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Bug 27346

Summary: Keyboard LockUp when using Wireless PCMCIA card (Cisco Aironet 340)
Product: Gentoo Linux Reporter: Philippe Forget <phil.forget>
Component: Current packagesAssignee: Mobile Herd (OBSOLETE) <mobile+disabled>
Status: VERIFIED TEST-REQUEST    
Severity: critical CC: chadh, jbecker, x86-kernel
Priority: High    
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: x86   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---
Bug Depends on:    
Bug Blocks: 68964    
Attachments: Laptop specs

Description Philippe Forget 2003-08-26 02:42:01 UTC
When I use my cisco aironet 340 wireless card, after a certain amount of time, my keyboard just locks up, i can still use the X Window interface without problems I just have no Keyboard input.

Also, If I try to close X at this moment, the screen just blanks out and I never get my shell back.

This problem ONLY happens when I use the wireless card, when I use the 3Com ethernet card everything goes fine and the problem never occurs.

Anyone have any insight on this problem?

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:

1. Connect to a wireless network
2. download information for a while

Actual Results:  
Keyboard Locks Up but the rest of the X Window interface works fine.

Expected Results:  
allow me to keep on using the keyboard no matter what.
Comment 1 Philippe Forget 2003-08-26 02:48:46 UTC
I have some information to add to this. from what i've seen, after doing some bit of testing, is that it only happens when I have to use a considerable amount of bandwidth in one shot (ex : using emerge or using streamripper) it doesnt happens ONLY with those software but this is a good example.

normal browsing of web sites or the use of softwares such as Gaim DONT SEEM to create the problem. at least not in the 30 minutes ive been doing what we would call "regular" browsing.
Comment 2 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2003-08-28 09:34:26 UTC
We need some more info. What kernel are you using? How do you know this is not flaky hardware? Can you pinpoint the amount of data transferred to something specific or some specific size [this might a buffer overflow or something]? Also, can you please add some system specs?
Comment 3 Philippe Forget 2003-08-29 19:36:00 UTC
It happens with every 2.4 kernels ive tried.
I cannot give you a "specefic" amount of transfer done  cause i dont think its how much is tranfered but more how much bandwidth is being used.

The problem DOES NOT occurs on windows or on freebsd

as for some system specs, this is a toshiba laptop satellite 1710CDS, Celeron 600 with 196megs of RAM and a 6 gig Harddrive. No built-in network interface.
The Wireless card is a Cisco Aironet 340 PCMCIA card.

anything else that could help you out? im out of idea.
Comment 4 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2003-08-30 05:46:57 UTC
Please disable all of the following kernel options: Preemtible Kernel, Power Management, APIC. 
Comment 5 Jesse Becker 2003-11-14 14:31:05 UTC
Created attachment 20750 [details]
Laptop specs
Comment 6 Jesse Becker 2003-11-14 14:33:34 UTC
I'd just like to add that I *VERY OCCASIONALLY* see this happen as well.  I have a Dell CPIR-400 Latitude laptop (PII-400), with 128 megs of RAM.  I also have a Cisco 340 card.  Detailed system specs are attached to this bug.

This happened to me today, which was the first time for this problem in many weeks.  I can not reproduce it at will.  Oddly enough, only the keyboard is affected; the mouse still works (and I can sometimes copy enough letters in X to paste 'poweroff' in a root windows; alas, this doesn't always actually work...).

Since updating to the 2.4.20-xfs-r3 kernel, I haven't been able to safely suspend (apm -s) the laptop while the wireless card is inserted.  Suspend works fine with other PCMCIA NICs.

Detailed system specs are attached in a file.
Comment 7 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2003-11-14 14:42:28 UTC
Jesse: Can you try xfs-sources-2.4.22 and see if that cures it?
Comment 8 Jesse Becker 2003-11-17 19:13:10 UTC
Yes, I can test with xfs-sources-2.4.22.  However, it will take some time to test since I have never been able to reproduce it at will.  I should be able to report on the problem coming back from sleep mode though.
Comment 9 Jesse Becker 2003-11-21 07:56:42 UTC
Had some problems getting xfs-sources to build (lots of uresolved deps).  Instead, I'm using ck-sources-2.4.22-r2.  I'll report back in a few days.
Comment 10 Jesse Becker 2004-06-14 10:02:18 UTC
I've migrated to 2.6 kernels, and a new laptop with built-in wifi (Dell Latitude D600).  I occasionally see symptoms like this, even when not using the Cisco card, so it may not be directly related to the 340.
Comment 11 Henrik Brix Andersen 2005-04-25 05:16:19 UTC
Reporter, please check if sys-apps/pcmcia-3.2.8 fixes this issue.
Comment 12 Henrik Brix Andersen 2005-05-21 14:19:25 UTC
Closing due to lack of feedback.