Re: long startup delay ath10k_pci known issue?

[Kalle Valo <kvalo@codeaurora.org>]

Robert White <rwhite@pobox.com> writes:

> I recently switched from an ath9k to an ath10k on my (gentoo based)
> home-build router, and there is about a two minute delay between the
> time of the modprobe of ath10k_pci and the time "iw list" can see the
> wireless endpoint. Then there's maybe another delay before the wlan0
> device appears in the kernel.
>
> This extreme delay is preventing a normal startup because it causes an
> error return in the OpenRC dependency/startup logic.
>
> That dependency tree is it's own problem, of course, but I don't
> understand why the delay is taking place. There are no errors shown in
> the startup and the system runs fine once manually kicked around to
> get it running (e.g. manually modprobing the various devices and then
> waiting and then re-triggering various parts of the startup).
>
> I have to reiterate that the system starts and runs fine as-configured
> if I put the ath9k device back in, so it's not a system-level
> configuration problem.

ath9k PCI device does not retrieve firmware images from user space so I
would not yet rule out a system level problem.

> Is this long delay after module and firmware load some expected effect
> that I need to code around or what?

Usually these 60 second (or it's multiply) delays are caused by kernel
requesting a firmware image from user space but the corresponding user
space component is not replying and kernel waits for the reply until it
timeouts and continues. IIRC there's a kernel config option you can use
to disable this feature, or you could also try to fix the user space.

-- 
Kalle Valo