TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

tridang · 2017-01-02 16:15:29

Hi everybody,

I've just bought this PCI-E card and plug it into my old desktop to enable wireless connection. The device worked properly as ath9k driver of lspci output

$ sudo lspci -v
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Qualcomm Atheros Device 30a4
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
	Memory at feaf0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [60] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-15-17-ff-ff-24-14-12
	Capabilities: [170] Power Budgeting <?>
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k

At that time, status led of device turned green. But the problem came when I reboot the machine, the device cannot be regconized.

$ sudo lspci -v
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
	Memory at feaf0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [60] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
	Capabilities: [170] Power Budgeting <?>

The device was seen as AR5008 with no serial number and ath9k driver was not loaded any more. There's no status led and no connection, of course.
This condition happens only sometimes on boot, not usually.

Please help me to diagnose this issue, Arch kernel or hardware issue? Thanks a lot!

Last edited by tridang (2017-01-02 16:21:09)

ewaller · 2017-01-02 17:16:47

Welcome to Arch Linux. That cannot be the full output of lspci; have you redacted it?

I wonder if the kernel you are running is the one that is actually installed. What are the output of pacman -Q linux and of uname -a ?

tridang · 2017-01-03 08:05:25

ewaller wrote:

Welcome to Arch Linux. That cannot be the full output of lspci; have you redacted it?
I wonder if the kernel you are running is the one that is actually installed. What are the output of pacman -Q linux and of uname -a ?

Sorry for my uncomplete output of lspci, I actually cut it down to be clear
Currently my system runs on stock kernel with latest updated packages. Here is more information

$ pacman -Q linux
linux 4.8.13-1

$uname -a
Linux asus 4.8.13-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Dec 9 07:24:34 CET 2016 x86_64 GNU/Linux

seth · 2017-01-03 08:29:01

reliably fails on warm boots and works on cold ones?

tridang · 2017-01-03 09:05:18

Hi seth,

It happened on both kind of boots. I tried to re-plug the card but problem still remains.
Just found a link related to this issue but on Ubuntu http://askubuntu.com/questions/115458/a … ent-models

I could return device to the buyer and get new one to test, but I would like to analyze the reason to know where issue comes.

Drehstromlampe · 2017-01-04 00:30:52

tridang wrote:

Hi seth,
It happened on both kind of boots. I tried to re-plug the card but problem still remains.
Just found a link related to this issue but on Ubuntu http://askubuntu.com/questions/115458/a … ent-models
I could return device to the buyer and get new one to test, but I would like to analyze the reason to know where issue comes.

I'm a little confused...
The last post of your linked thread says that this probably was a bad card?
So what more do you want to test?

Btw, even though atheros chips usually work well on linux, generally I'd recommend a card with an intel-chip.

tridang · 2017-01-04 02:22:44

Drehstromlampe wrote:

I'm a little confused...
The last post of your linked thread says that this probably was a bad card?
So what more do you want to test?

Btw, even though atheros chips usually work well on linux, generally I'd recommend a card with an intel-chip.

Yes, it could be a bad card but I'm not sure about that. What I really want is some steps to verify it on Arch, I would like to know how to troubleshoot this kind of problem too.

seth · 2017-01-04 07:59:45

The randomness suggest an init problem - the "confirmation" is as suggested on askubuntu: try windows - if the ntos kernel has the same bug as the linux kernel, it's no bug but bad hardware (or the gods hate you ;-)

It might be broken, badly seated, underpowered, picking random voltage ... or just be broken. Did you plug it yourself? Did you try re-plugging it?
You might have BIOS/UEFI settings to adjust PCI-E settings and the "graphics driver" comment over there sounds interesting (eg. if the lanes overspeek)

tridang · 2017-01-04 09:36:30

I tried to re-plug one time but have no success
OK, I'll try to find some BIOS settings to control it before return to the seller.
Thanks seth.

Last edited by tridang (2017-01-07 16:18:57)

tridang · 2017-01-07 16:18:23

Today I come back to the seller and get a new card.
I plug it into my PC again, and problem still remains (already with updating latest packages)
Then I try with another distro (Linux Mint Live USB) to see if it has same issues and the result is card works out of the box with LED turning on every boot (I tried about 10 times).
After that, I try again with Arch USB boot and got the same problem.
So I suspect that there's a bug with udev in Arch, it cannot always detect card as AR9287, it's not stable clearly

seth · 2017-01-07 17:48:36

try with the linux-lts kernel.

tridang · 2017-01-08 06:55:11

Hi seth,
I tried install linux-lts kernel but have no luck. Also downgrading systemd package to 232-{5,4,3,2,1} version doesn't help
I'll try to downgrade linux-lts more to see if it work.
Or is there any more stable kernel?
Thanks.

Last edited by tridang (2017-01-08 06:59:44)

seth · 2017-01-08 10:03:51

I assume you did also boot the kernel (select at grub, merely installing won't do) - lts already is the upstream long term support kernel.
downgrading systemd will likely have no impact, this will be either
- hardware
- kernel
- power saving (powertop configuration?)
- some client (like networkmanager) banging the interface

tridang · 2017-01-08 10:31:40

After installing linux-lts, I already run this to update grub and select it at grub menu

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.conf

I only use netctl to start network. I'll try other ways with your hints. Thanks alot.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-01-02 16:15:29

TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#2 2017-01-02 17:16:47

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#3 2017-01-03 08:05:25

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#4 2017-01-03 08:29:01

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#5 2017-01-03 09:05:18

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#6 2017-01-04 00:30:52

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#7 2017-01-04 02:22:44

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#8 2017-01-04 07:59:45

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#9 2017-01-04 09:36:30

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#10 2017-01-07 16:18:23

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#11 2017-01-07 17:48:36

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#12 2017-01-08 06:55:11

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#13 2017-01-08 10:03:51

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

#14 2017-01-08 10:31:40

Re: TPLink TL-WN881ND not regconized sometimes

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