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SanTDR

Member

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 9

Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

Hello everyone,
  Lately I've been experiencing connection issues after some minutes of constant internet usage (like, say, while upgrading packages). The computer interrupts the connection with the router itself for some seconds, connects back for less than a minute and goes back to disconnecting.

journalctl -p 3 -xb

repeatedly lists 2 lines that have to do with the connection:

kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0x00000024 AR_DIAG_SW=0x02000020 DMADBG_7=0x00006100

laptop-mode[16420]: Failed to re-set power saving mode for wireless card

  I didn't find anything regarding the first line as the only user who documented having problems with it changed hardware, whereas mine works fine when booting other OSs, and looking up the second line, while better documented online, didn't bring me to a solution either. Here are some pieces of information that have to do with the problem, apologies if there are useless ones and/or if I missed other important ones.

lspci -k

04:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
	Subsystem: AzureWave AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
	Kernel modules: r8169

iwconfig

wlp4s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"ASUS"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 2C:4D:54:96:78:E8   
          Bit Rate=43.3 Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=45/70  Signal level=-65 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:2   Missed beacon:0

lsmod | grep ath9k

ath9k                 131072  0
ath9k_common           32768  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              438272  2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath                    28672  3 ath9k_hw,ath9k,ath9k_common
mac80211              688128  1 ath9k
cfg80211              532480  4 mac80211,ath9k,ath,ath9k_common
led_class              16384  5 asus_wmi,rtsx_usb_sdmmc,input_leds,ath9k,asus_wireless

cat /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf 

options ath9k nohwcrypt=1
options ath9k ps_enable=1

cat /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/wireless-power.conf

# Control generic wireless interface power saving mode?
CONTROL_WIRELESS_POWER_SAVING="auto"

WIRELESS_AC_POWER_SAVING=1
WIRELESS_BATT_POWER_SAVING=1

Does anyone have any idea on if these two problems are related and on what I can do to resolve the connection issues?

The Loko

Member

From: Spain

Registered: 2014-07-23

Posts: 100

Re: Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

I would try downgrading the kernel or using the LTS one.
If the problem persists, try with the wireless power saving disabled.

SanTDR

Member

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 9

Re: Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

I'm momentarily using the LTS kernel as the connection works fine there. Sorry for not mentioning this, what I was interested in is specifically whether the standard kernel having issues is my fault in some configuration or if it's something I can't do anything about. This also made me realize that the power saving mode error isn't related to the connection issues as it persists with the LTS kernel too, not checking immediately was stupid of me.

Last edited by SanTDR (2017-10-10 12:36:54)

c00ter

Member

From: Alaskan in Washington State

Registered: 2014-08-28

Posts: 421

Re: Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

Did I hear wrong? Didn't I hear that laptop-mode-tools was obsolete, replaced by TLP a couple tears ago?

---

UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things. -- Doug Gwyn

vkojouharov

Member

Registered: 2017-10-10

Posts: 1

Re: Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

Hi,

I started getting the same error a few days ago. I do not have laptop-mode-tools installed, and I get "ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0x00000024 AR_DIAG_SW=0x02000020 DMADBG_7=0x00006100" in dmesg after a while. It seems like laptop-mode is not the problem.

surrealpie

Member

Registered: 2017-10-10

Posts: 7

Re: Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

Exactly the same problem here, i was about to make my own thread when i saw this

[  +5.351447] ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0x00000024 AR_DIAG_SW=0x02000020 DMADBG_7=0x00006100

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 23,447

Re: Wireless card problems related to laptop-mode and ath9k

If you get DMA errors try the current favorite cause/resolution of issues and add

intel_iommu=off

to your kernel parameters. If that fixed the issue, the upcoming 4.13.5 kernel will have disabled iommu again by default, so you could remove it then

Last edited by V1del (2017-10-11 07:14:53)