carl9170 802.11n-AP

carl9170 802.11n-AP

[thomas]

Hi,

I am using carl9170 as driver for my TP-Link WN821n wifi USB-stick. The stick 
works well in 802.11g master mode but frequently hangs up in 802.11n master 
mode. 
Now I read here http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170
that a "real" 802.11 AP is not supported by the hardware. What exactly means 
"real" and has this something to do with the frequently crashes in 802.11n 
master mode? 

I will post more specific information (hardware, driver version, logs, etc..) 
later. But if you can tell me already, this behaviour is expected because of 
hardware incompatibility, there is no need for this.

Kind regards,

Thomas

Re: carl9170 802.11n-AP

[thomas]

I just saw that there could be "aggregation stalls" with "any Intel N Wifi
Link". 
I am using Intel Wifi Link 5100 and the driver frequently restarts under
heavy load. 
But it also works perfectly well with close to 100mbit/s for some time.
So are this the "aggregation stalls" mentioned in the description? If yes, what
is the mentioned driver workaround for this?

Regards,

Thomas

Re: carl9170 802.11n-AP

[Christian Lamparter]

On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 11:14 AM, thomas <messier31@gmx.net> wrote:
> I just saw that there could be "aggregation stalls" with "any Intel N Wifi
> Link".
> I am using Intel Wifi Link 5100 and the driver frequently restarts under
> heavy load.

see Intel's bugzilla, lots of angry posts there:
http://bugzilla.intellinuxwireless.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2214#c19 (etc...)

I am ill, so you'll have to do the research on iwlwifi vs. carl9170 on your own,
but it's all there just take a look at the original vendor
driver(otus)+firmware(ar9170fw).

Regards,
   Chr

Re: carl9170 802.11n-AP

[Thomas]

Hi,

thanks for your answer.
I am afraid I am too much of a linux noob to solve this on my own.
Its not the Intel driver that crashes but carl9170. But I am going to test 
this with other wifi cards as well and then post the results here.

Get well soon! (for carl9170 sake :D)

Regards,

Thomas

Christian Lamparter wrote:

> On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 11:14 AM, thomas
> <messier31@gmx.net> wrote:
>> I just saw that there could be "aggregation stalls" with "any Intel N
>> Wifi Link".
>> I am using Intel Wifi Link 5100 and the driver frequently restarts under
>> heavy load.
> 
> see Intel's bugzilla, lots of angry posts there:
> http://bugzilla.intellinuxwireless.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2214#c19 (etc...)
> 
> I am ill, so you'll have to do the research on iwlwifi vs. carl9170 on
> your own, but it's all there just take a look at the original vendor
> driver(otus)+firmware(ar9170fw).
> 
> Regards,
>    Chr
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Re: carl9170 802.11n-AP

[Thomas]

Today I tried a different wifi card on the client side, instead of the Intel 
5100, but the problem remains the same. The carl9170 driver on my server 
crashes at some point randomly (only in 802.11n mode). The traceback shows 
the error at tx.c but everytime in a different line. So I guess there must 
be a race condition somewhere.

Here you can find the error report of some crashes: 
http://www.mikrocontroller.net/attachment/95144/bugreport.txt

Server hardware is a Seagate Dockstar with OpenWrt running on it. I heard 
from another user with Debian, who has the same problem.

Regards,

Thomas

Re: carl9170 802.11n-AP

[Helge Lenz]

Thomas <messier31@...> writes:

 >
 > Today I tried a different wifi card on the client side, instead of 
the Intel
 > 5100, but the problem remains the same. The carl9170 driver on my server
 > crashes at some point randomly (only in 802.11n mode). The traceback 
shows
 > the error at tx.c but everytime in a different line. So I guess there 
must
 > be a race condition somewhere.
 >
 > Here you can find the error report of some crashes:
 > http://www.mikrocontroller.net/attachment/95144/bugreport.txt
 >
 > Server hardware is a Seagate Dockstar with OpenWrt running on it. I 
heard
 > from another user with Debian, who has the same problem.
 >
 > Regards,
 >
 > Thomas
 >
 > --
 > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe 
linux-wireless" in
 > the body of a message to majordomo@...
 > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
 >
 >

Any news about this issue? I have the same problem on a Seagate Goflex 
Net running debian (Linux debian 2.6.35.4 #9 PREEMPT Tue Jan 18 13:03:42 
UTC 2011 armv5tel GNU/Linux). The kernel and the wireless drivers 
(compat-wireless-v2.6.37-4) are compiled natively on the box and when I 
try to transmit some data I get the following errors in dmesg:

