Re: CFT: new ath hal

On Sat, Dec 09, 2006 at 08:49:35AM -0800, Sam Leffler wrote..
> Wilko Bulte wrote:
> > On Wed, Dec 06, 2006 at 04:17:59PM -0800, Sam Leffler wrote..
> >> Wilko Bulte wrote:
> >>> On Wed, Dec 06, 2006 at 11:28:15AM -0800, Sam Leffler wrote..
> >>>> I've placed a new hal out for testing.  I'd like to commit it after more
> >>>> folks work with it so feedback would be helpful.
> >>>>
> >>>> http://people.freebsd.org/~sam/ath_hal-20061205.tgz
> >>>>
> >>>> There are numerous small bugs fixed in this version but the main change
> >>>> is a split of the descriptor state so that s/w state can be placed in
> >>>> cached memory when h/w state is in uncached memory.  This results in
> >>>> noticeable performance gains on certain architectures.
> >>>>
> >>>> To use this hal you must patch the driver and rate control modules with
> >>>> this:
> >>>>
> >>>> http://people.freebsd.org/~sam/ath-20061205.patch
> >>> Seems to work fine on my laptop:
> >>>
> >>> ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
> >>> ath0: <Atheros 5212> mem 0xd0210000-0xd021ffff at device 4.0 on pci2
> >>> ath0: using obsoleted if_watchdog interface
> >>> ath0: Ethernet address: 00:80:48:7e:16:96
> >>> ath0: mac 7.8 phy 4.5 radio 5.6
> >>>
> >>> Anything special you want to have tested?  I use this laptop daily
> >>> so it will see 'runtime' anyway..
> >> I mostly care about regressions.  The code base has been stable for a
> >> while so it's unlikely you'll see any obvious differences.
> > 
> > Well.. I now found an obvious difference.  I tried playing some avi files
> > from a filesystem mounted via NFS.  With the previous hal etc this
> > runs streaming video (ok, very seldom there is a small hiccup).  With the
> > latest hal & patch I cannot get streaming avi play at all.  All of
> > this is with identical hardware, and keeping the laptop and AP at the same
> > locations.  Things like scp report the same speeds for both old and new 
> > hal/driver.
> > 
> > What I found interesting is the beaconing difference.  No idea if this
> > is related.
> > 
> > Working:
> > 
> > wb_at_chuck ~: athstats 
> > 64678 tx management frames
> > 16 tx frames discarded prior to association
> > 49 tx stopped 'cuz no xmit buffer
> > 3268 tx failed 'cuz bogus xmit rate
> > 14 tx frames with rts enabled
> > 64680 tx frames with an alternate rate
> > 463 tx frames with 11g protection
> > 2644 rx failed 'cuz of FIFO overrun
> > 1 rx failed 'cuz frame too short
> > 64531 rx management frames
> > 2324 beacons transmitted
> > 25 periodic calibration failures
> > 610 rate control raised xmit rate
> > 5 rate control dropped xmit rate
> > 4 switched default/rx antenna
> > 1 tx used alternate antenna
> > Antenna profile:
> > [2] tx      145 rx        1
> > [3] tx    64548 rx    67527
> > 
> > Not working:
> > 
> > wb_at_chuck ~: athstats   
> > 23 interrupts coalesced
> > 7562 tx management frames
> > 16 tx frames discarded prior to association
> > 49 tx stopped 'cuz no xmit buffer
> > 610 tx failed 'cuz bogus xmit rate
> > 14 tx frames with rts enabled
> > 7564 tx frames with an alternate rate
> > 56 tx frames with 11g protection
> > 1585 rx failed 'cuz of FIFO overrun
> > 7515 rx management frames
> > 1822627093 beacons transmitted
> > 24 periodic calibration failures
> > 377 rate control raised xmit rate
> > 2 rate control dropped xmit rate
> > 1 tx used alternate antenna
> > Antenna profile:
> > [2] tx       16 rx        0
> > [3] tx     7561 rx     9385
> > wb_at_chuck ~: 
> > 
> 
> So somehow your ap appears to be sending beacon frames continuously;
> very odd. What was the previous hal version that worked (ap side only)
> and how is the ap setup.  Just to be sure please provide the mac+phy
> revs for the card in the ap machine.
> 
> I'm guessing this is a soekris box based on the # of FIFO overrun
> errors?  Your original response referred to a laptop.

Whoops.. we have a misunderstanding here.  Both sets of stats are from
the laptop.  My AP is a Netgear WG602V3, I have no FreeBSD-based APs.

The laptop is the wireless client to the same AP.

The stats labeled "working" are from the non-patched driver with the 
'old' hal, the "not working" stats are using the patched driver and
new hal.  

working/not working are in the context of the NFS/xine player
only, I can use things like ssh/scp/www etc just fine from the laptop.
I'm typing this email using the laptop.

Weird it is.

Wilko

-- 
Wilko Bulte				wilko_at_FreeBSD.org