 5 Jul 2010 16:46:52 +0800

Dear Sir,

We have fixed powertop crash issue. Please find the latest RTL8191SE driver
source in the attachment.
But we think this isn't our driver issue. Powertop tool can't be used for
all vendor device.
Its private IO control just can use for IPW cards like ipw3946 and so on.
RTL8191SE Linux driver power save mode is default open under DC mode.
There is no need to open power save mode by powertop. Thanks.

Best Regards,
Roger_Liang
Realtek Semiconductor Corp.

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] 
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 12:48 AM
To: Roger Liang
Subject: RE: rtl8192se_pci linux driver bug

Dear Roger,

I have refined my error a little bit using strace.  I now find that  
the crash is actually triggered by the command:
iwpriv -a
when run as root.  Here is the output of strace -f powertop  
(attached), and also the crash message when running the command.  I  
have copied my latest post from the ubuntu bug report  
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/585938)

i was able to get an strace from powrtop (loo\gging in by ssh from a  
scrr\een session on a remote computer) and attach the log here. it  
looks like the issue is triggered by "iwpriv -a" -- here's what looks  
like the relevant part of the log (at the end):

[pid 2077] execve("/bin/sh", ["sh", "-c", "/sbin/iwpriv -a 2>  
/dev/null"], [/* 19 vars */] <unfinished ...>
[pid 2064] mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f884e1ea000
[pid 2064] read(4, <unfinished ...>
[pid 2077] <... execve resumed> ) = 0
[pid 2077] brk(0) = 0x2590000
[pid 2077] access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such  
file or directory)
[pid 2077] mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f5d2ef07000
[pid 2077] access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such  
file or directory)
[pid 2077] open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 4
[pid 2077] fstat(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=131558, ...}) = 0
[pid 2077] mmap(NULL, 131558, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 4, 0) = 0x7f5d2eee6000
[pid 2077] close(4) = 0
[pid 2077] access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such  
file or directory)
[pid 2077] open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 4
[pid 2077] read(4,  
"\177ELF\2\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0`\355\1\0\0\0\0\0"...,  
832) = 832
[pid 2077] fstat(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1572232, ...}) = 0
[pid 2077] mmap(NULL, 3680296, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 4, 0) = 0x7f5d2e966000
[pid 2077] mprotect(0x7f5d2eae0000, 2093056, PROT_NONE) = 0
[pid 2077] mmap(0x7f5d2ecdf000, 20480, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 4, 0x179000) = 0x7f5d2ecdf000
[pid 2077] mmap(0x7f5d2ece4000, 18472, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f5d2ece4000
[pid 2077] close(4) = 0
[pid 2077] mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f5d2eee5000
[pid 2077] mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f5d2eee4000
[pid 2077] mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,  
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f5d2eee3000
[pid 2077] arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x7f5d2eee4700) = 0
[pid 2077] mprotect(0x7f5d2ecdf000, 16384, PROT_READ) = 0
[pid 2077] mprotect(0x617000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
[pid 2077] mprotect(0x7f5d2ef09000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
[pid 2077] munmap(0x7f5d2eee6000, 131558) = 0
[pid 2077] getpid() = 2077
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGCHLD, {SIG_DFL, [CHLD],  
SA_RESTORER|SA_RESTART, 0x7f5d2e999af0}, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] geteuid() = 0
[pid 2077] brk(0) = 0x2590000
[pid 2077] brk(0x25b1000) = 0x25b1000
[pid 2077] getppid() = 2064
[pid 2077] stat("/root", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0700, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
[pid 2077] stat(".", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0700, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGINT, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGINT, {0x408189, ~[RTMIN RT_1], SA_RESTORER,  
0x7f5d2e999af0}, NULL, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, {SIG_DFL, ~[RTMIN RT_1], SA_RESTORER,  
0x7f5d2e999af0}, NULL, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGTERM, NULL, {SIG_DFL, [], 0}, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] rt_sigaction(SIGTERM, {SIG_DFL, ~[RTMIN RT_1], SA_RESTORER,  
0x7f5d2e999af0}, NULL, 8) = 0
[pid 2077] open("/dev/null", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, 0666) = 4
[pid 2077] fcntl(2, F_DUPFD, 10) = 10
[pid 2077] close(2) = 0
[pid 2077] fcntl(10, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) = 0
[pid 2077] dup2(4, 2) = 2
[pid 2077] close(4) = 0
[pid 2077] clone(Process 2078 attached
child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD,  
child_tidptr=0x7f5d2eee49d0) = 2078
[pid 2077] wait4(-1, <unfinished ...>
[pid 2078] execve("/sbin/iwpriv", ["/sbin/iwpriv", "-a"], [/* 19 vars */]

----------------------------------------------

running iwpriv -a manually results in a kernel panic and the following  
error message:

lo no private ioctls.
eth0 no private ioctls.
wlan0 Available read-only private ioctl :
wlan0 firm_ver:63
Kernel Panic [etc...]

-------------


i would appreciate any further advice you can give me!  thank you,

Matt


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