------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 1015.070483] WARNING: at 
/usr/src/compat-wireless-2.6.37-4/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/tx.c:1239 
carl9170_op_tx+0x628/0x858 [carl9170]()
[ 1015.083442] Modules linked in:
[ 1015.086361] usb 1-1.2: restart device (5)
[ 1015.090604]  carl9170 mac80211 ath cfg80211 compat ipv6 hmac 
sha1_generic sata_mv mv_cesa [last unloaded: compat]
[ 1015.101057] [<c003058c>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xf0) from 
[<c003d6c4>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64)
[ 1015.110504] [<c003d6c4>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64) from 
[<c003d6f4>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x1c)
[ 1015.120248] [<c003d6f4>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x1c) from 
[<bf1841c4>] (carl9170_op_tx+0x628/0x858 [carl9170])
[ 1015.130702] [<bf1841c4>] (carl9170_op_tx+0x628/0x858 [carl9170]) from 
[<bf153b8c>] (__ieee80211_tx+0x14c/0x1c8 [mac80211])
[ 1015.141928] [<bf153b8c>] (__ieee80211_tx+0x14c/0x1c8 [mac80211]) from 
[<bf153cf4>] (ieee80211_tx+0xec/0x29c [mac80211])
[ 1015.152885] [<bf153cf4>] (ieee80211_tx+0xec/0x29c [mac80211]) from 
[<bf1549e0>] (ieee80211_tx_pending+0x138/0x2a8 [mac80211])
[ 1015.164325] [<bf1549e0>] (ieee80211_tx_pending+0x138/0x2a8 
[mac80211]) from [<c00426d0>] (tasklet_action+0x84/0xe4)
[ 1015.174835] [<c00426d0>] (tasklet_action+0x84/0xe4) from [<c0042d14>] 
(__do_softirq+0x8c/0x124)
[ 1015.183594] [<c0042d14>] (__do_softirq+0x8c/0x124) from [<c0042df4>] 
(irq_exit+0x48/0xa0)
[ 1015.191832] [<c0042df4>] (irq_exit+0x48/0xa0) from [<c002b070>] 
(asm_do_IRQ+0x70/0x8c)
[ 1015.199799] [<c002b070>] (asm_do_IRQ+0x70/0x8c) from [<c03b15a8>] 
(__irq_svc+0x48/0xa8)
[ 1015.207855] Exception stack(0xc04d7f48 to 0xc04d7f90)
[ 1015.212943] 7f40:                   000f1d68 000003e8 000f1d68 
20000013 c04dd8d8 c04dd8d8
[ 1015.221175] 7f60: c05a6960 c04da330 00024068 56251311 00023f30 
00000000 3b0add45 c04d7f90
[ 1015.229394] 7f80: c005cecc c0034608 20000013 ffffffff
[ 1015.234490] [<c03b15a8>] (__irq_svc+0x48/0xa8) from [<c0034608>] 
(kirkwood_enter_idle+0x64/0x90)
[ 1015.243342] [<c0034608>] (kirkwood_enter_idle+0x64/0x90) from 
[<c02de684>] (cpuidle_idle_call+0xb0/0x110)
[ 1015.252976] [<c02de684>] (cpuidle_idle_call+0xb0/0x110) from 
[<c002c9e0>] (cpu_idle+0x60/0xb8)
[ 1015.261649] [<c002c9e0>] (cpu_idle+0x60/0xb8) from [<c0008988>] 
(start_kernel+0x280/0x2e0)
[ 1015.269965] [<c0008988>] (start_kernel+0x280/0x2e0) from [<00008034>] 
(0x8034)
[ 1015.277231] ---[ end trace 2ef0e9214ceebf4c ]---

