Message-Id: <1389691825.24515.70488069.17AB228A@webmail.messagingengine.com> (sfid-20140114_103034_591642_A92B7993)
From: "Nikita N." <nikitan@operamail.com>
Cc: brcm80211-dev-list@broadcom.com, linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org
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In-Reply-To: <52D4FC8B.6090301@msgid.tls.msk.ru>
References: <52BDE9DC.5040206@msgid.tls.msk.ru> <52BE9CF9.7030305@broadcom.com>
 <52BEC2F6.7010505@msgid.tls.msk.ru> <52D4FC8B.6090301@msgid.tls.msk.ru>
Subject: Re: BCM4313 & brcmsmac & 3.12: only semi-working?
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 01:30:25 -0800
To: unlisted-recipients:; (no To-header on input)
Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org

Interesting post.
BTW, I have been debugging those issues too, in my case coming from
using bcm4313 under windows xp.
And actually found out the cause, at least in my case: every setup frame
*RETRANSMISSION* invalidates the whole setup connection process.
I dont know if its a bug into the winxp driver of into bcm4313 firmware,
all what I know is that setup fails if router RE-sends even just 1
frame, either with retransmission flag set, or a new one with different
seqnum.
Which in fact means, if the router is not close a couple of meters from
you (hotel,cafes,office,..) you cant connect, as router will inevitably
send at least 1 retransmission.
On the other hand, setup is always successful when a strict series of
1-only-1 setup frames is sent both sides: auth req/auth resp/asso
req/asso resp.

Personally I got used to that issue, and also I always bring with me a
secondary backup usb interface.. sorry, what to do? life is a continuous
workaround.. :P

Regards,


On Tue, Jan 14, 2014, at 12:59 AM, Michael Tokarev wrote:
> So, I returned from my newyear trip.  There, I tried to use this my
> laptop
> with many various wifi networks, in hotels, cafes and other places.  And
> it never worked.
> 
> So I bought an usb wifi adaptor, some cheap old orient model, which
> worked
> MUCH better than the built-in broadcom wifi. Except of 2 issues.
> 
> First, the antenna in this usb dongle is small, so signal quality isn't
> as
> good as for the built-in adaptor with good antenna.
> 
> And second, which is much more severe, it is an external adaptor plugged
> into an usb slot, so it isn't that easy as internal one, but it is very
> easy to BREAK the usb slot.  Which is what I did while sitting in a cafe
> and someone else walking by.  So now I've one usb port on my laptop
> broken
> now (with very unpleasant large crack on the laptop "body") and the usb
> wifi adaptor I bought is broken too.
> 
> I also tried to replace the internal wifi card with some non-broadcom
> model, but the laptop refused to _boot_ while the card is inserted
> (a so-called bios lock).
> 
> So the question stands: what is the way to actually use the internal
> bcm card, without all those hassles I already encountered?
> 
> So far, the expirience was that anything with broadcom inside should
> NOT be considered for a purchase, because the issues they gave you
> costs much more than a price difference for a different model without
> broadcom parts.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> /mjt
> 
> 28.12.2013 16:24, Michael Tokarev wrote:
> > Thank you very much for the reply!
> > 
> > 28.12.2013 13:42, Arend van Spriel wrote:
> >> On 12/27/2013 09:58 PM, Michael Tokarev wrote:
> >>> Hello.
> >>>
> >>> Got a Lenovo Thinkpad notebook with the following wifi card:
> >>>
> >>> 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)
> >>>     Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:0608]
> >>>     Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
> >>>     Memory at f1600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
> >>>     Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
> >>>     Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <?>
> >>>     Capabilities: [48] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
> >>>     Capabilities: [d0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
> >>>     Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
> >>>     Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
> >>>     Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-00-24-ff-ff-fe-48-d2
> >>>     Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?>
> >>>     Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
> > 
> > [wifi tx stalls after short usage, 3.12 kernel]
> > 
> >>> P.S. I tried to find archives of brcm80211 list, or a way to
> >>> subscribe to it before posting, but found neither.  Are there
> >>> archives?
> >>
> >> Nope. The brcm80211-dev-list is just a (hopefully) convenient way to get
> >> your message to the brcm80211 driver developer within Broadcom. So it is
> >> always best to Cc: the linux-wireless list as well.
> > 
> > Ah.  So the real archives should be for linux-wireless@ not for brcm..@ :)
> > Got it, thank you!
> > 
> >> Now about your card. I am not sure where to start, but can you dump
> >> contents for following debugfs file:
> >>
> >> /sys/kernel/debug/brcmsmac/bcma*/hardware
> > 
> > # cat /sys/kernel/debug/brcmsmac/bcma0\:0/hardware
> > board vendor: 14e4
> > board type: 608
> > board revision: 1109
> > board flags: 402201
> > board flags2: 884
> > firmware revision: 262032c
> > 
> >> Also a capture file would be great so if you have wireshark or dumpcap you can add monitor interface and capture 802.11 packets from connect up until the stalls. Commands for adding/enabling monitor interface (ass root/sudo):
> >>
> >> # iw dev wlan0 interface add mon0 type monitor
> >> # ifconfig mon0 up
> > 
> > Capture file made with tcpdump is attached (gzipped).  I started the
> > capture with wlan0 disabled, next I  used `nmcli con up id "wifi mjt"'
> > to connect to the AP (named, obviously, "mjt"), and next I tried to
> > d/load a file from my website (86.62.121.231).  It d/loaded about 27Kb
> > and stalled.  Next I tried to ping the AP (192.168.88.65), which also
> > didn't work.
> > 
> > That's quite a typical behavour of this whole thing.  Sometimes it
> > lasts a bit longer, but that's rather unusual and it ends up stalling
> > anyway.
> > 
> > Is it worth the effort to try 3.13-tobe kernel here?  I browsed changes
> > in there made in drivers/net/wireless/brcm80211/ compared with 3.12, but
> > there aren't many changes related to the softmac version, and most
> > looks rather cosmetic.
> > 
> > Thank you very much for the help!
> > 
> > /mjt
> > 
> 
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