Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

sud_crow · 2008-11-18 14:42:59

Hi everyone.

I having a couple of issues since my last kernel upgrade (2.6.27.5-1) and wanted to check if its my problem or if it is some kind of bug, before reporting it to the tracker.

I have the iwlagn (or iwl4965, as it is the same) kernel module in the MODULES array in /etc/rc.conf. Even tried removing it from there and leaving all the work to the module autodetect. No changes.

This is my dmesg | grep iwl output after boot:

iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
iwlagn: Failed to register hw (error -2)
iwlagn: probe of 0000:0b:00.0 failed with error -2

I do have the firmaware (iwlwifi-4965-ucode) installed and enabled "firmware" in the mkinitcipio.conf image.

I have to do the following to get it working:

modprobe -r iwlagn
modprobe iwlagn

After which the output of dmesg | grep iwl is the following (added a line to split the reload of the module):

iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
iwlagn: Failed to register hw (error -2)
iwlagn: probe of 0000:0b:00.0 failed with error -2
///////////////////// this is added after reload of iwlagn ///////////////
iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
firmware: requesting iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:radio
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:assoc
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:RX

For what i can tell... the module seems to be loading to soon. Could this be the problem?
On the other hand, it happened a couple of times that I just lost the device (the module quit working in the middle of a session).

Any ideas?

ps. I already reinstalled the previous kernel without results. Remade the kernel26.img changing options (HOOKS) and modified the order of services in the DAEMONS array, to no avail.

leftyteck · 2008-11-22 08:00:26

I'm having a similar problem with the same card

my /var/log/messages right after i load the module

Nov 22 01:58:48 lenovo iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
Nov 22 01:58:48 lenovo iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
Nov 22 01:58:48 lenovo iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
Nov 22 01:58:48 lenovo iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
Nov 22 01:58:48 lenovo iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels

and after i try to bring wlan0 up

Nov 22 01:59:00 lenovo iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
Nov 22 01:59:00 lenovo firmware: requesting iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
Nov 22 01:59:00 lenovo firmware.sh[5062]: Cannot find  firmware file 'iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode'

I'm running the default kernel

uname -a

Linux lenovo 2.6.27-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 14 09:33:13 UTC 2008 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

any updates on this?

Last edited by leftyteck (2008-11-22 08:00:51)

leftyteck · 2008-11-22 09:10:21

I don't know if this has anything to do with it but it just started working...

I started dbus, hal and strangly it works now... we'll see if it keeps working *crosses fingers*

sud_crow · 2008-11-26 01:46:43

leftyteck wrote:

I don't know if this has anything to do with it but it just started working...
I started dbus, hal and strangly it works now... we'll see if it keeps working *crosses fingers*

Hi,

Well, mine isn't working yet. And we had another kernel upgrade...

I don't know what could be wrong...

Could someone with a Intel 4965AGN wireless post how they are loading the module? Are you using networkmanager, netcfg or another wireless manager?

I don't think hal or dbus should have anything to do with this, as I need only to reload the kernel module to get the wireless recognized.

Also, Ubuntu seems to be having some related issues:
https://bugs.staging.launchpad.net/ubun … bug/179698

Just in case, Im going to play with networkmanager and netcfg, to see if there is some kind of problem with it and report back later.

sud_crow · 2008-11-28 01:12:36

Nope. I'm still having problems.

Replaced NetworkManager with ntcfg2, but no changes so far.

Here is the kernel package I have installed:
core/kernel26 2.6.27.6-1 (x86-64)

Keep having to reload the module:

modprobe -r iwlagn
modprobe iwlagn

Output from dmesg | grep iwlagn seems to be the same:

[23:06:57 crow]$ dmesg | grep iwl
 sda:<6>iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation                          
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17           
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: setting latency timer to 64                          
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4                 
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels                
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A disabled                                   
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'                        
iwlagn: Failed to register hw (error -2)                                  
iwlagn: probe of 0000:0b:00.0 failed with error -2                        
iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks        
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation                          
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17           
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: setting latency timer to 64                          
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4                 
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels                
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'                        
iwlagn 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17           
firmware: requesting iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode                                 
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:radio
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:assoc
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:RX
Registered led device: iwl-phy0:TX

My loaded modules: lsmod

[23:12:15 crow]$ lsmod | grep iwl
iwlagn                102148  0
iwlcore                86084  1 iwlagn
rfkill                 12068  2 iwlcore
led_class               6408  1 iwlcore
mac80211              182184  2 iwlagn,iwlcore
cfg80211               29840  3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211

On the other hand, I found someone with the same problem in the Poland Arch Linux Forums:
http://forum.archlinux.pl/viewtopic.php?pid=31341

But I dont understand if the second person is giving its setup (and has it working) or if it is reporting problems too.

