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01-03-2011, 01:10 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2011
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 4
Rep:
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Wireless network problem. High unstability using Atheros AR9285 and ath9k module.
I'm using Slackware 13.1 in my Toshiba NB200 netbook. My Wi-Fi card is an Atheros AR9285, loaded automatically by ath9k module (at least that's what lsmod shows).
I can use the internet, but my connection is very, very unstable. I have another computer (Windows 7), and two videogames using the same router and there's no problem with them. And if I try this same netbook using Windows 7 or XP, there will be no problem.
To be sure of the connection unstability, I pinged www.google.com for almost 4 hours. The results:
Code:
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
5952 packets transmitted, 4105 received, 31% packet loss, time 12964276ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 149.188/170.244/1743.669/67.870 ms, pipe 2
Almost 1/3 of my connection is lost, and I'm sitting next to my router, giving 98% of signal quality.
I tried to search this problem on Google, but I was unable to find any solution. If anyone here has a guess, it'll be very appreciated.
lsmod | grep ath:
Code:
ath9k 65211 0
ath9k_common 2033 1 ath9k
mac80211 153050 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath9k_hw 207118 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 6820 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
cfg80211 109656 4 ath9k,ath9k_common,mac80211,ath
led_class 2037 1 ath9k
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01-03-2011, 04:19 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Registered: Jun 2004
Location: Chicago
Distribution: Slackware64 -current
Posts: 1,158
Rep:
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I don't have any tips for you. Just wanted to post that I'm also using the same wifi card and ath9k module. I see the traffic stalling sometimes which may be due to key negotiation but other than that, the card works fine. No instability although my signal quality is at 62% but then my machine is connected to TV and in a living room inside the tv table cabinet.
BTW, I'm using -current and kernel 2.6.35.10
Last edited by tuxrules; 01-03-2011 at 04:20 PM.
Reason: additional info
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01-03-2011, 04:49 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: WA
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 1,271
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I have found that 802.11n connections can be a bit gimpy at times, dependent on the specific way the Atheros chipset is implemented by the notebook manufacturer. Can you test the connection as 802.11g (if not already)? Can you test via open, unencrypted connection (so might be a wpa-supplicant issue.) Check for other wifi modules that are also loaded (then blacklist them)? Is the Atheros AR9285 chip implemented via PCI, PCI-express or USB? You may wnat to poke around here: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers
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01-03-2011, 05:01 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Registered: Mar 2005
Location: USA
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 1,133
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This CR-48 also has an Atheros AR928x wireless card, and I've notice the exact same issues as you with 802.11G. With WPA2 I had to set encryption type to AES - which is better, but still not all that great. TKIP sometimes refuses to even connect. WPA works pretty well. I decided to turn off wireless encryttion, hide the SSID, filter by MAC address, and sandbox all wireless connections (isolates wireless connections from the LAN). Which works best for this device. Of course, in my area there's only 1 other wireless, so I'm somewhat technologically isolated
Not sure if it's a driver issue, or lack of power from this Atom N455. My rt73usb lacks throughput, but does not have connection/stability issues, neither do the Intel chipsets. Of course those wireless cards are in more powerful machines.
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01-08-2011, 07:01 AM
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#5
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jan 2011
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 4
Original Poster
Rep:
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Following the suggestions some of you made, I did a few tests to locate the real problem.
Code:
Test #01
Connection: 802.11n (Channel 1)
Security: WEP
Quality Signal: 98%
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
2422 packets transmitted, 1970 received, 18% packet loss, time 4315071ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 150.557/164.704/315.536/15.698 ms
------------------------------------
Test #02
Connection: ethernet cable
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
1410 packets transmitted, 1404 received, 0% packet loss, time 2068127ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 149.908/363.734/121020.745/4131.285 ms
------------------------------------
Test #03
Connection: 802.11n (Channel 1)
Security: Unsecured
Quality Signal: 92%
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
1017 packets transmitted, 658 received, 35% packet loss, time 2117881ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 165.795/178.154/342.701/14.261 ms
------------------------------------
Test #04
Connection: 802.11g (Channel 1)
Security: Unsecured
Quality Signal: 92%
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
711 packets transmitted, 329 received, 53% packet loss, time 2427176ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 165.461/178.255/302.970/14.182 ms
------------------------------------
Test #05
Connection: 802.11n (Channel 6)
Security: WEP
Quality Signal: 92%
--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
1005 packets transmitted, 818 received, 18% packet loss, time 1406440ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 165.386/176.594/545.760/27.718 ms
I also pinged my router while doing these tests and had 0% packet loss.
