am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

mechmg93 · 2009-10-10 14:28:03

Since the first entrance of 2.6.32 in testing repo, as i always do, i tested the new kernel with my hardware. Immediately i realized that 2.6.31 broke my wireless function in my lenovo R61, using ath5k module.

As i always do i reported this bug in archlinux bugtracker :

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/16138

as i saw later, there was anoter report for module ath9k :

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/16413

Since today, when 3.6.31.3 entered core, i am not able to use my wireless card from my laptop. As it seems a famous broken module was not the reason for not moving this kernel to core.

And i ask :

am i the onlyone having problem with this module?? is there anybody else who, since today, has also broken wireless function?

Last edited by mechmg93 (2010-04-13 05:29:48)

skottish · 2009-10-10 16:24:01

I'm fully up to date with [testing] and I'm having no known problems with the ath5k module on my netbook (Atheros AR5001).

Dr.U · 2009-10-10 18:42:38

Well, my notebook does not have ath5k (I assume that is either the wireless interface or its driver), but I too can no longer use my wireless access to the internet since upgrading to kernel 2.6.31.3-1.

Because of the screw up caused by the new kernel, I am now writing this using Ubuntu 9.04. I checked dmesg and found that Ubuntu is using rt61pci, so I guess this is also used when I boot with Arch -- although I really don't understand this stuff very well

Until someone posts a fix, I guess that I will have to put Arch on hold and just use Ubuntu.

When booting Arch I background the network stuff. Then after logging in I try to start the wlan and get this message:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning: Network is down

Regards,

Dr.U

mechmg93 · 2009-10-10 18:52:47

i turned off wicd, thinking that my problem may be caused by that, and trying to set up my wireless network manualy through /etc/rc.conf, i got exactly the same error as you when i started network daemon.

Last edited by mechmg93 (2009-10-10 18:54:47)

loafer · 2009-10-10 18:53:04

If you really need to you can downgrade the affected packages using pacman. This will return the system to its previous state and you can continue to use Arch.

Last edited by loafer (2009-10-10 18:57:14)

rhfcaesar · 2009-10-10 19:10:10

I do not have ra0 interface (for D-Link wireless access) but wlan0, and, got the same error when starting netcfg.

Last edited by rhfcaesar (2009-10-10 19:12:24)

Oliver_Schmid · 2009-10-10 19:16:14

I've got a Compaq Presario F700 that uses ath5k. Upgraded to 2.6.31.3 and wireless still works. Must be something else.

gerd · 2009-10-10 21:14:07

I have the same problem with ath5k, using 2.6.31.3. I can't say that it worked before, as I was using madwifi before. madwifi still works anyway.

lspci output:
02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

~# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down
~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

dmesg looks fine, no obvious errors.
http://pastebin.com/m36a0189a

ccc1 · 2009-10-10 21:38:28

i had a similar problem with the intel iwlagn driver.
The 2.6.31 kernel also disables wifi whenever i do a "echo disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth" to disable bluetooth. if bluetooth is enabled wifi is working fine. your issue might be related.

ccc1

mechmg93 · 2009-10-11 09:58:22

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/435141

It seems that the problem is much more generic, as lots of people have problems with wireless interfaces and 2.6.31 kernels.

Up to now i am going to test the rfkill solution and post here the results.

mechmg93 · 2009-10-11 10:27:23

pasting here from my post in archlinux bugtracker :

http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/16138

yesterday i had the time to search again for this problem (fortunately i have a backup of previous kernel package in order to do my job).

So searching google i found that lots of people have problems with newer kernels, using different wireless modules.

At first i stopped using wicd, thinking that it may be the problem and set up my wireless connection through /etc/rc.conf. Trying to start network daemon giving :

#/etc/rc.d/network start

i got the following error :

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

As you can see here :

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/435141
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=81930

this error is a common issue.

