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Wireless dropouts, and poor reliability.
http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15038		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  beerisgoodmate [ Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:12 am ]
Post subject:  Wireless dropouts, and poor reliability.
I'm having some problems with wireless reliablility (on a fresh install),

I have a netgear WG311V3, based on a Marvel chipset:
Code:
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88w8335 [Libertas] 802.11b/g Wireless (rev 03)


No native drivers are avaliable for this device, so ndiswrapper is the only option.

I am using the Marvell XP drivers, though I have tried the ones of the Netgear site, and others downloaded from ndiswrappers wiki.

Also I am using wpa_supplicant

The driver and wpa_supplicant work fine, sometimes:

Code:
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: ndiswrapper version 1.41 loaded (smp=yes)
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: ndiswrapper: driver wg311v3 () loaded
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] enabled at IRQ 17
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:08.0[A] -> Link [LNKC] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: ndiswrapper: using IRQ 21
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: wlan0: ethernet device 00:14:6c:c4:5d:1b using NDIS driver: wg311v3, version: 0x3000036, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: '', 11AB:1FAA:1385:6B00.5.conf
Apr 25 12:11:11 mythtv kernel: wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
Apr 25 12:06:45 mythtv kernel: usbcore: registered new driver ndiswrapper
Apr 25 12:06:45 mythtv kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 17
Apr 25 12:06:48 mythtv kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 10
Apr 25 12:06:48 mythtv kernel: lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
Apr 25 12:06:48 mythtv kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Apr 25 12:06:48 mythtv kernel: IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver



But not always, the 'link is not ready' line is sometimes there, othertimes not. Eventually the connection just dies, nothing in the logs that I could find.

This is ifconfig when the connection is running:
Code:
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:6C:C4:5D:1B 
          inet addr:192.168.0.8  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::214:6cff:fec4:5d1b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:25572 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:22909 errors:0 dropped:18 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:2579519 (2.4 MiB)  TX bytes:7115638 (6.7 MiB)
          Interrupt:21 Memory:feae0000-feaf0000


When it is not running, the only difference I spotted was the lack of "RUNNING" in the obove output.

Sometimes on starting wifi I boot I get output like this:
Code:
Apr 25 12:44:49 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
Apr 25 12:44:52 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
Apr 25 12:44:57 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
Apr 25 12:45:07 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
Apr 25 12:45:19 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
Apr 25 12:45:33 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
Apr 25 12:45:45 mythtv dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
Apr 25 12:45:50 mythtv dhclient: No DHCPOFFERS received.
Apr 25 12:45:50 mythtv dhclient: No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.


Here is something else I found:
Code:
Apr 25 13:27:34 mythtv dhclient: Sending on   Socket/fallback
Apr 25 13:27:34 mythtv dhclient: DHCPRELEASE on wlan0 to 192.168.0.1 port 67
Apr 25 13:27:34 mythtv dhclient: send_packet: Network is unreachable
Apr 25 13:27:34 mythtv dhclient: send_packet: please consult README file regarding broadcast address.


Thanks in advance :-)

edit:
Just had it drop out. Nothing in dmesg, /var/log/messages /var/log/daemon

Restarting gets this:
Code:
Apr 26 02:25:10 mythtv kernel: cx88[0]/0: unknown tv audio mode [0]
Apr 26 02:25:47 mythtv kernel: p80211.o: 0.2.5 Unloaded
Apr 26 02:25:47 mythtv kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Apr 26 02:25:52 mythtv kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
Apr 26 02:30:35 mythtv kernel: cx88[0]/0: unknown tv audio mode [0]


and this:


Code:
Apr 26 02:25:47 mythtv dhclient: There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 20964
Apr 26 02:25:47 mythtv dhclient: killed old client process, removed PID file
Apr 26 02:25:47 mythtv dhclient: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4


etc...
Author:  psicard [ Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've been using a WG311V3 in my Myth box (using ndiswrapper) for over a year and have had similar problems to what you're describing.

Some versions of ndiswrapper seem better than others. The version I'm currently running (1.38 maybe?) along with the Netgear drivers seem not to fail as often. It may go a week or two before failing (as opposed to a few days).
Author:  beerisgoodmate [ Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
Could it be possible to cron a script to restart networking if it is down?

much like the myth backend babysitter script?
Author:  psicard [ Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:47 am ]
Post subject: 
I'd thought of that. Does
Code:
/etc/init.d/networking restart

revive the card for you? It doesn't for me (though I haven't tried in a while). I usually have to reboot to get a working wireless connection.
Author:  beerisgoodmate [ Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:50 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
I'd thought of that. Does
Code:
/etc/init.d/networking restart

revive the card for you? It doesn't for me (though I haven't tried in a while). I usually have to reboot to get a working wireless connection.


Yes, always without fai. using ndiswrapper 1.41 and the Marvell driver. I can't imagine why you need a reboot, what about a
Code:
modprobe -r ndiswrapper

before restarting networking?

Since I had a rt2500 card in my primary desktop, I decided to swap the cards based on your experience, so hopefully I don't have any trouble on my mythbox, and hopefully I can get the WG311V3 working under 64bit gentoo!

Though my desktop doesn't need to be on 24/7 so I don't think it will be a problem, good luck with yours, I've hopefully overcome my problem (or at least transfered it!)
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