As you can see, I tried changing the security type (WEP to Unsecured), the channel the connection is (I usually use 1, tried 6) and also from 802.11n to 802.11g, which was the worst case.
I actually don't know if there is any other wifi module loaded, I don't think so. Anyway, here is my full lsmod:
Code:
Module Size Used by
snd_seq_dummy 1107 0
snd_seq_oss 25580 0
snd_seq_midi_event 4620 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 42857 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 4543 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 33917 0
snd_mixer_oss 13399 1 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6 229909 20
pcmcia 27872 0
pcmcia_core 25659 1 pcmcia
cpufreq_ondemand 6917 2
speedstep_lib 2683 0
acpi_cpufreq 5705 1
freq_table 2027 2 cpufreq_ondemand,acpi_cpufreq
lp 7161 0
ppdev 5103 0
parport_pc 18027 0
parport 25487 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
fuse 52401 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 185089 1
ath9k 65211 0
ath9k_common 2033 1 ath9k
mac80211 153050 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
snd_hda_intel 18936 0
i915 263263 2
snd_hda_codec 57091 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
ath9k_hw 207118 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
joydev 7989 0
drm_kms_helper 23751 1 i915
snd_hwdep 5046 1 snd_hda_codec
drm 133002 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
uvcvideo 54940 0
snd_pcm 57736 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
rtc_cmos 7838 0
ath 6820 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
intel_agp 22699 1
rtc_core 12050 1 rtc_cmos
usbhid 33016 0
videodev 32975 1 uvcvideo
snd_timer 15699 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
cfg80211 109656 4 ath9k,ath9k_common,mac80211,ath
i2c_algo_bit 4355 1 i915
snd 43107 11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
v4l1_compat 13004 2 uvcvideo,videodev
r8169 31285 0
i2c_i801 7194 0
thermal 10194 0
processor 26515 3 acpi_cpufreq
rtc_lib 1522 1 rtc_core
battery 7944 0
video 15937 1 i915
soundcore 4815 1 snd
psmouse 40750 0
agpgart 23773 2 drm,intel_agp
led_class 2037 1 ath9k
ac 2423 0
output 1444 1 video
rfkill 12812 2 cfg80211
mii 3322 1 r8169
thermal_sys 12086 3 thermal,processor,video
snd_page_alloc 5849 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
hid 61027 1 usbhid
serio_raw 3754 0
hwmon 1085 1 thermal_sys
evdev 6939 15
button 3934 1 i915
i2c_core 15279 6 i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,videodev,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_i801
sg 21214 0
I can try connecting to the same wireless connection using an USB wifi dongle, but until I have it in hands this is the info I can give to you.
Any guesses?
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02-07-2011, 06:18 PM
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#6
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jun 2007
Posts: 4
Rep:
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I have EXACTLY the same problem with AR9285.
Ethernet connection works fine and a wifi usb stick (RTL8187b) also works without any losses.
The problem appears to be on the device specific layer.
Did you get that fixed?
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02-26-2011, 01:21 AM
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#7
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Feb 2011
Posts: 1
Rep:
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Not sure if you all have figured this out, but what has seemed to cure my problem (Atheros AR928X card, unstable connection, 30-60% packet loss) was to downgrade from kernel 26-2.6.37-5-ARCH to kernel26-2.6.36.3-1-ARCH. Not sure what kernel you guys are using so YMMV.
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02-27-2011, 06:20 AM
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#8
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Jun 2007
Posts: 4
Rep:
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I'll give it a try
Thank you, monstermudder78
Though I tried Arch LTS kernel, which is 2.6.32 and it didn't help. It seems to me that there was some evil patch that was applied to both streams recently.
