OpenBSD Journal

Heads up! ath(4) diff needs testing

Contributed by johan on from the documentation dept.

Reyk Floeter (reyk@) wrote to tech@ about a diff to the ath(4) driver that he urgently needs tested.

It is important that Reyk gets feedback about this diff as soon as possible, so please test this patch if you have one of the following chips AR5414, AR5424, AR2414 or the AR2524 and want support for these in OpenBSD 4.4.

Update (Wed Jul 30 2008, 09:40:00 CEST): Reyk posted an update on the status of these changes saying the second rev of this diff was committed however it still needs testing on older ath(4) infrastructure to make sure it doesn't break current functionality.

Additionally Reyk committed to want.html asking for an Asus EeePC so that he can fix the onboard ath(4) on that line of sub notebooks. If you can help donate funds for that or perhaps donate the entire notebook, please contact Reyk.

Please read on for Reyk's notes:

List:       openbsd-tech
Subject:    Re: ath diff for testing: please test on _old_ ar5212 ath devices
From:       Reyk Floeter 
Date:       2008-07-30 7:22:57

Hi!

I just committed the 2nd version of the patch to -current but I still
need more test reports on devices that used to work.

- Please update to -current (for example ar5212.c 1.44) or use the patch
that I sent to this list if your AnonCVS is not updated yet.

- Test it on ath0 ar5212/ar5213 devices or any devices that previously
worked OK.  Not the newish ones, but the old ones - I want to make
sure that it does not break anything in the 4.4 release.

The current summary is: it fixes a few devices, makes 1st gen macbooks
happy, but not the eeepc, it fixes the MiniCard in my T61, but not
others with different APs, it does not work on AR2413 nor AR2425
devices yet.  So it is an improvement.

Reyk

Please read on for Reyk's notes:

List:       openbsd-tech
Subject:    ath diff for testing: fix PCI-E support and a few chipsets
From:       Reyk Floeter 
Date:       2008-07-29 14:33:31

hi!

The following diff is an attempt to fix the following chipsets, most
of them are PCI-E based:

        - AR5414, AR5424, AR2414, AR2524 (experimental)

It does _not_ support the latest 802.11n variants because it will need
some more work to support these slightly different chipsets:

        - AR5416, AR5418, AR91xx, AR92xx

It at least fixes the ath(4) PCI Express MiniCard in my ThinkPad T61
which is based on the AR5424 a/b/g chipset.  Actually it was a
donation from a user to replace the previous iwn(4):

ath0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5212 (IBM MiniPCI)" rev 0x01:
apic 1 int 17 (irq 11)
ath0: AR5424 10.3 phy 6.1 rf5424 10.2, WOR2W, address 00:16:cf:ab:07:09

I urgently need test reports: please test any AR5212-based devices, if
they were already supported or not.  I want to make sure that it does
have any negative side effects or break working devices.

reyk

(Comments are closed)


Comments
  1. By jason (jason) jason@dixongroup.net on http://www.dixongroup.net/

    On a selfish note, I'd like to get a 5418 for reyk to work on. With 4.3 it attaches as such in my MacBook Pro:
    ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5418" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10)
    ath_hal_attach: unable to init EEPROM
    ath0: unable to attach hardware; HAL status 22
    
    Does anyone know of any ExpressCards that use this chipset? I'd like to buy one for reyk to use in his ThinkPad.

    Comments
    1. By Pierre Riteau (131.254.100.94) on

      > On a selfish note, I'd like to get a 5418 for reyk to work on. With 4.3 it
      >
      >
      > ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5418" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10)
      > ath_hal_attach: unable to init EEPROM
      > ath0: unable to attach hardware; HAL status 22
      >
      >
      > Does anyone know of any ExpressCards that use this chipset? I'd like to buy one for reyk to use in his ThinkPad.

      It seems that the DWA-643 card from D-Link has this chip (info from http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility/D-Link#DWA-643)

      Comments
      1. By jason (jason) on http://www.dixongroup.net/

        > > On a selfish note, I'd like to get a 5418 for reyk to work on. With 4.3 it
        > >
        > >
        > > ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5418" rev 0x01: apic 1 int 17 (irq 10)
        > > ath_hal_attach: unable to init EEPROM
        > > ath0: unable to attach hardware; HAL status 22
        > >
        > >
        > > Does anyone know of any ExpressCards that use this chipset? I'd
        > > like to buy one for reyk to use in his ThinkPad.
        >
        > It seems that the DWA-643 card from D-Link has this chip
        > (info from http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility/D-Link#DWA-643)

        Thanks! I've been talking with reyk, I'm going to order him one of these.

