ath9k issues

CT075 · 2017-01-04 22:57:10

Hi -

I've been having intermittent issues with my wifi card. When I'm walking around with my laptop, my wifi will first disconnect, then dmesg starts spamming me with

[18222.185142] ath: phy0: Failed to wakeup in 500us
[18222.403908] ath: phy0: RX failed to go idle in 10 ms RXSM=0xffffffff
[18222.417780] ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff

Google and searching on this forum lead me to try

sudo modprobe -r -f ath9k
sudo modprobe ath9k

but that only gives a message about

[  576.127342] ath: phy0: Mac Chip Rev 0xfffc0.f is not supported by this driver
[  576.127346] ath: phy0: Unable to initialize hardware; initialization status: -95
[  576.127352] ath9k 0000:02:00.0: Failed to initialize device
[  576.127385] ath9k: probe of 0000:02:00.0 failed with error -95

and nothing happens. Running the following sequence:

sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe -v ath9k

doesn't give that error, but it also doesn't fix my internet. Strangely, the issue fixes itself on reboot.

seth · 2017-01-05 08:55:05

/etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf

options ath9k nohwcrypt=1 ps_enable=0 btcoex_enable=0

See whether it remains. Usually™ the HW encryption kicks the device into an invalid state, but it could be powersaving. Last item may disable bluetooth.
If the problem is gone w/ the parameters, you may reduce them until you figured which item is critical.

CT075 · 2017-01-06 02:05:47

Adding that line doesn't appear to change anything. Maybe I didn't reload the driver correctly after adding the line (I've only done one reboot cycle since adding it, and that was to correct the issue occurring again), but after adding that file (containing that line), it didn't appear to do anything about reloading the driver itself.

seth · 2017-01-06 08:28:31

A reboot would do. If the issue remains, it's not triggered by one of this features. (see "modinfo ath9k" for their explanation)

CT075 · 2017-01-06 17:16:19

I can confirm that rebooting after setting those options in /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf that the issue persists.

Any other ideas of where I could look? More research seems to suggest that this patch would fix the issue, but looking up the same patch on this forum doesn't give me anything useful, nor do I know how I could start testing that for myself.

seth · 2017-01-06 19:56:50

The patch is in the kernel, see https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/ … mac.c#L712 (file untouched since two years)

When I'm walking around with my laptop

Locally or out of range? What do you use to (auto-)configure your network (networkmanager, netctl, systemd-network, ...)?

CT075 · 2017-01-06 20:00:10

Walking around locally; recently it's even been happening with no movement (while I'm sitting stationary with the laptop at a desk)

I use NetworkManager in GNOME 3; google suggests that a bug with NetworkManager kicks ath9k into an invalid state. I've tried wicd, but found it frustrating and with its own set of problems.

While I'm at it, though:

$ lspci -k | grep Network
>> 03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

seth · 2017-01-06 20:26:07

Well, the first thing is to figure whether

a bug with NetworkManager kicks ath9k into an invalid state

is the case, ie. disable the service, reboot, configure the wifi with wifi-menu and see whether you're running into this again.
Also please dump

systemctl list-units | grep -E '(net|wicd|dhcp)'

CT075 · 2017-01-06 20:27:51

Will report back after attempting to use wifi-menu.

The output of that command is

  sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1c.2-0000:02:00.0-net-enp2s0.device                       loaded active plugged   RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller                 
  sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1c.3-0000:03:00.0-net-wlp3s0.device                       loaded active plugged   AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter                                           
  sys-subsystem-net-devices-enp2s0.device                                                  loaded active plugged   RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller                 
  sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlp3s0.device                                                  loaded active plugged   AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter                                           
  network.target                                                                           loaded active active    Network

Last edited by CT075 (2017-01-06 20:28:09)

seth · 2017-01-06 20:35:01

ah, blast. "grep -iE", sorry.

CT075 · 2017-01-06 21:10:40

  NetworkManager.service                                                                   loaded active running   Network Manager                                                           
  systemd-timesyncd.service                                                                loaded active running   Network Time Synchronization

These are the two lines added when changing that command

CT075 · 2017-01-07 00:18:50

Okay, I can confirm that the issue persists when using wifi-menu.

seth · 2017-01-07 01:38:56

usb dongle or actual card? well seated? do you get a call trace related to irq in dmesg before? (try irqpoll kernel parameter)

CT075 · 2017-01-07 01:43:01

Using whatever the laptop's internal card is, with the laptop flat on a desk.

As I'm not sure what causes this to happen, it's difficult for me to figure out what messages would come before it on dmesg - specifically, I usually only notice because my connection breaks off and I check dmesg to find a flood of the errors mentioned in the OP (usually long past my terminal's scroll boundary). irqpoll also doesn't appear to exist on my system or in pacman. Please advise?

Last edited by CT075 (2017-01-07 01:47:26)

seth · 2017-01-07 02:19:51

the call trace would be briefly before the error you posted appears the first time. please google "irqpoll kernel parameter"

CT075 · 2017-01-07 03:17:56

I've add the kernel option, but I'm having difficulty finding any message immediately before the error spam; the error messages themselves usually fill my terminal's history limit within seconds, and as I can't reproduce the event I'm not generally ready for it to happen

seth · 2017-01-07 10:38:44

dmesg > /tmp/dmesg.txt

lucasbordignon · 2017-05-16 01:14:35

Hello everyone. Sorry to revive the topic, I'm suffering of the same issue, may some of you have found the answer.
Using the card AR9485 with kernel 4.9.27-lts

Arch Linux

#1 2017-01-04 22:57:10

ath9k issues

#2 2017-01-05 08:55:05

Re: ath9k issues

#3 2017-01-06 02:05:47

Re: ath9k issues

#4 2017-01-06 08:28:31

Re: ath9k issues

#5 2017-01-06 17:16:19

Re: ath9k issues

#6 2017-01-06 19:56:50

Re: ath9k issues

#7 2017-01-06 20:00:10

Re: ath9k issues

#8 2017-01-06 20:26:07

Re: ath9k issues

#9 2017-01-06 20:27:51

Re: ath9k issues

#10 2017-01-06 20:35:01

Re: ath9k issues

#11 2017-01-06 21:10:40

Re: ath9k issues

#12 2017-01-07 00:18:50

Re: ath9k issues

#13 2017-01-07 01:38:56

Re: ath9k issues

#14 2017-01-07 01:43:01

Re: ath9k issues

#15 2017-01-07 02:19:51

Re: ath9k issues

#16 2017-01-07 03:17:56

Re: ath9k issues

#17 2017-01-07 10:38:44

Re: ath9k issues

#18 2017-05-16 01:14:35

Re: ath9k issues

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