[ath9k-devel] ATH9K problems at high rate pings

[ath9k-devel] ATH9K problems at high rate pings

[Alphan Ulusoy]

Hi all,

I observe following problems when I ping (1000 echo requests / sec) a netbook over an ad-hoc network running linux 2.6.31.5 (wireless hw: AR5B95) w/ ATH9K kernel modules:
1) after 2-3 seconds it seems that the card completely goes silent. Stops responding to pings, only solution is to reload the ATH9K module and reconfigure the wireless NIC.
2) It is obvious that there is a memory leak (280MB in 20 mins w/ 1kHz ping)

I wonder if any of these problems were addressed in the newer releases of the ATH9K driver.

Best regards,

-- alphan

[ath9k-devel] ATH9K problems at high rate pings

[Ben Gamari]

On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:00:10 +0300, Alphan Ulusoy <alphan@sabanciuniv.edu> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I observe following problems when I ping (1000 echo requests / sec) a
> netbook over an ad-hoc network running linux 2.6.31.5 (wireless hw:
> AR5B95) w/ ATH9K kernel modules:
>
> 1) after 2-3 seconds it seems that the card completely goes
> silent. Stops responding to pings, only solution is to reload the
> ATH9K module and reconfigure the wireless NIC.
> 
This is definitely a problem known within the community (there have been
at least five reports of this in the four months I've subscribed to this
list). Sadly, the Atheros folks have remained silent on the issue,
claiming that AR5008 is actively supported (the newer AR9xxx hardware
presumably is supported, however it can't be found in hardware available
to consumers).

The situation is extremely frustrating; especially considering that the
problem is likely quite tractable to someone with hardware
documentation. Perhaps if more people complain the Atheros folks will
begin to listen.

Cheers,

- Ben

[ath9k-devel] ATH9K problems at high rate pings

[Alphan Ulusoy]

On 15 Jun, 2010, at 7:07 PM, Ben Gamari wrote:

> On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 13:00:10 +0300, Alphan Ulusoy <alphan@sabanciuniv.edu> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I observe following problems when I ping (1000 echo requests / sec) a
>> netbook over an ad-hoc network running linux 2.6.31.5 (wireless hw:
>> AR5B95) w/ ATH9K kernel modules:
>> 
>> 1) after 2-3 seconds it seems that the card completely goes
>> silent. Stops responding to pings, only solution is to reload the
>> ATH9K module and reconfigure the wireless NIC.
>> 
> This is definitely a problem known within the community (there have been
> at least five reports of this in the four months I've subscribed to this
> list). Sadly, the Atheros folks have remained silent on the issue,
> claiming that AR5008 is actively supported (the newer AR9xxx hardware
> presumably is supported, however it can't be found in hardware available
> to consumers).
> 
> The situation is extremely frustrating; especially considering that the
> problem is likely quite tractable to someone with hardware
> documentation. Perhaps if more people complain the Atheros folks will
> begin to listen.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> - Ben

After checking the linuxwireless website I've decided to upgrade my kernel. I am running 2.6.34 now and everything seems good enough for me. If I have further problems I will report for sure.

I would like to thank all ath developers!

Regards,

-- alphan

[ath9k-devel] ATH9K problems at high rate pings

[Ben Gamari]

On Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:11:13 +0300, Alphan Ulusoy <alphan@sabanciuniv.edu> wrote:
> After checking the linuxwireless website I've decided to upgrade my
> kernel. I am running 2.6.34 now and everything seems good enough for
> me. If I have further problems I will report for sure.
> 
At least in my case, I still have to reload ath9k a few times a day with
2.6.34 as the card frequently stops responding. I hope things work out
better in your case!

- Ben

[ath9k-devel] ATH9K problems at high rate pings

[Jens Pranaitis]

> I observe following problems when I ping (1000 echo requests / sec) a
> netbook over an ad-hoc network running linux 2.6.31.5 (wireless hw:
> AR5B95) w/ ATH9K kernel modules: 1) after 2-3 seconds it seems that the
> card completely goes silent. Stops responding to pings, only solution is
> to reload the ATH9K module and reconfigure the wireless NIC. 2) It is
> obvious that there is a memory leak (280MB in 20 mins w/ 1kHz ping)
> 

Ah I have always been looking at wpa_supplicant for the memory leaks. Can any 
ath9k dev give some pointers on how to get useful debugging information for 
this problem?

> I wonder if any of these problems were addressed in the newer releases of
> the ATH9K driver.

The problem is still there for me on 2.6.35-rc2.

> Best regards,
> 
> -- alphan

Regards,
Jens Pranaitis