Re: [Libreboot] [Libreboot T60 from Gluglug] Sometimes my Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter drops the connection to never reestablish it again (until reboot)

[Jorge Araya Navarro]

Well, today the issue show his face again! :( You were right, the kernel flag 
don't solve this
problem. However, after rebooting my laptop, the connection is stable, I don't 
experience the
reconnection-every-60-seconds-phase anymore.

I don't remember pasting the exact error message I get when the issue appears, 
in any case, here it
is:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
[  +0,116708] ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
[  +0,000007] ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, reset status -22
[  +0,080357] ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0xffffffff 
AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
[  +0,000016] ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we could be confusing the DMA 
engine when we start RX up
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I was unable to reload the `ath` module, something start again NetworkManager's 
service when I stop
it with `systemctl stop NetworkManager`, `systemctl list-dependencies 
NetworkManager` shows many
services that I don't believe all of them depend on NetworkManager's service.

typing `sudo iwconfig wlp2s0 power off` doesn't work because that feature isn't 
supported by my wifi
card. The sound works well except for some sound glitches, but that happens 
because systemd-journal uses a
lot of CPU registering the never ending error message (the one above).

Here is the information you requested, hope this sheds some light with this 
problem:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ sudo journalctl -b -1 | grep DMA
nov 21 12:26:57 abril.charola kernel:   DMA      [mem 
0x0000000000001000-0x0000000000ffffff]
nov 21 12:26:57 abril.charola kernel:   DMA zone: 40 pages used for memmap
nov 21 12:26:57 abril.charola kernel:   DMA zone: 0 pages reserved
nov 21 12:26:57 abril.charola kernel:   DMA zone: 3999 pages, LIFO batch:0
# [...]
nov 21 14:29:06 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Failed to stop TX DMA, 
queues=0x008!
nov 21 14:29:06 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms 
AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
nov 21 14:29:06 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we could be 
confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ lspci | grep -e Ethernet -e Network 
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet 
Controller
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter 
(PCI-Express) (rev 01)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ uname -a
Linux abril.charola 4.1.13-gnu-1-lts #1 SMP Sat Nov 14 09:15:27 UYT 2015 i686 
GNU/Linux
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

El lunes 16 de noviembre del 2015 a las 0340 horas, Daniel Tarrero escribió:

