Re: phy0/hp-wifi problems after kernel update from 2.6 to 3.2

Hi,

02.10.2012 17:28, David Smith kirjoitti:

Hello, I'm having a problem with my Intel 2200 wireless on my Compaq
Presario V4000T (made by HP) that has started happening after I upgraded
my kernel from 2.6 to 3.2.

Problem: phy0 wireless state is incorrect.

Steps to reproduce problem:
1. Upgrade kernel from 2.6 to 3.2
2. rfkill now reports that I have two wireless devices but I only have
the Intel 2200 wireless:

 Miho:/home/david# rfkill list all
 0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
         Soft blocked: yes
         Hard blocked: no
 1: phy0: Wireless LAN
         Soft blocked: yes
         Hard blocked: yes

3.  The wireless simply doesn't work anymore because all software
believes the wireless is blocked with a hardware switch, which is not
the case.

After many many hours of searching, I discovered that running "rfkill
unblock all" is able to remove the "Hard Block" from phy0 and put the
wireless into this state:

Sounds like the "hp-wifi" soft block status affects "phy0" hard block
status. So if some management program softblocks "hp-wifi", the "phy0"
will become hardblocked and the program doesn't understand that it needs
to unblock "hp-wifi" again to undo what it just did.

I have no idea what is the proper course of action here, though, but
hopefully someone else on the lists has an idea.

Miho:/home/david# rfkill unblock all
Miho:/home/david# rfkill list all
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
Miho:/home/david#


However, I find that I have to keep dropping to a console and running
"sudo rfkill unblock all" because the hardware keeps going back into the
first state where phy0 is reporting that it is hard blocked, when it
really isn't.



Workaround #1: Set "ACPI=off" on 3.2 kernel. After which, the wireless
appears to be correctly reported:
Miho:/home/david# rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

This causes phy0 to accurately reflect the state of the hardware.

Workaround #2: Add hp-wmi to modprobe blacklist.  Again, this causes
only phy0 wireless to be reported and phy0 always accurately reflects
the state of the hardware (both soft and hard blocked).

Expected Results;
Both phy0 and hp-wifi refer to the same hardware device so they should
accurately report the correct state of that hardware device.

Actual Results:
Phy0 reports it is hard blocked when there is no hard block on the
wireless.  Further, phy0 keeps going into this "hard blocked" state from
regular usage of the wireless with networkmanager, while the hp-wmi does
not.  If I remove the hp-wmi then the phy0 works properly.  When I have
hp-wmi, then phy0's state is often incorrect.  It seems there may be
some conflict here between phy0 and hp-wmi.


  
Kernel versions tested:
linux-image-3.2.0-3-686-pae: Wireless regularly gets into this "bad
state" of reporting it's hard blocked when it isn't. Unable to recover
from it without using "sudo rfkill unblock all".

linux-image-2.6.32-5-686: No problem at all
 

 PCI registers from the only wireless device I have in this PC:
 
 Miho:/home/david# lspci -vv -s06:05.0
06:05.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG
[Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 12f5
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort-
<TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 128 (750ns min, 6000ns max), Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 20
        Region 0: Memory at c8206000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA
PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=1 PME-
        Kernel driver in use: ipw2200

Miho:/home/david#


Somehow network manager is putting phy0 into a "hard blocked" state, but
the hardware is not really hardblocked. After going into this hard
blocked state, the wireless cannot be used anymore unless dropping to a
console and running sudo rfkill unblock all which removes the "hard
block" from phy0. Networkmanager alone is not able to bring the wireless
back up.

Also, sometimes when I turn on the PC, or resume from hibernate the
rfkill reports phy0 as hard blocked, when it isn't. Which again, forces
me to drop to console and run a "sudo rfkill unblock all"

I am currently using Workaround #2 and am very happy with it. The
wireless no longer goes into "hard blocked" through normal usage of the
hardware with network manager.

Thank you for your time.

-- 
Anssi Hannula