So after reading launchpad comments, i built rfkill from aur and gave the command :

#rfkill list

the output was :

0: tpacpi_bluetooth_sw: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

so after this i tried :

#rfkill unblock 1

and after that command i was able to scan for networks again. The problem now is that i see networks but i cannot connect(using wicd). Another issue is that wireless interface seems being down after a little time.

the following pastebin has all the information about my machine (dmesg and lspci)

http://pastebin.com/m50e9b905

Last edited by mechmg93 (2009-10-11 10:33:36)

gerd · 2009-10-11 10:42:11

When I enable my bluetooth interface with rfkill, the ath5k driver works again, i can bring up the interface and scan for networks.
But I am experiencing a high cpu usage when scanning and it takes a lot longer than using the old madwifi driver. But that's another story I guess and nothing new.

Wilco · 2009-10-11 13:34:37

ccc1 wrote:

i had a similar problem with the intel iwlagn driver.
The 2.6.31 kernel also disables wifi whenever i do a "echo disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth" to disable bluetooth. if bluetooth is enabled wifi is working fine. your issue might be related.
ccc1

Thanks, I had the same problems with the ath9k chipset. Enabling bluetooth worked for me too. Your post saved me a lot of time!

I also noticed bluetooth is rfkill1 and wifi is rfkill0 so maybe there's something messed up in the naming.

kjon · 2009-10-11 14:50:47

my approach for the nc10

if $(ls /sys/class/rfkill/ | grep -q rfkill)
then
    for i in $(ls /sys/class/rfkill/ -1)
        do
            if [ $(cat /sys/class/rfkill/$i/state) = 1 ]
                    then
                            echo 0 > /sys/class/rfkill/$i/state
                    fi
        done
    /etc/rc.d/bluetooth stop
    modprobe -r btusb
    modprobe -r ath5k
    touch /tmp/damn_rf_is_down 
else
    modprobe btusb
    modprobe ath5k
    /etc/rc.d/bluetooth start
    for i in $(ls /sys/class/rfkill/ -1)
        do
            echo 1 > /sys/class/rfkill/$i/state
        done
    rm /tmp/damn_rf_is_down
fi

the 'damn_rf_is_down' is used by pm-utils to determine if bt or wifi needs to be awoken up according to its last state (previous to suspend/hibernation)

troncoso · 2009-10-11 15:40:23

I'm also having problems with my wireless ath5 interface since the kernel upgrade. Apparently there is nothing wrong but it fails to associate to the access point. I'm going to try to downgrade to the previous kernel.

Wilco · 2009-10-12 08:09:15

Wilco wrote:

ccc1 wrote:
i had a similar problem with the intel iwlagn driver.
The 2.6.31 kernel also disables wifi whenever i do a "echo disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth" to disable bluetooth. if bluetooth is enabled wifi is working fine. your issue might be related.
ccc1
Thanks, I had the same problems with the ath9k chipset. Enabling bluetooth worked for me too. Your post saved me a lot of time!
I also noticed bluetooth is rfkill1 and wifi is rfkill0 so maybe there's something messed up in the naming.

A bit to soon as usual. Wi-Fi is not working anymore and I get lots of disconnects. What happened to Linux? It used to be good and trouble free but it's always trouble in the last year: Wi-Fi trouble for over a year, bluetooth problems, KMS and intel woes (good to get that of my chest )

cb474 · 2009-10-12 08:23:59

I'm using wicd and also finding that ath5k no longer works for me, with 2.6.31.3-1. And I also get the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132" error when running "ifconfig wlan0 up." I have an AR5212 card.

I'm having no trouble with madwifi though. Actually, I switched to madwifi with kernel 2.6.30, because scanning with ath5k seemed to become super slow with that kernel.

Wilco · 2009-10-12 11:59:26

cb474 wrote:

I'm using wicd and also finding that ath5k no longer works for me, with 2.6.31.3-1. And I also get the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132" error when running "ifconfig wlan0 up." I have an AR5212 card.
I'm having no trouble with madwifi though. Actually, I switched to madwifi with kernel 2.6.30, because scanning with ath5k seemed to become super slow with that kernel.