[ 1515.714312] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 1515.719006] WARNING: at 
/usr/src/compat-wireless-2.6.37-4/drivers/net/wireless/ath/carl9170/tx.c:300 
carl9170_tx_status+0x230/0x3e4 [carl9170]()
[ 1515.732047] Modules linked in: carl9170 mac80211 ath cfg80211 compat 
ipv6 hmac sha1_generic sata_mv mv_cesa [last unloaded: compat]
[ 1515.744065] [<c003058c>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xf0) from 
[<c003d6c4>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64)
[ 1515.753525] [<c003d6c4>] (warn_slowpath_common+0x4c/0x64) from 
[<c003d6f4>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x1c)
[ 1515.763263] [<c003d6f4>] (warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x1c) from 
[<bf183388>] (carl9170_tx_status+0x230/0x3e4 [carl9170])
[ 1515.773980] [<bf183388>] (carl9170_tx_status+0x230/0x3e4 [carl9170]) 
from [<bf184320>] (carl9170_op_tx+0x784/0x858 [carl9170])
[ 1515.785557] [<bf184320>] (carl9170_op_tx+0x784/0x858 [carl9170]) from 
[<bf153b8c>] (__ieee80211_tx+0x14c/0x1c8 [mac80211])
[ 1515.797154] [<bf153b8c>] (__ieee80211_tx+0x14c/0x1c8 [mac80211]) from 
[<bf153cf4>] (ieee80211_tx+0xec/0x29c [mac80211])
[ 1515.808120] [<bf153cf4>] (ieee80211_tx+0xec/0x29c [mac80211]) from 
[<bf15406c>] (ieee80211_xmit+0x1c8/0x1fc [mac80211])
[ 1515.819079] [<bf15406c>] (ieee80211_xmit+0x1c8/0x1fc [mac80211]) from 
[<bf15538c>] (ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x804/0x83c [mac80211])
[ 1515.831306] [<bf15538c>] (ieee80211_subif_start_xmit+0x804/0x83c 
[mac80211]) from [<c0315020>] (dev_hard_start_xmit+0x2a0/0x3ac)
[ 1515.842948] [<c0315020>] (dev_hard_start_xmit+0x2a0/0x3ac) from 
[<c03273d8>] (sch_direct_xmit+0x80/0x204)
[ 1515.852580] [<c03273d8>] (sch_direct_xmit+0x80/0x204) from 
[<c03155d0>] (dev_queue_xmit+0x368/0x5b0)
[ 1515.861785] [<c03155d0>] (dev_queue_xmit+0x368/0x5b0) from 
[<c035ecf0>] (arp_process+0x32c/0x6f8)
[ 1515.870722] [<c035ecf0>] (arp_process+0x32c/0x6f8) from [<c0313fd0>] 
(__netif_receive_skb+0x474/0x4cc)
[ 1515.880134] [<c0313fd0>] (__netif_receive_skb+0x474/0x4cc) from 
[<bf14ef58>] (ieee80211_deliver_skb+0x130/0x168 [mac80211])
[ 1515.891445] [<bf14ef58>] (ieee80211_deliver_skb+0x130/0x168 
[mac80211]) from [<bf150614>] (ieee80211_rx_handlers+0x1308/0x18b0 
[mac80211])
[ 1515.904526] [<bf150614>] (ieee80211_rx_handlers+0x1308/0x18b0 
[mac80211]) from [<bf1514c8>] 
(ieee80211_prepare_and_rx_handle+0x90c/0x960 [mac80211])
[ 1515.918092] [<bf1514c8>] (ieee80211_prepare_and_rx_handle+0x90c/0x960 
[mac80211]) from [<bf151d88>] (ieee80211_rx+0x86c/0x924 [mac80211])
[ 1515.930594] [<bf151d88>] (ieee80211_rx+0x86c/0x924 [mac80211]) from 
[<bf185100>] (__carl9170_rx+0x808/0x860 [carl9170])
[ 1515.941482] [<bf185100>] (__carl9170_rx+0x808/0x860 [carl9170]) from 
[<bf185328>] (carl9170_rx_stream+0x1d0/0x334 [carl9170])
[ 1515.952890] [<bf185328>] (carl9170_rx_stream+0x1d0/0x334 [carl9170]) 
from [<bf17d61c>] (carl9170_usb_tasklet+0x68/0xcc [carl9170])
[ 1515.964720] [<bf17d61c>] (carl9170_usb_tasklet+0x68/0xcc [carl9170]) 
from [<c00425f0>] (tasklet_hi_action+0x88/0xe4)
[ 1515.975565] [<c00425f0>] (tasklet_hi_action+0x88/0xe4) from 
[<c0042d14>] (__do_softirq+0x8c/0x124)
[ 1515.984582] [<c0042d14>] (__do_softirq+0x8c/0x124) from [<c0042df4>] 
(irq_exit+0x48/0xa0)
[ 1515.992821] [<c0042df4>] (irq_exit+0x48/0xa0) from [<c002b070>] 
(asm_do_IRQ+0x70/0x8c)
[ 1516.000943] [<c002b070>] (asm_do_IRQ+0x70/0x8c) from [<c03b15a8>] 
(__irq_svc+0x48/0xa8)
[ 1516.008990] Exception stack(0xc04d7f48 to 0xc04d7f90)
[ 1516.014083] 7f40:                   0009c1d3 000003e8 0009c1d3 
20000013 c04dd868 c04dd878
[ 1516.022312] 7f60: c05a6960 c04da330 00024068 56251311 00023f30 
00000000 261d2322 c04d7f90
[ 1516.030531] 7f80: c005cecc c0034608 20000013 ffffffff
[ 1516.035628] [<c03b15a8>] (__irq_svc+0x48/0xa8) from [<c0034608>] 
(kirkwood_enter_idle+0x64/0x90)
[ 1516.044480] [<c0034608>] (kirkwood_enter_idle+0x64/0x90) from 
[<c02de684>] (cpuidle_idle_call+0xb0/0x110)
[ 1516.054112] [<c02de684>] (cpuidle_idle_call+0xb0/0x110) from 
[<c002c9e0>] (cpu_idle+0x60/0xb8)
[ 1516.062786] [<c002c9e0>] (cpu_idle+0x60/0xb8) from [<c0008988>] 
(start_kernel+0x280/0x2e0)
[ 1516.071111] [<c0008988>] (start_kernel+0x280/0x2e0) from [<00008034>] 
(0x8034)
[ 1516.078367] ---[ end trace 2ef0e9214ceebf4d ]---

If I can do anything to debug the error any further I am more then 
willing to help.

Thanks, Helge.

Re: carl9170 802.11n-AP

[Christian Lamparter]

On Thursday 20 January 2011 11:28:22 Helge Lenz wrote:

> Any news about this issue?
no news, unless you have news about a new generation of ar9170 chip.
The current one has serve problems with 802.11e - which has become
mandatory for 802.11n - and aggregation. So going for full 802.11n
support [including AP] is sort of pointless...

If you are looking for a 802.11n AP, so why not start with one?

Best Regards,
	Chr