> Hi!
>
> This logs seem to me like an interrupt conflict, hardware failure, or
> unrecoverable state.
>
> I think that the kernel boot option "intremap" wont help you.
>
> Usually, remove and load again a module use to restablish it's
> functionallity (when succesfully performed). Of course, modules and
> kernel have a tree kind structure, so you have to unload its
> dependencies before unload a module.
>
> -----
> Things you can give a try:
>
> * Look for any other interesting messages during boot:
>
> $ dmesg | more
>
> ... and more concrete, boot messages about DMA:
>
> $ dmesg | grep DMA | more
>
> * Disable "suspend" mode of the card (maybe it enters suspension-mode
> and never come back: not all cards support suspension):
>
> $ sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off
>
> * I also would try to _disable_sound_card_ in BIOS, and see if that
> makes a difference with your Wifi crashes.
>
>
> ----------
> For more info:
>
> which wifi card you have?
>
> $ lspci
> $ lsusb
>
> which kernel you have?
>
> $ uname -a
>
> is this the propper list for that?
>
> probably not ^^
>
>
> good morning dudes!
> Dani
>
>
> El vie, 13-11-2015 a las 12:47 -0600, Jorge Araya Navarro escribió:
>> Yo! lol.
>> 
>> When this thing happens, I don't have anything playing sounds, so I'm
>> not sure if the sound card gets affected. I wonder if setting that
>> kernel flag will prevent this issue from happening. I also too wonder if
>> unloading and reloading the drivers will do something useful regarding
>> my issue.
>> 
>> I'm going to set the flag and came back here if something happens.
>> 
>> El viernes 13 de noviembre del 2015 a las 0534 horas, Daniel Tarrero 
>> escribió:
>> 
>> > Que pasa Jorge!!
>> >
>> > The soon i talk about interrupts, the soon somebody faces problems using
>> > them!! maybe :)
>> >
>> > This seem to be a hardware communication problem. Did you read my last
>> > two mails? they may bring some information related to this problems.
>> >
>> >>> Did you see the DMAR mapping Warning too during boot?? that can have
>> > something to say here. The fact that a reboot use to solve it, makes me
>> > think it can be an interrupt conflict.
>> >
>> > Your logs say: "module/driver is sending commands to hardware, and it
>> > didnt respond as we expected"
>> >
>> > What can cause this? DMAR mess!!! and also hardware problems, like loose
>> > of power, changes in hardware that derives in interrupt conflicts like
>> > pluggin an e-sata, or faulty Atheros chip in the worse case.
>> >
>> > You can _force_ module unload (and also, you can
>> > _unload_dependent_modules_ first). Of course, you have to stop software
>> > using this hardware too. Maybe something like can make your day:
>> >
>> > $ sudo service network-manager stop (stop software)
>> > $ sudo ifconfig whatever down (unload network)
>> > $ modprobe -n ath (see dependent modules)
>> > $ sudo modprobe -f whatever (unload dependencies first)
>> > $ sudo modprobe -f ath (unload module)
>> > $ sudo modprobe ath (reload module)
>> >
>> > and test!
>> > You should give some time to the commands to complete, and keep an eye
>> > in syslog/dmesg to see resoults.
>> >
>> > Given that the problem flaps (come and go), i would also check power and
>> > heat (maybe replace charger with a travel one if you have, and place the
>> > laptop in a cold environment), and see if fault time changes.
>> >
>> > Also there is a previous warning with your sound card that can be
>> > related:
>> > snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: IRQ timing workaround is activated for card
>> > #0
>> >
>> > Is your sound card working when this error happens? If not, we may have
>> > found the hardware interrupt conflict. They can be using the same
>> > interrupt, and when sound gets "tweaked" the wifi goes crazy about that
>> > delay in communications.
>> >
>> >
>> > Good luck!! Im waiting for your experiences! :)
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> > D
>> >
>> >
>> > El jue, 12-11-2015 a las 14:44 -0600, Jorge Araya Navarro escribió:
>> >> Hello!
>> >> 
>> >> I bought my Libreboot T60 from Gluglug in December of last year, and I'm 
>> >> very happy with a machine
>> >> which works with 100% Free Software!
>> >> 
>> >> Since a couple of months ago is happening something strange to my wifi 
>> >> card, I first thought the
>> >> issue was caused by a kernel update but I was wrong. What happens is that 
>> >> at any random moment every
>> >> many or so weeks the wifi will drop the connection to never re-establish 
>> >> it again, until reboot, and
>> >> after that sometimes the issue continues with the wifi card dropping the 
>> >> connection once every 60
>> >> seconds.
>> >> 
>> >> Yesterday this thing happened again, so I decided to fire Emacs and takes 
>> >> some notes and output with
>> >> org-mode. The first interesting thing is this from `dmesg`:
>> >> 
>> >> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>> >> nov 12 12:43:43 abril.charola kernel: snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: IRQ 
>> >> timing workaround is activated for card #0. Suggest a bigger bdl_pos_adj.
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Failed to stop TX DMA, 
>> >> queues=0x00a!
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, 
>> >> reset status -22
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, 