        Comments
        1. By Anonymous Coward (203.166.124.3) on

          i love you, jason

          Comments
          1. By jason (jason) on http://www.dixongroup.net/

            > i love you, jason

            I love you too, AC. :)

            Just finished placing the order. Reyk should have it in couple weeks. Yay!

  2. By Anonymous Coward (80.172.22.9) on

    Unfortunately this doesn't improve things on the ASUS eeePC 701:

    ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5424" rev 0x01: irq 10
    ath0: AR5424 14.2 phy 7.0 rf 0.0, WOR0W, address 00:15:af:c6:40:f0

    When doing anything via 'ifconfig':

    ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3508899528
    ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3508893696

    Any clues?

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward (217.28.34.132) on jones.motd.org

      > Unfortunately this doesn't improve things on the ASUS eeePC 701:
      >
      > ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5424" rev 0x01: irq 10
      > ath0: AR5424 14.2 phy 7.0 rf 0.0, WOR0W, address 00:15:af:c6:40:f0
      >
      > When doing anything via 'ifconfig':
      >
      > ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3508899528
      > ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3508893696
      >
      > Any clues?

      im glad someone else tried this with the eeepc, saved me a lot of effort.
      Got really exited reading this on the train with my eee, hope apm and wifi
      get working soon.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward (80.172.22.9) on

        > > Unfortunately this doesn't improve things on the ASUS eeePC 701:
        > >
        > > ath0 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5424" rev 0x01: irq 10
        > > ath0: AR5424 14.2 phy 7.0 rf 0.0, WOR0W, address 00:15:af:c6:40:f0
        > >
        > > When doing anything via 'ifconfig':
        > >
        > > ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3508899528
        > > ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3508893696
        > >
        > > Any clues?
        >
        > im glad someone else tried this with the eeepc, saved me a lot of effort.
        > Got really exited reading this on the train with my eee, hope apm and wifi
        > get working soon.

        Doesn't work with the updated patch either. :(

  3. By Anonymous Coward (202.148.12.243) on

    Waiting for Broadcom device driver.
    bwi0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM4312" rev 0x02: irq 11bwi0: MAC rev 13 is not supported
    bwi0: no MAC was found

    Comments
    1. By Anonymous Coward (74.13.56.168) on

      > Waiting for Broadcom device driver.
      > bwi0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM4312" rev 0x02: irq 11bwi0: MAC rev 13 is not supported
      > bwi0: no MAC was found
      >

      bwi is different from ath

    2. By Brad (2001:470:8802:3:216:41ff:fe17:6933) brad at comstyle dot com on

      > Waiting for Broadcom device driver.
      > bwi0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM4312" rev 0x02: irq 11bwi0: MAC rev 13 is not supported
      > bwi0: no MAC was found

      Won't be supported anytime soon. The second revision of the BCM4311/BCM4312 chips require v4 firmware instead of v3.

      Comments
      1. By Anonymous Coward (202.148.12.243) on

        > > Waiting for Broadcom device driver.
        > > bwi0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM4312" rev 0x02: irq 11bwi0: MAC rev 13 is not supported
        > > bwi0: no MAC was found
        >
        > Won't be supported anytime soon. The second revision of the BCM4311/BCM4312 chips require v4 firmware instead of v3.

        Doh... maybe i should throw away this laptop :). I Can't replace my desktop with openbsd, replacing laptop too expensive :(.

        Comments
        1. By Anonymous Coward (2a01:348:108:100:20a:5eff:fe1a:a300) sthen on

          > > > Waiting for Broadcom device driver.
          > > > bwi0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Broadcom BCM4312" rev 0x02: irq 11bwi0: MAC rev 13 is not supported
          > > > bwi0: no MAC was found
          > >
          > > Won't be supported anytime soon. The second revision of the BCM4311/BCM4312 chips require v4 firmware instead of v3.
          >
          > Doh... maybe i should throw away this laptop :). I Can't replace my desktop with openbsd, replacing laptop too expensive :(.

          You may be able to replace just the wifi card. Depends on the laptop BIOS, some are locked to particular cards, some aren't.

        2. By Fábio Olivé (201.34.174.185) on

          > Doh... maybe i should throw away this laptop :). I Can't replace
          > my desktop with openbsd, replacing laptop too expensive :(.

