Bug#530823: Can't get an IP address using the ath5k driver; madwifi worked.
Package: linux-image-2.6.29-2-686
Version: 2.6.29-5
Severity: normal
Through kernel 2.6.26, I was able to use my wireless card via the
madwifi driver "ath-pci". Unfortunately, madwifi was recently removed
from Debian, so I'm stuck with only the ath5k driver in the kernel.
Problem is, it just doesn't work for me. Well, every once in a while
and under conditions I can't figure out, it works 100% perfectly. But
most of the time it behaves as if it's not actually connected to my
wireless network (it tries to send DHCP packets and doesn't see a
response -- I don't have an easy way of checking whether it's failing
to send packets or whether it's not seeing the replies).
Here's a typical syslog snippet in which I load the driver and
attempt to acquire an IP from my home router:
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200078] cfg80211: Using static regulatory domain info
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200153] cfg80211: Regulatory domain: US
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200222] ^I(start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200322] ^I(2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2700 mBm)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200394] ^I(5170000 KHz - 5190000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200467] ^I(5190000 KHz - 5210000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200540] ^I(5210000 KHz - 5230000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200613] ^I(5230000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 2300 mBm)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200685] ^I(5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (600 mBi, 3000 mBm)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.200758] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: US
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.236724] ath5k 0000:04:04.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.236903] ath5k 0000:04:04.0: registered as 'phy0'
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.395667] wmaster0 (ath5k): not using net_device_ops yet
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.396054] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel'
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.425271] wlan0 (ath5k): not using net_device_ops yet
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 11.425687] ath5k phy0: Atheros AR2414 chip found (MAC: 0x79, PHY: 0x45)
[snip lots of non-wifi stuff...]
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 15.157421] wlan0: authenticate with AP NN:NN:NN:NN:NN:NN
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 15.165801] wlan0: authenticated
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 15.165804] wlan0: associate with AP NN:NN:NN:NN:NN:NN
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 15.215837] wlan0: RX AssocResp from NN:NN:NN:NN:NN:NN (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=1)
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn kernel: [ 15.215842] wlan0: associated
[more snip...]
May 27 18:00:39 emurlahn dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port
67 interval 6
May 27 18:00:45 emurlahn dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
May 27 18:00:46 emurlahn dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port
67 interval 17
[...repeat DHCPDISCOVER until dhclient gives up...]
The card in question is a PCI device in a desktop machine:
04:04.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter [168c:0013] (rev 01)
Daniel
-- Package-specific info:
-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.25-2-686 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Versions of packages linux-image-2.6.29-2-686 depends on:
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.26 Debian configuration management sy
ii initramfs-tools [linux-initra 0.93.2 tools for generating an initramfs
ii module-init-tools 3.7-pre9-1 tools for managing Linux kernel mo
Versions of packages linux-image-2.6.29-2-686 recommends:
ii libc6-i686 2.9-9 GNU C Library: Shared libraries [i
Versions of packages linux-image-2.6.29-2-686 suggests:
ii grub 0.97-53 GRand Unified Bootloader (Legacy v
pn linux-doc-2.6.29 <none> (no description available)
-- debconf information:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/overwriting-modules-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/bootloader-error-2.6.29-2-686:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/abort-install-2.6.29-2-686:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/failed-to-move-modules-2.6.29-2-686:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/initrd-2.6.29-2-686:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/old-dir-initrd-link-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/old-initrd-link-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/bootloader-test-error-2.6.29-2-686:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/depmod-error-initrd-2.6.29-2-686: false
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/elilo-initrd-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/lilo-initrd-2.6.29-2-686: true
shared/kernel-image/really-run-bootloader: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/lilo-has-ramdisk:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/depmod-error-2.6.29-2-686: false
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/kimage-is-a-directory:
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/create-kimage-link-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/prerm/removing-running-kernel-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/postinst/old-system-map-link-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/bootloader-initrd-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/prerm/would-invalidate-boot-loader-2.6.29-2-686: true
linux-image-2.6.29-2-686/preinst/abort-overwrite-2.6.29-2-686:
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