I have a DWL-G520 with an atheros chipset on a 6-stable machine and I've
had a persistent problem for quite a long time now from 6-CURRENT in
2005 to recent 6-stable that I need to address.
First, I'll spit out pertinent machine information -
uname -a:
FreeBSD hautlos 6.0-STABLE FreeBSD 6.0-STABLE #3: Sat Mar 11 16:26:58
CST 2006 root@hautlos:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/HAUTLOS i386
pciconf for the card:
ath0@pci0:12:0: class=0x020000 card=0x3a131186 chip=0x0013168c rev=0x01
hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
device = 'AR5212, AR5213 802.11a/b/g Wireless Adapter'
class = network
ifconfig ath0:
ath0:
flags=28943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,PPROMISC> mtu
1500
inet6 fe80::211:95ff:fe8d:1379%ath0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
ether 00:11:95:8d:13:79
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g <hostap>
status: associated
ssid deutschland channel 6 bssid 00:11:95:8d:13:79
authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpowmax 36 protmode CTS ssid HIDE
dtimperiod 1 bintval 100
The ath0 is briged to a dc0 interface through netgraph.
This is the behavior I've noticed; at seemingly random intervals I will
get a device timeout thrown out to dmesg from the ath driver. Reading
the ath manpage, I see that "This should not happen." Most occurrences
do not yield any perceivable change in the connection. However,
sometimes the windows wireless clients I have associated with this
machine will not be able to receive anything over the wireless link
unless they trigger it by sending something over the radio. Sometimes
the windows clients will straight up lose track of the machine
completely and scan for other networks. I've not been able to replicate
the problem from a FreeBSD client.
I desperately need to troubleshoot the problem, as my wife is getting
frustrated with losing connectivity to my "stupid computer" (which is
the gateway for our network) and I can't cook very well. ;) The
difficulty I'm having is that I don't know where to start to solve this
particular issue, and I've seen no other users with the same problem.
I'd appreciate any bumps in the correct direction.
Thanks,
Reid
Hi, Just to chime in and say that I have seen device timeout messages too - the behaviour for me was (ok, maybe a bit random but...) having mounted an NFS exported /usr/src and hammering it with a buildworld. So really, I guess I can only say that I have seen this when the wireless card was under some very heavy load. Symptoms where I would notice things just stop, it dissociates...and sure enough, on the console was an ath0: device timeout message. I was using WPA2-PSK, and the card I have is a Netgear WPN511 (Cardbus), which i think defines itself as a 5212 chip. I was running FreeBSD 6.0 with all security patches at the time. Anyways, it does appear that it can happen, and glad I am not the only one hititng it - would be interested to find out how hard you were working it when it occured though. If anoybody needs any furhter information, I will put 6.1 on my laptop and see if I can reproduce and/or retrieve anything that may help. Thanks, Alex J Burke.
Reid Linnemann wrote:> I have a DWL-G520 with an atheros chipset on a 6-stable machine and I've > had a persistent problem for quite a long time now from 6-CURRENT in > 2005 to recent 6-stable that I need to address. > > First, I'll spit out pertinent machine information - > uname -a: > FreeBSD hautlos 6.0-STABLE FreeBSD 6.0-STABLE #3: Sat Mar 11 16:26:58 > CST 2006 root@hautlos:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/HAUTLOS i386 > > pciconf for the card: > ath0@pci0:12:0: class=0x020000 card=0x3a131186 chip=0x0013168c rev=0x01 > hdr=0x00 > vendor = 'Atheros Communications Inc.' > device = 'AR5212, AR5213 802.11a/b/g Wireless Adapter' > class = network > > ifconfig ath0: > ath0: > flags=28943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,PPROMISC> mtu > 1500 > inet6 fe80::211:95ff:fe8d:1379%ath0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3 > ether 00:11:95:8d:13:79 > media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g <hostap> > status: associated > ssid deutschland channel 6 bssid 00:11:95:8d:13:79 > authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpowmax 36 protmode CTS ssid HIDE > dtimperiod 1 bintval 100 > > The ath0 is briged to a dc0 interface through netgraph. > > > This is the behavior I've noticed; at seemingly random intervals I will > get a device timeout thrown out to dmesg from the ath driver. Reading > the ath manpage, I see that "This should not happen." Most occurrences > do not yield any perceivable change in the connection. However, > sometimes the windows wireless clients I have associated with this > machine will not be able to receive anything over the wireless link > unless they trigger it by sending something over the radio. Sometimes > the windows clients will straight up lose track of the machine > completely and scan for other networks. I've not been able to replicate > the problem from a FreeBSD client. > > I desperately need to troubleshoot the problem, as my wife is getting > frustrated with losing connectivity to my "stupid computer" (which is > the gateway for our network) and I can't cook very well. ;) The > difficulty I'm having is that I don't know where to start to solve this > particular issue, and I've seen no other users with the same problem. > I'd appreciate any bumps in the correct direction.There is a known issue w/ the buffering of multicast frames for associated stations operating in power save mode. If this is the cause and you can disable power save operation in the clients you can workaround the problem. Sam