Bug#417087: madwifi-source: module load problem with 2.6.20

[Kel Modderman]

On Monday 02 April 2007 00:47, Anders Boström wrote:
> Package: madwifi-source
> Version: 1:0.9.2+r2156.20070225-1
> Severity: important
>
> After upgrade to 2.6.20.2 and madwifi 1:0.9.2+r2156.20070225-1, my
> computer hang during boot, at module load of the madwifi modules.
>
> Ctrl-C breaks up the hang, but X fails to start after this.
>
> If I disable loading of the madwifi-modules during boot, the system
> boot fine.
>
> 'modprobe ath_pci' hangs, and Ctrl-C don't work. kill of the
> khelper-started modprobe-process breaks up the hang.
>
> I can get the madwifi-driver working by this sequence:
>
> # modprobe wlan
> # insmod /lib/modules/2.6.20.2/kernel/drivers/net/ath_hal.ko
> # insmod /lib/modules/2.6.20.2/kernel/drivers/net/ath_rate_sample.ko
> # ifup ath0
>
> modprobe of ath_rate_sample or ath_hal tries to load ath_pci and
> hangs. This is strange as neither ath_rate_sample nor ath_hal is
> dependent of ath_pci according to modinfo.
>
> If seems like ath_pci fails due to missing ath_rate_sample when I run
> 'modprobe ath_pci' without prior manual load of ath_rate_sample, see
> dmesg output below.
>
> dmesg (when not working):
> wlan: 0.8.4.2 (0.9.3)
> ath_hal: 0.9.18.0 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
> ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (0.9.3)
> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0b.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
> Error loading module "ath_rate_sample"
> ACPI: PCI interrupt for device 0000:00:0b.0 disabled
>
> dmesg (when working):
> wlan: 0.8.4.2 (0.9.3)
> ath_hal: 0.9.18.0 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
> ath_rate_sample: 1.2 (0.9.3)
> ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (0.9.3)
> ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0b.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
> wifi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
> wifi0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps
> 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps wifi0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps
> 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps wifi0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP
> wifi0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 4.6
> wifi0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic
> wifi0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic
> wifi0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic
> wifi0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic
> wifi0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic
> wifi0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons
> wifi0: Atheros 5212: mem=0xec000000, irq=20
>
> lspci -v:
> 00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg
> NIC (rev 01) Subsystem: Global Sun Technology Inc Trust Speedshare Turbo
> Pro Wireless PCI Adapter Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ
> 20
>         Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
>         Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
>
> Please let me know if I can perform any other test in order to help in
> debugging this.

Something could be wrong with your new kernel's configuration, or madwifi 
itself has problem keeping inter-module dependencies. There were early 
reports of the latter when recent changes were introduced, and were promptly 
fixed. This package contains those fixes iirc.

You could try using a snapshot of current madwifi.org trunk with your kernel, 
and if problems persist please request support on madwifi-users where madwifi 
developers can provide some input.

Thanks, Kel.