SparkLan WPEQ-261ACN (QCA6174) : packets loss ?

SparkLan WPEQ-261ACN (QCA6174) : packets loss ?

[Contrib Open Source]

Hello,

I purchased a SparkLan WPEQ-261ACN (+ BT) half mini-PCIe wireless
module, which is based on QCA6174A-5, and a preliminary test with
iperf in UDP mode shows that a lot of packets are lost.

Linux kernel version is v4.9 (even if I will not be able to upgrade it
in the short term, any information about missing features/known issues
with “older” kernel version like the one I used will be much
appreciated ^_^).

Firstly, before investigating this packet loss, I would like to check
that I’m using the right firmware files.
Based on kernel traces displayed by ath10k driver:
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:01:00.0.bin failed with error -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/cal-pci-0000:01:00.0.bin failed with error -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not fetch firmware file
'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin': -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-4.bin failed with error -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not fetch firmware file
'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-4.bin': -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-3.bin failed with error -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not fetch firmware file
'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-3.bin': -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-2.bin failed with error -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not fetch firmware file
'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-2.bin': -2
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not fetch firmware files (-2)
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not probe fw (-2) We can notice that
driver is looking for a firmware file with API5.
Unfortunately, at this time, API5 firmware is not available anymore in:
   https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/log/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0
but there is API6 instead.
I also looked at kvalo github and noticed in log message that
firmware-5.bin was renamed into firmware-6.bin:
   QCA6174 hw3.0: change 4.4 branch to use FW API 6
      https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/commit/da1564dafe1c8175faf694482d1649f56229ae96
So I downloaded the latest binaries available, which are:
   https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/35d8642f452827b955470de4ac997ffe906a6f17/QCA6174/hw3.0/4.4.1/firmware-6.bin_WLAN.RM.4.4.1-00079-QCARMSWPZ-1
   https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/35d8642f452827b955470de4ac997ffe906a6f17/QCA6174/hw3.0/board-2.bin
   https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/35d8642f452827b955470de4ac997ffe906a6f17/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin
and installed them into expected folder in /lib/firmware *AND* created
a symbolic link (/!\ downgrading firmware API):
   firmware-5.bin pointing to firmware-6.bin_WLAN.RM.4.4.1-00079-QCARMSWPZ-1
Moreover, as described in previous commit "da1564dafe1", I recompiled
my driver with this patch:
   ath10k: ignore configuring the incorrect board_id
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d2e202c06ca42d353d95df12437740921a6d05b5
And at this point, I was able to use my device:
   mobdprobe ath10k_pci
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0
reset_mode 0
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:01:00.0.bin failed with error -2
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for
ath10k/cal-pci-0000:01:00.0.bin failed with error -2
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: qca6174 hw3.2 target 0x05030000 chip_id
0x00340aff sub 1dac:0261
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: kconfig debug 1 debugfs 1 tracing 0 dfs
1 testmode 1
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: firmware ver
WLAN.RM.4.4.1-00079-QCARMSWPZ-1 api 5 features wowlan,ignore-otp crc32
fd869beb
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: board id is not exist in otp, ignore it
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: board_file api 2 bmi_id N/A crc32 20d869c3
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Unknown eventid: 118809
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Unknown eventid: 90118
      ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: htt-ver 3.47 wmi-op 4 htt-op 3 cal otp
max-sta 32 raw 0 hwcrypto 1

Now I'm able to scan SSID, associate to my AP, ping, use iperf, etc.
But iperf shows that a majority of packets are lost. :(

So my questions are :
Q1) is it correct to "downgrade" firmware API in this case (symbolic
link firmware-5.bin) ?
I also tried to use firmware-5.bin before its renaming into API6, with
board files available at that time, (and still with patch
"d2e202c06ca" included), but it seems that firmware was not able to
boot:
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to ping firmware: -110
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: failed to reset rx filter: -110
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not init core (-110)
   ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: could not probe fw (-110)

Q2) is it possible to use recent board files with an "older" firmware file ?

Q3) how to know which firmware files to use for my specific device ?

After searching in this mailing list and googling about QCA6174, and
as far as I understand (which may be limited in this matter !):
   *) firmware file is supplied by Qualcomm Atheros, and does not
depend on module manufacturer
   *) board files are not generic and depend on module manufacturer
(so not Qualcomm)
   *) board-2.bin file contains data for multiple wifi modules
   *) board.bin file contains data for a single wifi module (and
probably not the one I use)
   *) calibration files are optional but mandatory for good
performance/throughput Board files are extracted from EEPROM data
files, that can be found in Windows driver for example.

Q4) do I have to extract EEPROM from Windows driver or current
board-2.bin is already compatible ?

Q5) how to get calibration files from Windows driver ?

Thanks for your help,
Contrib

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Re: SparkLan WPEQ-261ACN (QCA6174) : packets loss ?

[Kalle Valo]

Contrib Open Source <contrib.open.source@gmail.com> writes:

> So my questions are :

> Q1) is it correct to "downgrade" firmware API in this case (symbolic
> link firmware-5.bin) ?

It's not safe, you have to really know what you are doing and understand
the ath10k internals. We do these FW API increases (5 -> 6) for a
reason, usually because the new firmware won't work with older version
of ath10k.

But if you want to run latest ath10k on older kernels I recommend to
look at backports project:

https://backports.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page

> Q2) is it possible to use recent board files with an "older" firmware
> file ?

To my knowledge board files are not dependent on the firmware versions.
So yes, you should be able to use newer board-2.bin with older firmware
release.

> Q3) how to know which firmware files to use for my specific device ?

The firmware releases are not "device" specific (but of course it
depends on what you mean with device in this context). But my
recommendation is to always use the latest firmware which works with
your kernel (WITHOUT any symlink hacks etc).

-- 
Kalle Valo

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Re: SparkLan WPEQ-261ACN (QCA6174) : packets loss ?

[Contrib Open Source]

OK, many thanks for these advices. ^_^
I will try both cases:
   *) recent board files + older firmware file
   *) recent board + firmware files and latest ath10k thanks to
backports project

Moreover, do you have any clue about previous questions Q4 and Q5 ?

And finally, I know it will be difficult to answer, but:
Q6) what is the expected throughput on Linux host ?
from: https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/qca6174a-product-brief.pdf
   WLAN TCP/IP Throughput
      620Mbps/600Mbps TCP DL/UL (PCIe2.1)
Is it true on Linux ?

Thanks again for your help,
Contrib

2018-01-11 17:21 UTC+01:00, Kalle Valo <kvalo@codeaurora.org>:
> Contrib Open Source <contrib.open.source@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> So my questions are :
>
>> Q1) is it correct to "downgrade" firmware API in this case (symbolic
>> link firmware-5.bin) ?
>
> It's not safe, you have to really know what you are doing and understand
> the ath10k internals. We do these FW API increases (5 -> 6) for a
> reason, usually because the new firmware won't work with older version
> of ath10k.
>
> But if you want to run latest ath10k on older kernels I recommend to
> look at backports project:
>
> https://backports.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page
>
>> Q2) is it possible to use recent board files with an "older" firmware
>> file ?
>
> To my knowledge board files are not dependent on the firmware versions.
> So yes, you should be able to use newer board-2.bin with older firmware
> release.
>
>> Q3) how to know which firmware files to use for my specific device ?
>
> The firmware releases are not "device" specific (but of course it
> depends on what you mean with device in this context). But my
> recommendation is to always use the latest firmware which works with
> your kernel (WITHOUT any symlink hacks etc).
>
> --
> Kalle Valo
>

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