Is using madwifi as simple as "pacman -S madwifi" and blacklisting ath9k in /etc/rc.conf? Or did you took additional steps?

cb474 · 2009-10-13 02:12:45

That's basically it.

pacman -S madwifi
Then blacklist ath9k in the MODULES section of rc.conf and add ath_pci
And then the wireless interface is ath0, instead of wlan0 (so I had to change this setting in wicd).

Some more info. at: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wir … up#madwifi

moose jaw · 2009-10-13 04:24:56

cb474 wrote:

That's basically it.
pacman -S madwifi
Then blacklist ath9k in the MODULES section of rc.conf and add ath_pci
And then the wireless interface is ath0, instead of wlan0 (so I had to change this setting in wicd).
Some more info. at: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wir … up#madwifi

Thanks for the note about changing the interface name in wicd. I had been having similar problems with ath5k in 2.6.31: it would work fine on first boot, but not after a suspend/resume. madwifi/ath_pci seems to be working fine even after multiple resumes (this is on a Samsung NC10 with an Atheros AR2425 chip).

zenlord · 2009-10-13 13:13:59

With my previous laptop (arch linux 32bit) I remember switching to kernel .29 and having problems with ath9k ever since (.29 and .30 - at which point I stopped using that laptop)

Until kernel .27 I used ndiswrapper exclusively, which worked perfectly and with kernels .27 and .28 ath9k served me well. In .29 all I got were lousy speeds (1/10th of the usual speeds), a lousy signal strength (1/4th of the usual SS) and many times I could not connect or got disconnected while browsing.

I have posted about this before here on the forums, but the few people like me have never been able to pinpoint the problem and thus to file a bugreport... Now that I don't use this ath9k-module, I'm not able to troubleshoot it anymore - but it looks like the group of affected people is growing with every kernel-release. People who are affected by this should consider filing a bugreport...

Zl.

Wilco · 2009-10-13 13:54:07

The problems might also be related to specific routers. I had a lot more trouble since I got my N-router, the WAG160N from linksys

zenlord · 2009-10-13 17:24:15

Mine is a D-Link 802.11n-router - maybe it is a (draft-)n-problem?

pyther · 2009-10-13 17:34:53

I have a similar problem. On boot my wireless works, but if I toggle it [on/off (unload/load module)] I get the same error and a reboot is the only option for me. I don't think it is router related as it happens at home with my cheap openwrt router and the universities not so cheap cisco aps.

Wilco · 2009-10-13 19:57:59

Madwifi doesn't work for me because I have an ath9k chipset instead of ath5k. Therefore, I need compat-wireless but that doesn't build on the current kernel. Older versions of compat-wireless also gave me lots of oopses.

Anyway, sometimes wifi works but after a few seconds or minutes I get:

Oct 13 21:35:42 eee kernel: wlan0: no probe response from AP M:A:C - disassociating

This sucks, these problems have existed since 2.6.29

Arch Linux

#1 2009-10-10 14:28:03

am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#2 2009-10-10 16:24:01

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#3 2009-10-10 18:42:38

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#4 2009-10-10 18:52:47

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#5 2009-10-10 18:53:04

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#6 2009-10-10 19:10:10

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#7 2009-10-10 19:16:14

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#8 2009-10-10 21:14:07

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#9 2009-10-10 21:38:28

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#10 2009-10-11 09:58:22

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#11 2009-10-11 10:27:23

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#12 2009-10-11 10:42:11

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#13 2009-10-11 13:34:37

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#14 2009-10-11 14:50:47

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#15 2009-10-11 15:40:23

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#16 2009-10-12 08:09:15

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#17 2009-10-12 08:23:59

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#18 2009-10-12 11:59:26

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#19 2009-10-13 02:12:45

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#20 2009-10-13 04:24:56

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#21 2009-10-13 13:13:59

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#22 2009-10-13 13:54:07

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#23 2009-10-13 17:24:15

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#24 2009-10-13 17:34:53

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

#25 2009-10-13 19:57:59

Re: am i the onlyone having problem with ath5k(etc) and kernel 2.6.3X??

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