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greyspoke Tux's lil' helper

Joined: 08 Jan 2010 Posts: 147
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Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:40 pm Post subject: Given up on ath9k |
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Well after a couple of years of putting up with the ath9k driver disconnecting all the time, the final straw came when it worked worse after a kernel upgrade.
I got a TP-Link TL-WA901ND access point that can work in client mode and all is bliss. Funny thing is, it has an Atheros chip in it, but the manufacturers manage to get it to work fine. I will put my now redundant wireless-n card in my daughter's computer in which it will no doubt work fine as that runs Windows.
Just saying, like. |
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audiodef Watchman


Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 6319 Location: /usr/lib64/lv2
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 6:11 pm Post subject: |
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Sometimes wireless can be frustrating. I have a Broadcom BCM43224 that keeps me stuck with a 3.2 kernel because broadcom-sta won't work on higher versions and brcmsmac won't work for me at all even though all the docs say it's supposed to.
I feel ya.  _________________ Gentoo Studio: A Gentoo-based, professional digital audio workstation OS. |
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_______0 Guru

Joined: 15 Oct 2012 Posts: 521
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:08 am Post subject: |
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don't give up, there's gotta be a solution |
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wcg Guru

Joined: 06 Jan 2009 Posts: 588
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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A reliable wireless bridge that only needs your ethernet driver
to work can solve a lot of device driver problems. _________________ TIA |
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wrc1944 Advocate

Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Posts: 3271 Location: Gainesville, Florida
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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audiodef,
I feel for you with the 3.2 kernel trip. I had a similar experience with wireless and the r8712u realtek driver module.
The kernel versions before 3.2 worked fine, but when 3.2 was released it was problematic. They had trouble fixing it for 3.2, 3.3, and finally Larry finger (kernel maintainer) came up with the fixes, which I helped test out for him as he made progress over a few months.
Anyway during this testing, what I did on all 3.2 and 3.3, and IIRC even early 3.4 kernels was before compiling my newer kernels, I first replaced the new rtl8712 driver directory source with one from a 3.1 kernel source, and then compiled my new kernel normally.
Worked every time on all new kernels where the updated version always failed. (I was really determined to keep using my little usb r8712u wirelessN adapter due to it's fantastic performance with a woprking driver).
After Larry F. finally sorted out the file edits in that rtl8712. the fixes we finally arrived at were back-ported to some of the earlier kernels. It consisted of quite a few minor edits in various source files, but before those were solved I relied on the older 3.1 kernel source.
Anyway, this little procedure might be worth a shot if you really want to use a newer kernel. Maybe replace the newer linux-3.x.x/drivers/net/wireless/brcm80211/brcmsmac source directory with the version from 3.2 (if that's the one that works), and compile the newer kernel?
Or, maybe change your wifi card? Get a little usb type with a different chipset real cheap- I did that (got an ath9k usb adapter) before I discovered using the 3.1 source in 3.2 and 3.3 kernels.
EDIT:
Got curious, and just ran across this- maybe there's a clue in there for the broadcom-sta.
http://pof.eslack.org/2012/05/23/why-broadcom-80211-linux-sta-driver-sucks-and-how-to-fix-it/ _________________ Main box- AsRock x370 Gaming K4
Ryzen 1700, 3.0GHz, 16GB GSkill Flare DDR4 3200mhz
Samsung SATA 1000GB, Radeon HD R7 350 2GB DDR5
Gentoo ~amd64 plasma, glibc-2.30-r2, gcc-9.2.0 kernel-5.4.1-gentoo USE=experimental |
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Logicien Veteran


Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 1375 Location: Montréal
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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I have a TP-LINK 54 Mbps | TL-WN312G supported by the module rt73usb . As a client or as an access point, it never work very good. I have an 'Atheros Communications Inc. AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter' on the PCIe bus of a laptop, supported by the ath9k module. It work normally (can be or not an euphemism). _________________ Paul |
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greyspoke Tux's lil' helper

Joined: 08 Jan 2010 Posts: 147
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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The randomness of it appears to be a theme, drivers work for some people and hardware, not for others. I wonder if there is something about how different manufacturers build cards round the chips that means their flavour of driver is going to work better than a generic one?
ETA one thing that I noticed when rummaging about the internet for fixes is that usb devices seem to have a better success rate than PCI ones (though that is just an impression) |
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audiodef Watchman


Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 6319 Location: /usr/lib64/lv2
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 7:31 pm Post subject: |
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That's an interesting suggestion, wrc1944. I'm going to look into that.  _________________ Gentoo Studio: A Gentoo-based, professional digital audio workstation OS. |
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BillWho Veteran


Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 1600 Location: US
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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greyspoke,
I have the Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter in the laptop - no problems at all  _________________ Good luck
Since installing gentoo, my life has become one long emerge  |
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