No one else is having issues with this wireless card?

smartboyathome · 2008-11-28 05:02:23

I have an Intel 4965 and it works. I use WICD, as I couldn't get netcfg or iwconfig to work (I use WPA encryption, seems it doesn't like me *shurg*). Perhaps you can try that, and it will work.

dolby · 2008-11-28 07:03:29

Mine works with wicd only too,

Last edited by dolby (2009-02-01 01:32:45)

sud_crow · 2008-12-02 04:20:56

I cant get to the point of the wireless manager, as the system doesnt recognize the wireless card until I reload the module. Once I do that, I can use any wireless manager I want (Tryed with success: wicd, knetworkmanager, archassistant, netcfg, wlanassistant. All with WPA2).

What architecture are you using? i686 or x86-64?
Could you post your rc.conf DAEMONS array? What about mkinitcpio.conf? Did you change anything there?

Thanks in advance.

ps. The firmware is still needed. Only the driver was moved to the kernel tree.

St. Ares · 2008-12-02 16:12:14

Hi sud,

I can confirm that I am having the exact same problem as you, and the same messages. I would post them, but I'm typing from my windows partition because my Arch linux hasn't been completely set up yet.

My wireless will not work and there is no sign of wlan0 until I type modprobe -r iwl4965 and then modprobe iwl4965.

I cannot tell for sure if the internet itself works after that, because my wireless service is kind of shaky right now. I did get a dhcp server though, and everything seemed to work perfectly. My wireless LED also came on after I reloaded the module. I haven't tried any other fixes yet because I was just trying to get it work for now, and your post helped figure things out.

The only difference is that I am running on the i686 arch. I haven't set up any network managers yet though either, just got the internet working.

Last edited by St. Ares (2008-12-02 16:13:28)

sud_crow · 2008-12-03 02:40:05

It seems we are not the only ones with problems:

System lock-ups with Intel 4965 wireless
The version of the iwlagn wireless driver for Intel 4965 wireless chipsets included in Linux kernel version 2.6.27 causes kernel panics when used with 802.11n or 802.11g networks. Users affected by this issue can install the linux-backports-modules-intrepid package, to install a newer version of this driver that corrects the bug. (Because the known fix requires a new version of the driver, it is not expected to be possible to include this fix in the main kernel package.)
Cannot reactivate Intel 3945/4965 wireless if booting with killswitch enabled
On laptops with Intel 3945 or Intel 4965 wireless chipsets and a killswitch for the wireless antenna, starting the system with the killswitch enabled (i.e., with wireless disabled) will prevent re-enabling the wireless by toggling the killswitch. As a workaround, users should boot the system with the killswitch disabled. A future kernel update is expected to address this issue.

These are from the release notes of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10).

I dont know what else to do. I think it might have something to do with the state of the module in kernel 2.6.27... I might try downgrading to 2.6.26 to check if it works as soon as I get some free time to play with this... until then, I already made a mini-script to reload the module and restart networkmanager just in case.

St. Ares · 2008-12-03 03:39:25

Thanks for the update, when I get a chance I'll try and mess around with those fixes, until then my plan is to do the same and write a script to get my wireless up. Since I'm still working on setting up my system, I might not get to the wireless until later. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my problem though :-)

Actually, after thinking about this, it would explain why I have had my system lock up randomly so much. I think the best solution is really a new driver for the card. It would also explain why not all people who own a XPS M1530 like me have the problem, because the wireless card was an upgrade on the laptop. I had always thought it was a display or fan driver, because it happened more often when the system got hot, but then it happened in the text-based arch gui. When that happened, I knew it wasn't my previous thoughts.

I'm happy this has (hopefully) finally fixed my system problem, but now I need to find a workaround...

Last edited by St. Ares (2008-12-03 03:55:39)

St. Ares · 2008-12-16 21:08:02

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I just wanted to let you know that my wireless card seems to be working just fine now. I noticed that the firmware was upgraded a few times a few days ago, and that may have fixed the problem. I hav tried to use wireless as much as possible to see if it would panic. I still use a script to get my wireless module up and going, but the network manager takes care of the rest for me.

Are things working for you yet?

LeoSolaris · 2008-12-17 21:56:38

Ya, I was having that lovely freezing issue that iwlagn mod till recently. I had to disable the wireless, disable the broken drivers in the rc.conf, then do an update with a direct ethernet connection. It seems to have disapeared, and after a cleaned up of a really f-ed up source install of cairo-dock everything seems to be running ok. (I couldn't figure out where to put it in arch... learning experience.)

