Intermittent wlan operation ( b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error).

Intermittent wlan operation ( b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error).

[Tom Cada]

Hi all.

I have a HP notebook with a Broadcom wireless adapter. The output of
lspci -vv is:

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11a/b/g (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1370
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr-
Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort-
<TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 19
	Region 0: Memory at b6000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
	Kernel modules: ssb, wl

 I am using Ubuntu 8.10 64 bit SMP  with the kernel 2.6.27-11-generic.

I am running into the problem where the wireless stops transferring
data while still maintaining the connection. I get the following from
dmesg.

[ 7462.509663] PM: Finishing wakeup.
[ 7462.509664] Restarting tasks ... done.
[ 7463.541721] eth0: no link during initialization.
[ 7463.542855] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 7463.562080] input: b43-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input16
[ 7465.244085] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
[ 7465.379272] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[ 7465.379320] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[ 7465.379348] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
[ 7465.379437] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7465.400668] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 7465.413169] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:17:9a:23:21:1a
[ 7465.413231] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:17:9a:23:21:1a
[ 7465.613088] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:17:9a:23:21:1a
[ 7465.813025] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:17:9a:23:21:1a
[ 7466.013134] wlan0: authentication with AP 00:17:9a:23:21:1a timed out
[ 7492.844302] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:19:e0:7a:10:a0
[ 7492.845896] wlan0: authenticated
[ 7492.845912] wlan0: associate with AP 00:19:e0:7a:10:a0
[ 7492.848140] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:19:e0:7a:10:a0 (capab=0x431
status=0 aid=7)
[ 7492.848154] wlan0: associated
[ 7492.849829] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[ 7492.851048] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[ 7705.804798] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804835] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804857] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804878] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804899] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804920] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804941] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804961] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.804982] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7705.805003] b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error
[ 7706.055190] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10)
[ 7706.190480] Registered led device: b43-phy0::tx
[ 7706.190541] Registered led device: b43-phy0::rx
[ 7706.190599] Registered led device: b43-phy0::radio
tom@speedy:~$

When I get this series of b43-phy0 errors, data transfer stops and I
have to re-start the network.

I googled the error and found your web site which recommends upgrading
the drivers.

I did as suggested, and found eventually that I was already running
the suggested drivers as it appears that the Ubuntu upgrade to the
kernel also upgraded the b43 drivers.

I went so far as to download the broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.3 drivers
thinking that a more recent version would have addressed the problem.
However, I found out I couldn't install them with the error:

 $ ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o
Sorry, the input file is either wrong or not supported by b43-fwcutter.
This file has an unknown MD5sum b84bc801b9b8f39069c252f533655af8.

At this point, I am stymied.

Any help or suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks... Tom.

Re: Intermittent wlan operation ( b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error).

[Larry Finger]

Tom Cada wrote:
> I went so far as to download the broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.3 drivers
> thinking that a more recent version would have addressed the problem.
> However, I found out I couldn't install them with the error:
> 
>  $ ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o
> Sorry, the input file is either wrong or not supported by b43-fwcutter.
> This file has an unknown MD5sum b84bc801b9b8f39069c252f533655af8.

The driver is b43. What fwcutter gets is firmware. AFAIK, the firmware for your
device that you are using is the same as that of driver 4.150.10.5.3. There is a
difference in the firmware for LP and N PHY devices, but as they are not yet
supported, it doesn't matter.

We are aware of those errors, but don't know why they occur, or how to fix them.
Sorry.

Larry

Re: Intermittent wlan operation ( b43-phy0 ERROR: PHY transmission error).

[Tom Cada]

On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 1:16 PM, Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net=
> wrote:
> Tom Cada wrote:
>> I went so far as to download the broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.3 drivers
>> thinking that a more recent version would have addressed the problem=
=2E
>> However, I found out I couldn't install them with the error:
>>
>> =C2=A0$ ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apst=
a_mimo.o
>> Sorry, the input file is either wrong or not supported by b43-fwcutt=
er.
>> This file has an unknown MD5sum b84bc801b9b8f39069c252f533655af8.
>
> The driver is b43. What fwcutter gets is firmware. AFAIK, the firmwar=
e for your
> device that you are using is the same as that of driver 4.150.10.5.3.=
 There is a
> difference in the firmware for LP and N PHY devices, but as they are =
not yet
> supported, it doesn't matter.
>
> We are aware of those errors, but don't know why they occur, or how t=
o fix them.
> Sorry.
>
> Larry
>
>

Oh poo!

I guess I will have to fire up ndiswrapper.

Thanks for the reply.  Place me on the list if you would like me to
test any changes.

Tom.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wireles=
s" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html