Last edited by forker; 02-27-2011 at 11:53 AM.
Reason: typo
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02-27-2011, 07:23 AM
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#9
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Member
Registered: Dec 2006
Location: Glasgow, UK
Distribution: Slackware current
Posts: 425
Rep:
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Me too.
I've had problems with the ath9k module under slackware current on my new laptop (packbard dot u, rebrand of acer). lspci says it has an AR928X. It's fine for most things, but I noticed that transferring large files failed sometimes and I traced the problem back to the wireless network dropping (say once or twice per hour).
A quick search revealed mailing lists of people reporting that the ath9k driver has such problems going back for months/years - unfortunately I didn't see much progress in fixing them.
Last edited by mcnalu; 02-27-2011 at 07:57 AM.
Reason: typo
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03-28-2012, 11:08 AM
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#10
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Member
Registered: Jul 2007
Location: In a van down by the river...
Distribution: MX Linux 21
Posts: 237
Rep:
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I've been having the same issues, but with the ath5k (TP-Link TL-WN350G PCI connector) driver. I'm going to try the 2.6.38.4 kernel and perhaps build the 2.6.35.12 and 2.6.39-rc4 (the config files are shipped with 13.37) to see if this issue has improved. The funny thing about this is that I install windows 7 on this machines and I get 0% lost packets, but with Slackware 13.37 I get anywhere between 30% ~ 56% lost packets.
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03-28-2012, 11:38 AM
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#11
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Member
Registered: Feb 2012
Distribution: Slackware 64 13.37
Posts: 41
Rep:
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have you tried the drivers from
http://linuxwireless.org/
EDIT: I had to use the firmware from here for the ALFA AWUS036NHA USB card with a 9dBI antenna to get it to work. The ath9k driver was fine but needed the firmware module to get it working right.
Rasta420
Last edited by Rasta420; 03-28-2012 at 11:42 AM.
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01-18-2014, 08:07 PM
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#12
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Member
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Maryland-Pennsylvania border, USA
Distribution: openSUSE 15.2/15.3, Tumbleweed, Kubuntu 18.04/21.04, macOS 10.15, antiX 19, and Linux Mint 19.3
Posts: 860
Rep:
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I know this thread is old, but I have the same AR9285 wireless network adapter with the same instability and was wondering which solution below worked. I can't find anything that someone said worked. This issue seems to transcend distros, as it is an issue in both my openSUSE 13.1 install and my LinuxMint 13 install.
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01-19-2014, 01:43 AM
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#13
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Member
Registered: Dec 2006
Location: Glasgow, UK
Distribution: Slackware current
Posts: 425
Rep:
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I'm running slackware 14.0 on the laptop I mentioned earlier in this thread and have no problems with the wifi now. So updating to a newer kernel or module may help.
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01-20-2014, 09:00 AM
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#14
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Member
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Maryland-Pennsylvania border, USA
Distribution: openSUSE 15.2/15.3, Tumbleweed, Kubuntu 18.04/21.04, macOS 10.15, antiX 19, and Linux Mint 19.3
Posts: 860
Rep:
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I was hoping that upgrading my Os and starting clean would clear things up - but it has been a recurring (but improving) issue since openSUSE 12.1 (kernel 3.1) and it still is an issue in 13.1 (3.11 now) and Mint 13. I'll look into the hardware if it is not an issue for you with the exact same hardware.
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01-20-2014, 09:40 AM
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#15
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Senior Member
Registered: Apr 2009
Location: McKinney, Texas
Distribution: Slackware64 15.0
Posts: 3,860
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wagscat123
I know this thread is old, but I have the same AR9285 wireless network adapter with the same instability and was wondering which solution below worked. I can't find anything that someone said worked. This issue seems to transcend distros, as it is an issue in both my openSUSE 13.1 install and my LinuxMint 13 install.
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Bring an old thread back to life and you don't even use Slackware? There are perfectly fine Mint and SUSE forums on LQ. If those are the distributions that you use (nothing wrong with that), perhaps you should raise your questions over in those forums.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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