Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 00:55:26 +0100 From: Rui Paulo <rpaulo@FreeBSD.org> To: Lassi Tuura <lat@cern.ch> Cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: System freeze with Atheros 2417 WiFi PCIe card? Message-ID: <45957A08-DC69-4C02-8A5C-DE68260E196F@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <453f02bbe68493628773d532086cf712.squirrel@cmsmac01.cern.ch> References: <453f02bbe68493628773d532086cf712.squirrel@cmsmac01.cern.ch>
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On 28 May 2010, at 11:23, Lassi Tuura wrote: > Hi, >=20 > I have a system on which I've installed FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE, then = later > 8.0-STABLE 201004 (amd64). >=20 > Under heavy disk load the system freezes totally: screen goes blank = and it > loses all connection outside world - network, keyboard, etc. won't = work. > Sometimes the screen gets filled with stripes instead. Only hard = reboot > pressing and holding the power button revives the system. >=20 > The only way I have found to reproduce the problem is heavy disk load, > e.g. running something very seek rich, e.g. iozone or competing dd > processes. Since the computer goes completely 'black' when this = happens, > there is nothing in logs for the preceding 30 seconds, and no messages = on > any console. I searched various freebsd list and bug database = archives, > and didn't find anything similar enough. >=20 > After taking parts out and swapping parts with another computer, I am = left > with strong evidence the problem is caused or at least triggered by = PCIe > wifi card, TP-LINK TL-WN350GD. Removing the card makes the system = stable, > whereas removing or swapping any other parts seems to make no = difference > at all. >=20 > The WiFi itself works otherwise fine as far as I can tell. The = motherboard > is ASUS M4A78L-M LE, otherwise there's 4GB ECC RAM, AMD Athlon II X2 = 235e > CPU, and 4 * 1 TB HDDs. >=20 > The card is identified in dmesg as: >=20 > ath0: <Atheros 2417> mem 0xfebf0000-0xfebfffff irq 21 at device 7.0 on = pci3 > ath0: [ITHREAD] > ath0: AR2417 mac 15.0 RF5424 phy 7.0 >=20 > The motherboard LAN is identified as: >=20 > alc0: <Atheros AR8131 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet> port 0xec00-0xec7f mem > 0xfeac0000-0xfeafffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci2 > alc0: 15872 Tx FIFO, 15360 Rx FIFO > alc0: Using 1 MSI message(s). > alc0: 4GB boundary crossed, switching to 32bit DMA addressing mode. > miibus0: <MII bus> on alc0 > atphy0: <Atheros F1 10/100/1000 PHY> PHY 0 on miibus0 > atphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, = 1000baseT-FDX, auto > alc0: Ethernet address: 90:e6:ba:6d:e8:fb > alc0: [FILTER] >=20 > Any idea what would cause this? Are there known problems with ath = driver? > Is this some sort of hardware conflict? What can I do to isolate, = debug > and/or fix the problem? Or should I just get another wifi card? If so, = any > recommended chipsets? This can also be caused by broken hardware or by broken motherboard = chipsets. There's no easy way to find the source of the problem without = hardware engineering tools. Just replace the card with another one and = try again. Regards, -- Rui Paulo
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