Re: AR9280 "bb hang" and other

On 17 Aug 2010, at 09:17, Ian FREISLICH wrote:

> Hi
> 
> I recently managed to hack my HP/Compaq BIOS to bypass the RF
> Whitelist and replace the (crappy) bwn interface with a (decent)
> ath card.
> 
> There are a few things -
> 
> 1. The card has AR5B93 printed on the label, but its detected as:
> 
> ath0_at_pci0:1:0:0:        class=0x028000 card=0x663211ad chip=0x002a168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
>    vendor     = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
>    device     = 'Atheros AR5B91 Wireless Network Adapter (0001)'
>    class      = network
> 
> ath0: <Atheros 9280> mem 0xfeaf0000-0xfeafffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
> ath0: [MPSAFE]
> ath0: [ITHREAD]
> ath0: AR9280 mac 128.2 RF5133 phy 13.0
> 
> Everything I've read suggests it's actually an Atheros 9281.

9281 is the 9280 MAC, so this is ok.

>  It's
> possible that the label is wrong.  I'm reluctant to desolder the
> RF shield on the spare card I ordered to see what's actually printed
> on the chip.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 2. I'm getting these messages fairly often.  Transmission stops
> briefly around these times:
> 
> Aug 17 08:58:47 mini kernel: ath0: bb hang detected (0x80)
> Aug 17 09:01:59 mini kernel: ath0: bb hang detected (0x80)
> Aug 17 09:05:47 mini kernel: ath0: hardware error; resetting
> Aug 17 09:05:47 mini kernel: ath0: 0x00000000 0x00002000 0x00000000, 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000
> 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.

--
Rui Paulo