Arch Linux

avr

Member

Registered: 2014-09-25

Posts: 30

Broadcom wl with wext driver on Wicd dropping connections

I have a laptop where I'm using Wicd to connect to my WPA network. My wireless card is a Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 which is, unfortunately, only supported by the "wl" driver. I can connect to my wireless alright, but every 5 to 30 minutes I get disconnected from the internet.

My journal is littered with these stack traces. I have a feeling these are the culprits.

Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel: WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 1854 at net/wireless/sme.c:920 cfg80211_connect+0x229/0x4d0 [cfg80211]()
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel: Modules linked in: nls_iso8859_1 nls_cp437 vfat fat fuse joydev mousedev ecb uvcvideo btusb videobuf2_vmalloc videobuf2_memops videobuf2
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  mbcache jbd2 rtsx_usb_sdmmc led_class mmc_core rtsx_usb sd_mod sr_mod crc_t10dif crct10dif_common cdrom atkbd libps2 ahci libahci libat
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel: CPU: 1 PID: 1854 Comm: iwconfig Tainted: P           O   3.17.6-1-ARCH #1
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel: Hardware name: Dell Inc. Inspiron 3521/033MX4, BIOS A12 10/25/2013
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  0000000000000000 000000007d9185b2 ffff8801ba593bf8 ffffffff81537c3e
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  0000000000000000 ffff8801ba593c30 ffffffff8107079d ffff8800a85a6600
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  0000000000000000 ffff8800a8ecd400 ffff8800a8ecd5a8 ffff8801c269d000
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel: Call Trace:
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81537c3e>] dump_stack+0x4d/0x6f
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff8107079d>] warn_slowpath_common+0x7d/0xa0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff810708ca>] warn_slowpath_null+0x1a/0x20
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffffa0419359>] cfg80211_connect+0x229/0x4d0 [cfg80211]
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffffa0432c31>] cfg80211_mgd_wext_connect+0x151/0x1d0 [cfg80211]
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffffa0432d99>] cfg80211_mgd_wext_siwfreq+0xe9/0x220 [cfg80211]
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffffa0432ac0>] cfg80211_wext_siwfreq+0x130/0x150 [cfg80211]
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81524e42>] ioctl_standard_call+0x52/0xe0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81525bc0>] ? iw_handler_get_private+0x70/0x70
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81524df0>] ? call_commit_handler.part.7+0x30/0x30
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81524d76>] wireless_process_ioctl+0x176/0x1c0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff815250e8>] wext_handle_ioctl+0x78/0xe0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff8145b41c>] dev_ioctl+0x2dc/0x5f0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff8105e9bc>] ? __do_page_fault+0x2ec/0x600
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81427352>] sock_ioctl+0x132/0x2c0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff811da5f0>] do_vfs_ioctl+0x2d0/0x4b0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff81426d62>] ? sock_alloc_file+0xb2/0x150
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff811da851>] SyS_ioctl+0x81/0xa0
Jan 22 17:57:57 myhostname kernel:  [<ffffffff8153dc69>] system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b

Has anyone seen anything similar to this? Does anyone know if this is a Wicd, wext, or wl problem? Any help in either fixing this problem or mitigating the dropped connections would be great.

draugur

Member

From: find / -name draugur

Registered: 2014-11-27

Posts: 15

Re: Broadcom wl with wext driver on Wicd dropping connections

I am using the same driver, and haven't noticed that behaviour (I use network manager). I have, however, experienced random disconnects with Wicd in the past though.

tomasos

Member

From: Gothenburg

Registered: 2015-04-27

Posts: 2

Re: Broadcom wl with wext driver on Wicd dropping connections

Hi,

I have the same issue. The stacktrace is printed everytime I connect with Wicd.

I'm running kernel 3.19 (but it happened on 3.16 as well) and my wifi card is "Broadcom Corporation BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n".

DId you find a solution to the problem?

tomasos

Member

From: Gothenburg

Registered: 2015-04-27

Posts: 2

Re: Broadcom wl with wext driver on Wicd dropping connections

Hi again,

My solution to this was to install kernel version 3.19 and then use the b43 module. In Debian there is a package called 'firmware-b43-installer' (there must be an Arch equivalent) which installed the necessary firmware for my wlan card.