[ARM] Driver takes long time to be load

[TuTizz]

Hi all,

I am wondering if you could comment on that. I have got a Zconmax ZCN-722M dongle wifi with an Atheros AR9271 chipset with which I have got some issues. I am working on a freescale imx6 (ARM) and creating my own OS with yocto https://www.yoctoproject.org/ After activated the drivers : CONFIG_ATH_COMMON=y CONFIG_ATH9K_HW=y CONFIG_ATH9K_COMMON=y CONFIG_ATH9K_HTC=y I put htc_9271.fw on /lib/firmware and this is what happen when I plug my wifi device :

[  169.886113] usb 1-1.3.3: new high speed USB device number 9 using fsl-ehci
[  200.353466] usb 1-1.3.3: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51272
[  200.588820] ath9k_htc 1-1.3.3:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[  200.801453] ath9k_htc 1-1.3.3:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.3
[  200.815647] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9271 Rev:1
[  200.826037] usb 1-1.3.3: ath9k_htc: USB layer initialized

As you can see, the driver took a very long time to be effective (200 - 169 = 31 sec). I tried to plug the device on a intel i7 Kubuntu and its very effective (less than 2sec). Anyone got an idea?

Best regards,

[olerem]

Which kernel version are you using? My log looks:

[24648.626380] usb 3-2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[24648.795078] usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0cf3, idProduct=7015
[24648.795091] usb 3-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=16, Product=32, SerialNumber=48
[24648.795098] usb 3-2: Product: USB WLAN
[24648.795105] usb 3-2: Manufacturer: ATHEROS
[24648.795110] usb 3-2: SerialNumber: 12345
[24649.354391] usb 3-2: ath9k_htc: Firmware htc_7010.fw requested
[24649.354553] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc
[24649.459818] usb 3-2: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_7010.fw, size: 72812
[24649.529905] ath9k_htc 3-2:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 45 credits
[24649.758225] ath9k_htc 3-2:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.4
[24649.758235] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x809c
[24649.758239] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[24649.758243] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[24649.758247] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x52
[24649.758252] ath: Country alpha2 being used: CN
[24649.758255] ath: Regpair used: 0x52
[24649.763110] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9287 Rev:2

[TuTizz]

I am using the kernel 3.0.35

[olerem]

That feels some what old. You can add some printk to probe function in drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/hif_usb.c. To make sure it is really firmware load issue. If it is FW load, you will need to sniff usb traffic and find what is actually happening.

[TuTizz]

Morning every one, I tried to add some printk to the driver ( http://pastebin.com/KRYY3s8p ) and I also stopped udev : here the result :

[  349.998260] usb 1-1.7: new high speed USB device number 5 using fsl-ehci
[  350.139560] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 1 - hĒ��&�� 
[  381.078128] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 2
[  381.087877] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - htc_9271.fw not found
[  381.100251] ath9k_htc: probe of 1-1.7:1.0 failed with error -22

/sys/class/firmware/timeout = 30 = 380-350

Where can I specifying the firmware path? In kernel menuconfig? I have no idea where the probe error can be found, Do you have an idea what happen?

log with udev started :

[  202.958253] usb 1-1.7: new high speed USB device number 4 using fsl-ehci
[  203.099710] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 1 - hĒ��&�� 
[  233.147669] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 2
[  233.157559] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 3
[  233.454092] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51272
[  233.467897] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 4
[  233.477732] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 0 
[  233.487878] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 1 
[  233.498046] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 2 
[  233.508201] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 3 
[  233.518401] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 4 
[  233.528556] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 5 
[  233.689207] ath9k_htc 1-1.7:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[  233.898220] ath9k_htc 1-1.7:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.3
[  233.910596] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9271 Rev:1
[  233.921169] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: USB layer initialized

Taking a long time in the request_firmware fonction...

[TuTizz]

I tried to add CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE=htc_9271.bin and CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR=/lib/firmware in my kernel menuconfig.

[    5.280062] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 1 - h�� :�`F�,0�*�p��@9���Et� 
[    5.296993] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 2
[    5.307547] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 3
[    5.605585] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51272
[    5.620059] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware number 4
[    5.630470] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 0 
[    5.640906] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 1 
[    5.651028] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 2 
[    5.663072] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 3 
[    5.673361] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 4 
[    5.683505] usb 1-1.7: ath9k_htc: Firmware - idx = 5 
[    5.841154] ath9k_htc 1-1.7:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits

My kernel is not waiting anymore. Is that a correct solution?

[olerem]

It is not good solution, because you won't be able to update firmware without rebuilding kernel. Take a look here http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/firmware_class/README?id=HEAD

[TuTizz]

Re, With the kernel 3.0.35, user had to manualy upload the firmware into the device. https://github.com/Freescale/linux-fslc/tree/patches-3.0.35-4.0.0-wandboard/Documentation/firmware_class With udev and script my driver is now completely loaded in 3 sec :

[ 1060.828597] usb 1-1.7.4: ath9k_htc: USB layer deinitialized
[ 1062.878175] usb 1-1.7.4: new high speed USB device number 10 using fsl-ehci
[ 1063.314410] usb 1-1.7.4: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51272
[ 1063.549760] ath9k_htc 1-1.7.4:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[ 1063.762515] ath9k_htc 1-1.7.4:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.3
[ 1063.776371] ieee80211 phy3: Atheros AR9271 Rev:1
[ 1063.787029] usb 1-1.7.4: ath9k_htc: USB layer initialized

Thanks for your help.