Re: Problems with usb adapter: 'NETDEV WATCHDOG: wlan0:

> 
> Well, some basic information I suppose you need:
> 
> - Distribution: Linux Mandrake 10.1
> - Result of the uname -a command: 
> 
> Linux localhost 2.6.8.1-12mdksmp #1 SMP Fri Oct 1 11:24:45 CEST 2004 i686
> Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz unknown GNU/Linux
> 
> - Version of wlan-ng pack installed:
> 
> linux-wlan-ng-0.2.3
> 
> - Usb Wireless Adapter
> 
> Amper Usb Wireless Adapter
> (http://www.telefonicaonline.com/on/es/wifi/images/adaptador_usb_inalambrico
> .gif)
> Made by Senao International, model SL 2511 UB. 
> As appears in http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz , the
> module that has to be used in this case is Prism2/2.5/3
> 
> Modem-Router Wireless Zyxel 660
> (http://www.ecomtel.com.au/images/ZyXEL660HW.jpg)
> 
> 
> - Firmware version of the wireless usb adapter:
> 
> # dmesg | grep ident
> ident: nic h/w: id=0x8010 1.0.0
> ident: pri f/w: id=0x15 1.1.0
> ident: sta f/w: id=0x1f 1.8.3
> 
> 
> OK. These are the steps I have followed to install the wlan-ng pack:
> 
> - I Downloaded the latest version of the wlan-ng pack (0.2.3) and copied it
> to /root
> - make config (I only build the Prism2.5 USB driver)
> - make all (no errors)
> - make install (no errors)
> - /etc/rc.d/rc.local edited, adding the following lines at the beggining:
> 
> modprobe prism2_usb prism2_doreset=1
> wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
> wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=SenseFils authtype=opensystem
> ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.15 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255
> route add default gw 192.168.1.1
> 
> - /etc/resolv.conf edited, adding two nameservers
> - wlan service initiated on bootup. Result of 'chkconfig --list wlan' 
> ("apagat"=off, "engegat"=on)
> 
> # chkconfig --list wlan
> wlan            0:apagat        1:apagat        2:engegat       3:engegat
> 
> 4:engegat       5:engegat       6:apagat
> 
> - /etc/modules.conf edited, adding the following two lines:
> 
> alias wlan0 prism2_usb
> options prism2_usb prism2_doreset=1
> 
> - /etc/wlan/wlan.conf edited, making all the changes needed to support my
> network (WEP key of 128 bits, SSID, new configuration file "wlancfg-MySSID",
> etc).
> 
> 
> OK. After all that the adapter seems to work well, because I can connect
> with the modem-router. I open the Konqueror browser and I try to access the
> modem-router configuration page introducing the gateway address:
> http://192.168.1.1. It appears the login window. Right.
> 
> But... the problem begins when I introduce the correct login and password.
> Then the system begins to freeze. In that precise moment, if I edit the
> /var/log/messages file, I can see the following error messages:
> 
> Dec  9 00:32:11 localhost kernel: hfa384x_usbctlx_complete_sync: CTLX[3]
> error: state(Request failed)
> Dec  9 00:32:11 localhost kernel: prism2sta_commsqual_defer: error fetching
> commsqual

This sounds alot like problems that I and others were having earlier this year. Do a Google search on this list with keywords like 'freeze' and 'hal' for the April to July
timeframe.

The reason is that whilst the usb card works very well, it
does seem to have a nasty quirk whereby if the kernel sends
certain usb control messages to it once it is in operation, then it causes the card to freeze sometime later (could be
seconds or many minutes).

We identified that the cause of these control messages were
other programs like 'hal', which sniffs around the usb bus
to see what devices are attached. Typically the card would
be initialised, and then a bit later hal would sniff it out - and from that point the card was doomed.

The solution for us was
a) a newer version of hal (0.5.x rather than 0.4.x) which does less sniffing
b) if necessary, tweak the boot sequence to ensure the card
is brought up AFTER hal has started and done its initial
sniffing.

Hal is not the only potential culprit, it also depends
on your hotplug/coldplug scripts as well.


> 
> Another annoying problem: before booting the system I have to unplug and
> plug again the usb adapter in order to Linux configure it correctly when
> initiating Linux. Generally I do it when the grub menu appears... obviously,
> to do that every time I reboot the pc is very annoying... in the wlan-ng's
> README file I read that introducing the line "options prism2_usb
> prism2_doreset=1" in modules.conf solves the problem, but it doesn't work.
> Maybe I am confused and this is not the solution to that problem...
> 

This should not be necessary. It suggests the coldplug
mechanism is not working in your boot sequence.

The prism2_doreset=1 is largely redundant.

Karl

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