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Re: Intel miniPCI-e WiFi cards not working

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:39 pm
by nbpf
opencompany wrote:The new BIOS with WiFi fix has been released for fit-PC3 (v. SBCFP3_2.1.0.333_14)
http://www.fit-pc.com/wiki/index.php/Fi ... IOS_Update
Thanks for the update. I have received a new fit-PC3 on Monday 10.02.14 from CompuLab (thanks again to all people involved in processing my RMA for their ready and competent support !). The BIOS is

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root@fitpc3:/var/log# sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
SBC_2.1.0.333_14 X64
my OS is

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root@fitpc3:/var/log# uname -a
Linux fitpc3 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.54-2 x86_64 GNU/Linux
the network card is

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root@fitpc3:/var/log# lspci | grep -i network
05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)
The system works very nicely and the network connection is fast and reliable. There is, however, an annoying problem: every day (2 since the fit-PC3 is up and running) and short before midnight the network connection gets disabled:

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root@fitpc3:/var/log# grep "disable radio" messages 
Feb 11 23:57:11 fitpc3 kernel: [ 7149.120675] iwlwifi 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.
root@fitpc3:/var/log# grep "disable radio" messages.1 
Feb 10 23:57:00 fitpc3 kernel: [12071.847421] iwlwifi 0000:05:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.
During the day the network connection is perfectly reliable. I have a laptop with the same OS and the same iwlwifi drivers (but with an Advanced-N 6205 network card) and the network connection is stable over weeks.

Any idea how to fix this problem ?

Re: Intel miniPCI-e WiFi cards not working

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:56 pm
by opencompany
Unfortunately I have no idea :(

Re: Intel miniPCI-e WiFi cards not working

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:28 pm
by nbpf
opencompany wrote:Unfortunately I have no idea :(
Right, I was just wandering if bluetooth could be responsible for the RF_KILL. I used to disable bluetooth via BIOS but I have noticed that in the new BIOS there is no option for disabling bluetooth ... I'll try loading the iwlwifi module with bt_coex_active=N and report.

Re: Intel miniPCI-e WiFi cards not working

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 6:04 pm
by nbpf
nbpf wrote:I'll try loading the iwlwifi module with bt_coex_active=N and report.
Right, it seems (just one test passed so far) that loading the iwlwifi module with bt_coex_active=N prevents the RF_KILL and network disconnection. Unfortunately, this also significantly degrades wireless bandwidth, particularly in the 2,4GHz band.

I have opened an issue on the Debian User Forum (http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=111656), hopefully there is a better way to solve the problem.

Re: Intel miniPCI-e WiFi cards not working

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 12:05 pm
by opencompany
@nbpf
Thanks for sharing.
We are using this card a lot but haven't experienced or noticed this issue. However it is good to know in case we will. We are using SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 btw.

Re: Intel miniPCI-e WiFi cards not working

Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 11:02 am
by nbpf
Problem solved ! Comparing the output of "rfkill list" on the fit-PC3 and on my laptop suggested that no bluetooth interface was active.

"lsmod | grep btusb" confirmed that the bluetooth modules were not loaded. At this point I realized that I had a "/etc/modprobe.d/tuning-blacklist.conf" with the single entry

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blacklist btusb
from a previous (Realtek network controller) configuration ! After removing the entry the bluetooth modules loaded fine and there have been no RF_KILL around 23:57 for the past two days (and transfer rates have further improved). The lesson learned is:
  • * iwlwifi loaded with default options, btusb blacklisted => RF_KILL problem
    * iwlwifi loaded with bt_coex_active=N, btusb blacklisted => no RF_KILL problem but significant performance degradation
    * iwlwifi loaded with default options, btusb loaded => no RF_KILL problem, no performance degradation