Tainted iwlwifi and blinking caps lock key on a ThinkPad T410 [Solved]

salj · 2017-04-07 01:41:36

Starting today I started encountering a weird issue on my ThinkPad T410. It would freeze up, completely unresponsive, and the light on the caps lock key would start blinking. Shortly after coming up from a forced reboot, it would do the same thing. I think I tracked the issue down to the iwlwifi module, here's the relevant journal snippet:

Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: ------------[ cut here ]------------
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 5792 at drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/pcie/tx.c:1786 iwl_pcie_hcmd_complete+0x451/0x4f0 [iwlwifi]
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: wrong command queue 23 (should be 4), sequence 0x373A readp=56 writep=56
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: Modules linked in: iwldvm iwlwifi cmac algif_hash fuse rfcomm ctr ccm bnep dm_crypt algif_skcipher af_alg btusb btrtl btbcm btintel bluetooth joydev mou
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  tpm_tis tpm_tis_core tpm button sch_fq_codel vboxnetflt(O) vboxnetadp(O) pci_stub vboxpci(O) vboxdrv(O) tp_smapi(O) thinkpad_ec(O) coretemp msr sg acpi
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: CPU: 2 PID: 5792 Comm: irq/28-iwlwifi Tainted: P        W  O    4.10.8-1-ARCH #1
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: Hardware name: LENOVO 25224EU/25224EU, BIOS 6IET85WW (1.45 ) 02/14/2013
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: Call Trace:
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  dump_stack+0x63/0x83
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  __warn+0xcb/0xf0
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  warn_slowpath_fmt+0x5f/0x80
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  iwl_pcie_hcmd_complete+0x451/0x4f0 [iwlwifi]
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ? iwl_rx_dispatch+0xc8/0xe0 [iwldvm]
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  iwl_pcie_rx_handle+0x54b/0x9f0 [iwlwifi]
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  iwl_pcie_irq_handler+0x652/0xaf0 [iwlwifi]
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ? irq_forced_thread_fn+0x70/0x70
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  irq_thread_fn+0x20/0x50
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  irq_thread+0x12f/0x1c0
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ? __schedule+0x237/0x700
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ? wake_threads_waitq+0x30/0x30
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  kthread+0x101/0x140
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ? irq_thread_dtor+0xc0/0xc0
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ? kthread_create_on_node+0x60/0x60
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel:  ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x40
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: ---[ end trace 612e2f19f23ef41a ]---
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: iwl data: 00000000: 48 01 80 0a 79 75 3a 37 fd 73 48 5d 2c 09 67 2d  H...yu:7.sH],.g-
Apr 06 20:29:14 Kevin kernel: iwl data: 00000010: be 6e 99 1e d1 24 60 2c 4f fe bd 0a 22 9f 97 fe  .n...$`,O..."...
Apr 06 20:29:15 Kevin kernel: ------------[ cut here ]------------

Disabling iwlwifi stops the freezing issue, but as soon as I load the module within 5 minutes it's frozen again.

I'm on the latest version of the kernel, 4.10.8-1-ARCH, and my wifi card is reported by lspci as:

Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (rev 35)

Any ideas?

Last edited by salj (2017-04-07 15:15:54)

R00KIE · 2017-04-07 09:56:33

It's not iwlwifi that is tainted, it's the kernel, the reason is given by "Tainted: P W O", P means a proprietary module was loaded, W means a warning was previously issued by the kernel and O means that an externally-built module has been loaded.

My first approach would be to prevent the vbox modules from loading and checking if your machine starts working properly. If this works the problem is with the vbox modules and you should complain to the vbox devs.

salj · 2017-04-07 15:15:37

Wow, I would never have guessed that was the issue, thanks! After disabling the VirtualBox modules it's been working fine.

ewaller · 2017-04-07 17:03:36

For future reference, the blinking CAPs lock is a sure indication that the kernel has entered the panic state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic

Arch Linux

#1 2017-04-07 01:41:36

Tainted iwlwifi and blinking caps lock key on a ThinkPad T410 [Solved]

#2 2017-04-07 09:56:33

Re: Tainted iwlwifi and blinking caps lock key on a ThinkPad T410 [Solved]

#3 2017-04-07 15:15:37

Re: Tainted iwlwifi and blinking caps lock key on a ThinkPad T410 [Solved]

#4 2017-04-07 17:03:36

Re: Tainted iwlwifi and blinking caps lock key on a ThinkPad T410 [Solved]

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