Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 23:27:09 -0700 From: Ross Finlayson <finlayson@live555.com> To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: More 'resource' problems with "ath0" Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.1.20060517230855.01ddd570@live555.com> In-Reply-To: <446C0C22.4090700@errno.com> References: <7.0.1.0.1.20060517080119.01e00df8@live555.com> <446B44B0.5030908@errno.com> <7.0.1.0.1.20060517125415.01e0f568@live555.com> <446B8F14.80502@errno.com> <7.0.1.0.1.20060517153640.01e0f568@live555.com> <446C0C22.4090700@errno.com>
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> > No, I don't use power save mode. (One of the servers is at home, where
> > all of its clients are plugged in to AC power. The other server is at a
> > local coffee shop, where the owner wants to discourage people from
> > camping there for hours :-)
>
>Er, we're talking about wireless operation here
So was I :-)
>If the stations associated to the ap are operating in power save mode
If the *access point* is not explicitly configured to use power save
mode - which it's not - then will the clients still get power save
mode if they ask for it? I thought that the access point made the
final decision as to whether power save mode was used? But maybe I'm
wrong about that :-)
>buffer frames for the client. I'm aware of one outstanding issue with
>this mode whereby frames (apparently) can be stuck on the buffering q
>because the beacon frame stops being transmitted. This problem is
>currently unresolved (however you would also see messages on the ap
>about "transmit timeout").
I have never seen any "transmit timeout" messages, but several "ath0:
device timeout" messages.
>I don't recall if stations associated with power save are marked in the
>display shown by
>
>ifconfig ath0 list sta
I don't think so:
%ifconfig ath0 list sta
ADDR AID CHAN RATE RSSI IDLE TXSEQ RXSEQ CAPS ERP
00:14:51:ef:b9:72 1 3 5M 17 120 33078 12512 ES 0
00:12:f0:ba:59:f2 2 3 1M 18 120 22933 63680 ES 0
The second client (00:12:f0:ba:59:f2) requests power save mode - but
I see no indication of that.
>If not then turning on power debug msgs at the 802.11 layer with
>wlandebug; e.g.
>
>wlandebug -i ath0 power
When I do this, I get:
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] save frame with age 3, 1 now queued
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] flush ps queue, 1 packets queued
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode on, 1 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] save frame with age 3, 1 now queued
ath0: ieee80211_beacon_update: TIM updated, pending 1, off 0, len 1
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] flush ps queue, 1 packets queued
ath0: ieee80211_beacon_update: TIM updated, pending 0, off 0, len 1
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode on, 1 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode on, 1 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode on, 1 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode on, 1 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode on, 1 sta's in ps mode
ath0: [00:12:f0:ba:59:f2] power save mode off, 0 sta's in ps mode
(with the last two lines being repeated indefinitely)
>will definitely show whether any are present (use wlandebug -i ath0 0
>after to reset).
>
> >
> >> Is there some reason you have the cards locked to 11b? If
> >> not, you should be able to let them operate in 11g.
> >
> > In each case, the back-end Internet connection is only 1.5 Mbps, so the
> > extra bitrate of 11g was not needed. However, on your suggestion, I'll
> > try running both servers at 11g now.
>
>It should not matter but 11g is the typical usage and if clients are
>confused by being forced to operate in 11b the problem may go away.
So far I have not seen the problem recur after I switched to using
11g. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
Ross.
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