>> >> reset status -22
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, 
>> >> reset status -22
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, 
>> >> reset status -22
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:44 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, 
>> >> reset status -22
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Chip reset failed
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Unable to reset channel, 
>> >> reset status -22
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola NetworkManager[445]: <warn>  Connection 
>> >> disconnected (reason -4)
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola NetworkManager[445]: <info>  (wlp2s0): 
>> >> supplicant interface state: completed -> disconnected
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: cfg80211: Exceeded CRDA call max 
>> >> attempts. Not calling CRDA
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: DMA failed to stop in 10 
>> >> ms AR_CR=0xffffffff AR_DIAG_SW=0xffffffff DMADBG_7=0xffffffff
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola kernel: ath: phy0: Could not stop RX, we 
>> >> could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
>> >> nov 12 12:43:45 abril.charola NetworkManager[445]: <info>  (wlp2s0): 
>> >> supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
>> >> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>> >> 
>> >> As I don't understand anything with such error messages, my guess is that 
>> >> it is something
>> >> serious. after trying to unload the modules related to my wifi driver 
>> >> (ath (which is impossible
>> >> because other modules requiring it are being use)) and typing `ifconfig 
>> >> wlp2s0 down` and what not, I
>> >> just gave up and restart my laptop. At some point journald register 
>> >> something interesting:
>> >> 
>> >> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: irq 17: nobody cared (try booting 
>> >> with the "irqpoll" option)
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not 
>> >> tainted 4.1.11-gnu-1-lts #1
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: Hardware name: LENOVO 
>> >> 1951F8G/1951F8G, BIOS CBET4000 79ETE7WW (2.27 ) 05/18/2015
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  c1609907 4a9301f9 00000000 
>> >> f5035f54 c14a49ec f53d0e9c f5035f74 c10abbac
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  c1575cc0 00000011 f5035f70 
>> >> f85611db f53d0e40 00000000 f5035f98 c10abf22
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  c1329d4a 0003ab5e 00000000 
>> >> 4a9301f9 f53d0e40 c1676e00 00000000 f5035fd4
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: Call Trace:
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c14a49ec>] dump_stack+0x41/0x52
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10abbac>] 
>> >> __report_bad_irq+0x2c/0xd0
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<f85611db>] ? 
>> >> ath9k_hw_intrpend+0x5b/0x70 [ath9k_hw]
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10abf22>] 
>> >> note_interrupt+0x212/0x250
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c1329d4a>] ? 
>> >> add_interrupt_randomness+0x16a/0x1a0
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10a99a2>] 
>> >> handle_irq_event_percpu+0x122/0x190
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10a99a2>] ? 
>> >> handle_irq_event_percpu+0x122/0x190
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10a9a3a>] 
>> >> handle_irq_event+0x2a/0x50
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10ac520>] ? 
>> >> handle_edge_irq+0xe0/0xe0
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c10ac589>] 
>> >> handle_fasteoi_irq+0x69/0x100
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c1004906>] handle_irq+0x56/0x90
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  <IRQ>  [<c14aa60c>] 
>> >> do_IRQ+0x3c/0xd0
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c14a9c33>] 
>> >> common_interrupt+0x33/0x38
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c138a553>] ? 
>> >> cpuidle_enter_state+0x83/0x240
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c138a744>] 
>> >> cpuidle_enter+0x14/0x20
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c108fe89>] 
>> >> cpu_startup_entry+0x299/0x3a0
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c14a1f67>] rest_init+0x67/0x70
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c167eb51>] 
>> >> start_kernel+0x3c9/0x3e2
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel:  [<c167e2e3>] 
>> >> i386_start_kernel+0x91/0x95
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: handlers:
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: [<f81083c0>] usb_hcd_irq [usbcore]
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: [<f860a890>] ath_isr [ath9k]
>> >> nov 12 12:44:00 abril.charola kernel: Disabling IRQ #17
>> >> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>> >> 
>> >> Again, I don't know what it says but seems very serious. I'll attach the 
>> >> full logs in case what I
>> >> provide is not enough. Hope someone can help me with this.
>> >> 
>> >> P.S.: I haven't clean my laptop from dust since I bought it, and it seems 
>> >> it have some inside, this
>> >> sporadic issue can be caused by the dust, too.
>> >> 
>> 

-- 
👋 Pax et bonum.
Jorge Araya Navarro
https://es.gravatar.com/shackra