[Bug 356768] Re: ath5k driver hangs periodically, please include trivial patch in kernel

[shamwow]

Okay, so I think this worked.  No crash yet.    See my above post for
problem/system description.

1) I downloaded linux sources for my kernel version using package
manager, untarred them (2.6.31-20).

2) I manually applied Bob's patch by changing the relevant code in the relevant directory (using vi), specifically in these three files , which according to Bob Copeland need  sanity checks added to prevent kernel panic. 
/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/base.c
/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/base.h
/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/phy.c 

View the patch details here
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/attachment.cgi?id=19574

3) I recompiled the kernel.  This took forever.  I did 'make oldconfig'
from the linux-source-2.6.31 directory, then did a 'make' and let it run
while I slept.

4) To my surprise I found a nicely compiled ath5k.ko file!!  I couldn't insmod it, so I backed up the old ath5k.ko module in /lib/modules/2.6.31-20..
/lib/modules/2.6.31-20-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/ath5k.ko  <-- needs to be backed up.


then I did this.

root at failwhale-desktop:/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k# modprobe -r ath5k
#wireless goes down
root at failwhale-desktop:/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k# ls
ath5k.h      attach.o    caps.o   dma.c     gpio.o      Makefile       phy.o    rfbuffer.h
ath5k.ko     base.c      debug.c  dma.o     initvals.c  Makefile.bak   qcu.c    rfgain.h
ath5k.mod.c  base.h      debug.h  eeprom.c  initvals.o  modules.order  qcu.o    rfkill.c
ath5k.mod.o  base.o      desc.c   eeprom.h  Kconfig     pcu.c          reg.h    rfkill.o
ath5k.o      built-in.o  desc.h   eeprom.o  led.c       pcu.o          reset.c
attach.c     caps.c      desc.o   gpio.c    led.o       phy.c          reset.o
root at failwhale-desktop:/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k# cp ath5k.ko /lib/modules/2.6.31-20-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k/
root at failwhale-desktop:/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k# depmod -a
root at failwhale-desktop:/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k# modprobe ath5k
root at failwhale-desktop:/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath5k# uname -a
Linux failwhale-desktop 2.6.31-20-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP Mon Feb 8 09:05:19 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
#wireless comes back up

Hopefully we are stable now, if you don't see any more posts here you can assume my manual application of Bob Copeland's ath5k driver fix is effective... you can look at the patch file here, it's like 10 lines of ath5k code to add a couple of locks and sanity checks during the wireless interface reset...  
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/attachment.cgi?id=19574

-- 
ath5k driver hangs periodically, please include trivial patch in kernel
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/356768
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Kernel
Bugs, which is subscribed to Linux.