AR9280 "bb hang" and other

[Rui Paulo]

On 18 Aug 2010, at 09:26, Ian FREISLICH wrote:

> Rui Paulo wrote:
>> On 17 Aug 2010, at 09:17, Ian FREISLICH wrote:
>>> Aug 17 09:29:08 mini kernel: ath0: bb hang detected (0x80), resetting
>>> Aug 17 09:37:57 mini kernel: ath0: bb hang detected (0x80), resetting
>>> Aug 17 09:49:10 mini kernel: ath0: bb hang detected (0x80), resetting
>>> Aug 17 10:06:17 mini kernel: ath0: bb hang detected (0x80), resetting
>> 
>> BB hangs are a problem with the 9280 but I don't know how to fix.
>> Hardware errors shouldn't happen, but this might mean you have
>> very aggressive power reduction settings (ACPI C3, etc.) that are
>> interfering with the atheros card. This has happened to me in the
>> past.
> 
> Now, I've made 2 changes so I'm not sure which affected it:
> 
> 1. I replaced the card with an AR9285
> 
> ath0 at pci0:1:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x7167144f chip=0x002b168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
>    vendor  = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
>    device  = 'Atheros AR9285 Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g/n Controller (AR928x)'
>    class   = network
> 
> 2. I changed the channel on our AP. (there were 2 other nearby APs
>   on the same channel).
> 
> I noticed that I got a lot more bb hangs at the office compared to
> home - there are a lot more APs nearby:
> 
> [mini] /usr/home/ianf $ ifconfig wlan0 scan
> SSID/MESH ID    BSSID              CHAN RATE   S:N     INT CAPS
> Ignition        00:26:bb:78:b4:91    6   54M -89:-96  100 EPS  RSN HTCAP WPA WME
> Eco Impact      00:22:3f:55:80:bc   11   54M -92:-96  100 EP   HTCAP WPS WPA WME
> Viic            00:14:6c:49:3f:1c   11   54M -92:-96  100 EPS  WPA ATH WME
> cluelan         00:30:4f:58:bf:96    7   54M -72:-96  100 EPS  WPA ATH WME
> PRIVATE LABEL   00:19:70:05:28:c4    3   54M -79:-96  100 EP   WPA WME
> blinkbroom1     00:18:4d:1c:8e:3a    5   54M -89:-96  100 EPS  WPA
> Sasman          00:26:f2:46:2c:de    1   54M -93:-96  100 EP   WME
> cocoa           00:26:f2:3d:aa:13    3   54M -94:-96  200 EPS  WME HTCAP ATH
> CareCross       30:46:9a:1e:b0:ca    8   54M -35:-96  100 EPS  RSN WPA
> 
> We're "cluelan" and we were on channel 3.  Previously, I was seeing
> a hang every 10 minutes or so, since changing the channel to a
> "free" one, I haven't had a hang in the last 40 minutes.  The only
> bb hang I've had was when I deactivated the RF switch on netbook
> and that was a semi-expected result.

Yes, the hangs are dependent on the signal and noise conditions.

Regards,
--
Rui Paulo