I did an install on my new Thinkpad W500 today. I used the latest ~arch kernel, g-s-2.6.29-r5. The iwlagn driver recognizes my hardware and loads the firmware in net-wireless/iwl5000-ucode-5.4.0.11 (8.24.2.12 provides a file named -2.ucode which doesn't work, instead of the -1.ucode which does) without issue. However, when I go to restart wireless (it will work fine the first time), it will associate with my AP without issue but then the connection is unusable. Running 'iwconfig wlan0' multiple times shows the network speed jumping back and forth between 1M/s and 54M/s. It also shows the Tx-power as -1. Looking in dmesg, I see the following line many times: [ 640.041309] iwlagn: Requested user TXPOWER 15 below limit. It seems that I can reliably "fix" the issue by unloading the module, reloading it, and starting the wireless. If I then restart the wireless without reloading the module, I hit this problem again.
(In reply to comment #0) > I did an install on my new Thinkpad W500 today. I used the latest ~arch kernel, > g-s-2.6.29-r5. The iwlagn driver recognizes my hardware and loads the firmware > in net-wireless/iwl5000-ucode-5.4.0.11 (8.24.2.12 provides a file named > -2.ucode which doesn't work, instead of the -1.ucode which does) without issue. > > However, when I go to restart wireless (it will work fine the first time), it > will associate with my AP without issue but then the connection is unusable. > Running 'iwconfig wlan0' multiple times shows the network speed jumping back > and forth between 1M/s and 54M/s. It also shows the Tx-power as -1. > > Looking in dmesg, I see the following line many times: > > [ 640.041309] iwlagn: Requested user TXPOWER 15 below limit. > > It seems that I can reliably "fix" the issue by unloading the module, reloading > it, and starting the wireless. If I then restart the wireless without reloading > the module, I hit this problem again. > Could you try setting your txpower value to 'auto' or 'fixed' using the iwconfig tool? Also, check out if any power management scripts are autoconfiguring your interface and setting their own txpower value. A -1 value of txpower is suspicious.
I've tried doing 'ifconfig wlan0 txpower auto' when it's not working, and it does not restore it. I've also tried 'ifconfig wlan0 txpower 15', which does not "fix" it either. I haven't configured any power management stuff. I have the "standard" stuff like acpid and cpufreq (userspace governor), but I haven't modified the configs from the stock ones.
Could we have a copy of your 'iwconfig wlan0' output (if other stuff don't change between the 1M/s and 54M/s output, either one will do the trick)? Also, a full copy of your dmesg after the problems appear, would help. Finally, did previous kernel version work fine?
Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you on this. It's gone to the back of my mind since I added a 'modprobe -r iwlagn && modprobe iwlagn' to the preup() for the interface. I don't have the laptop in front of me to get the output of those commands. There was no previous kernel, because this is a new install.
Created attachment 195234 [details] 'iwconfig wlan0' when it's working
Created attachment 195235 [details] 'iwconfig wlan0' on the second try when it's not working
Created attachment 195236 [details] dmesg
I just tried a 2.6.30-gentoo-r1 kernel. Now, the iwlagn driver loads the -2 version of the firmware, but I can hardly get it to connect at all. The net.wlan0 init script fails immediately saying that it can't scan. If I play with disabling/enabling the interface a couple of times, I can finally get it to scan.
I see a couple of commits that might be related to your problem in 2.6.30, though I see you have tested this kernel version http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux%2Fkernel%2Fgit%2Ftorvalds%2Flinux-2.6.git&a=search&h=HEAD&st=commit&s=orrect+wext+transmit+power+handler Is there relevant information in dmesg we should see?