Just to let you know, I used testing, so that may have something to do with it. If it doesn't work with testing disabled in pacman, enable it and try once more, it 'should work.' Good luck!

(FYI, I did not try the update without testing activated. I activated it a few weeks ago when I last tried to update, and forgot about it.)

St. Ares · 2008-12-17 23:03:54

Actually it seems to be working even without the testing repo enabled. I think they may have put it into testing and then moved the good firmware into the core, so all is just fine here

LeoSolaris · 2008-12-17 23:42:29

St. Ares wrote:

Actually it seems to be working even without the testing repo enabled. I think they may have put it into testing and then moved the good firmware into the core, so all is just fine here

Ok, that's good to know. I wasn't sure if it was out of testing yet, as I have only had Arch back up and running for a couple of days. I may leave testing enabled for now, just to see how the new stuff if coming.

Super Jamie · 2008-12-18 11:20:01

There is a bug in the version of the iwlagn driver that ships with Ubuntu Intrepid. Everything works fine with GNOME nm-applet, but after a while of heavy WLAN usage (possibly only on WPA or WPA2), it starts smashing sysklogd and quickly fills up /var with errors.

Details of the bug are here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/286285 and there are links to the Intel driver forums, with patches the Ubuntu team have applied to intrepid-proposed kernels -8 and -10, which fix the issue.

This doesn't sound like what's happening to OP though, but perhaps there is more info in the iwlagn bugzilla or forums?

iggyst00ge · 2009-01-08 15:59:50

So is the solution to just use a script that unloads and then reloads the module, like so:

modprobe -r iwlagn
modprobe iwlagn

or does a system based on Testing fix everything?

sud_crow · 2009-01-22 23:04:16

I had finally fixed (a couple of days ago), here is how:

/etc/rc.conf

MODULES=(acpi-cpufreq cpufreq-ondemand cpufreq-ondemand cpufreq-powersave fuse snd vboxdrv loop fuse iwl4965)
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @crond @cups !bluetooth !keytouch @sensors @sshd hal @networkmanager)

/etc/mkinitcpio.conf

MODULES="ata_generic ahci ata_piix"
HOOKS="base udev firmware pata ide scsi sata usb filesystems"

As root:

mkinitcpio -g kernel26.img -v -M -p kernel26

After that, reboot.

This was working with the 2.6.27.10 kernel.

I'm having a new issue with the wireless since the upgrade to 2.6.28.1, but I still dont know how to fix it. Now I have to restart the network interface every once in a while. No peace lately.

Kirurgs · 2009-01-23 08:09:25

I have the same 4965 in my T61, it's working nice, whole day without a single problem.
If You encounter problems, try compat-wireless (I had to use that before, because my wireless keep disconnecting every 20 mins or so )...
Compat wireless: http://wireless.kernel.org/download/com … .6.tar.bz2
This will not overwrite original modules, so installing / uninstalling should not destroy anything...
Please remember, that make unload (as installation will suggest) might not work and it's better to restart, however I remove all related modules manually and then load them again...

Ashren · 2009-02-01 01:28:38

[loop]The wireless on my T61 disconnects after a few minutes and then I need to reconnect.[/loop] The wireless is secured with WPA2. It makes surfing a hassle. I'm connecting with wicd.

The only interface in rc.conf is eth0

I'm using the latest stock kernel (2.6.28) and the wireless driver is iwl4965. Any new ideas or is compat-wireless the best solution?

Last edited by Ashren (2009-02-01 01:29:07)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-11-18 14:42:59

Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#2 2008-11-22 08:00:26

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#3 2008-11-22 09:10:21

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#4 2008-11-26 01:46:43

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#5 2008-11-28 01:12:36

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#6 2008-11-28 05:02:23

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#7 2008-11-28 07:03:29

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#8 2008-12-02 04:20:56

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#9 2008-12-02 16:12:14

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#10 2008-12-03 02:40:05

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#11 2008-12-03 03:39:25

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#12 2008-12-16 21:08:02

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#13 2008-12-17 21:56:38

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#14 2008-12-17 23:03:54

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#15 2008-12-17 23:42:29

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#16 2008-12-18 11:20:01

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#17 2009-01-08 15:59:50

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#18 2009-01-22 23:04:16

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#19 2009-01-23 08:09:25

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

#20 2009-02-01 01:28:38

Re: Problems with Intel 4965AGN and iwlagn kernel module

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