          A while ago I bought a USB wireless card based on ural(4) and it has always worked really fine when I've needed it, even in hostap mode. It cost something like US$50, it's a Belkin F5D7050. Get one of those or some other supported USB wireless cards and you should be set for all future boxes you come across with unsupported NICs. :)

  4. By Anonymous Coward (89.27.59.185) on

    does some pcmcia card have this chip?

  5. By hans (122.106.97.144) on

    One question: Does Floeter have any plans to implement wpa2 recognition as with the other cards supported in plus.html?

  6. By Anathae (96.52.186.131) on

    Installed 4.4 Beta 08-07-29 on hp vectra VL 400 system and installed WG311T card.

    Previously I was not able to use host ap mode. Now I can.

    $dmesg | grep ath0
    ath0 at pci1 dev 2 function 0 "Atheros AR5212" rev 0x01: irq 9
    ath0: AR2414 7.9 phy 4.5 rf2413 5.6, FCC2A# address 00:c0:ff:ee:00

    The fact that I was able to make hostap mode connection was absolutely wonderful.

    The fact that "$sudo ifconfig ath0 down" followed by "$sudo ifconfig ath0 up" locked the machine, not so much.

    I'm guessing by the last line of the dmesg that this card has the AR2414 chip, but may contain a 2413 radio transciever.

    just an fyi.

    Comments
    1. By Anathae (96.52.186.131) on

      > Installed 4.4 Beta 08-07-29 on hp vectra VL 400 system and installed WG311T card.
      >
      > Previously I was not able to use host ap mode. Now I can.
      >
      > $dmesg | grep ath0
      > ath0 at pci1 dev 2 function 0 "Atheros AR5212" rev 0x01: irq 9
      > ath0: AR2414 7.9 phy 4.5 rf2413 5.6, FCC2A# address 00:c0:ff:ee:00
      >
      > The fact that I was able to make hostap mode connection was absolutely wonderful.
      >
      > The fact that "$sudo ifconfig ath0 down" followed by "$sudo ifconfig ath0 up" locked the machine, not so much.
      >
      > I'm guessing by the last line of the dmesg that this card has the AR2414 chip, but may contain a 2413 radio transciever.
      >
      > just an fyi.

      grabbing the latest snapshot and seeing if that fixes the freeze.

  7. By Anonymous Coward (2001:470:1f08:8a::2) romeofx84@gmail.com on

    i using toshiba 1m4
    (root@home)(636/ttyp1)(03:21P:08/03/08)-
    (#:~)- dmesg|grep ath
    ath0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Atheros AR5424" rev 0x01: irq 10
    ath0: AR5424 14.2 phy 7.0 rf 0.0, WOR5_ETSIC, address xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    (root@home)(641/ttyp1)(03:22P:08/03/08)-
    (#:~)- ifconfig ath0 up
    (root@home)(652/ttyp1)(03:24P:08/03/08)-
    (#:~)- dmesg
    ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 3519476736
    ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 1
    (root@home)(657/ttyp1)(03:27P:08/03/08)-
    (#:~)- sysctl kern.version
    kern.version=OpenBSD 4.4-beta (GENERIC) #5: Sun Aug 3 03:09:56 GMT 2008
    isaac@home.bsd:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
    (root@home)(659/ttyp1)(03:27P:08/03/08)-
    (#:~)- ifconfig -M ath0
    my system is freeze !

    Comments
    1. By Pietro (79.19.255.109) kernel.panic007@gmail.com on

      I have a macbook c2d with an Atheros AR5418, then with this patch nothing will change for me right ? is it in develop ?? does somebody working on this wireless card chipset ??? I wish I could use the wireless on my macbook with OpenBSD, but for now I am using it only in LAN .

      Thanks

      Comments
      1. By Karl Sjödahl (Dunceor) on

        > I have a macbook c2d with an Atheros AR5418, then with this patch nothing will change for me right ? is it in develop ?? does somebody working on this wireless card chipset ??? I wish I could use the wireless on my macbook with OpenBSD, but for now I am using it only in LAN .
        >
        > Thanks

        No the 5418 does not work yet, none of the 802.11n works yet. There is some code released by Athereos that reyk probobly can base some code on. As you can read before in the thread in Jason Dixon has gotten him a card with the 5418 on so hopefully he can test some.
        I'm hopefull at least!

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