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7260 with firmware version iwlwifi-7260-8.ucode locks kernel

KCalv
Beginner
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I have built the 3.14.2 linux kernel and am trying to use the 7260 card with the 7260-8 version of firmware downloaded. I see in the kernel log that the firmware loads and the card is recognized, but the kernel locks up subsequently. If I back down to version 7260-7 of the firmware, the system boots and operates successfully.

I have determined that the step that locks the kernel is as follows:

ifconfig wlan0 down

iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor

iwconfig wlan0 up

iwconfig wlan0 freq 2462M

It is the last step of setting the frequency that locks the kernel requiring a system reboot.

The reason I am trying to move to this version of firmware in the card is as many people are reporting, the card locks up. We run the card in monitor mode, and intermittently the card will show that it is receiving packets, but not of the packets which are routed to our driver make it there, unless we reset the wifi card (with ifconfig wlan0 down; ifconfig wlan0 up).

Supposedly, the 7260-8.ucode firmware is the recommended firmware for 3.13+ kernels.

Anyone have ideas about either problem?

1) Why does the card quit recognizing packets that are sent to it

2) Why is the 7260-8 firmware incompatible with the 3.14.2 kernel drivers?

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4 Replies
Jose_H_Intel1
Employee
735 Views

You may want to try contacting the support option given here: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi iwlwifi - Linux Wireless

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034398.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Linux* support for Intel® Wi-Fi Adapters

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KCalv
Beginner
736 Views

I have reported this problem on kernel.org and it is assigned as a bug (bugzilla.kernel.org id=75541)

It was recommended to replace the iwconfig commands with iw commands

Changing to the iw commands had no effect.

Further testing showed that the 7260-8 firmware does operate successfully if channel 1 is selected, but it locks if any other channel is selected

Since the card provides functionality on all channels if 7260-7 firmware is used, the problem is not the card, it is the firmware.

There is no support from the sites referenced, I used both of them to find the kernel version recommendation and the version of firmware recommended.

I was hoping the latest version of firmware would solve the core problem which is the periodic total dropout of wifi reception (we use the card in monitor mode in our product). But the latest firmware is obviously not a solution, and I don't know if it solves the problem we are trying to fix.

But I see that many people are having this problem on a variety of platforms, so it seems the reliability of this card is below what we need in our product and we need to look at a different card.

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KCalv
Beginner
736 Views

The issue with the 7260-8 firmware locking the kernel was an issue in the iwlwifi driver. A patch has been prepared (see bugzilla.kernel.org id=75541)

I can proceed with further testing now to see if the 7260-8 firmware resolves the problem with the wifi reception shutting down periodically when in monitor mode.

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MOlso2
Beginner
736 Views

I purchased an Intel 7260HMW (802.11ac) card to replace the original 802.11n card in my Intel NUC DN2820FYKH. The DN2820 was recently upgraded to OpenELEC 4.0.0 which has the Linux 3.14.2 kernel. The card could see both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz bands from my ASUS RT-AC68U 802.11ac router. When connecting to either band, if I stream video over the network, the stream starts and stops a few times in less than a minute and then the 7260HMW drops the connection to the router. I re-installed the 802.11n card and the network worked without problems. OpenELEC 4.0.0 has the 7260-8 firmware. I was not successful in adding the 7260-9 firmware file to the /lib/firmware directory. I hope the patch mentioned in the previous post can fix the problems I'm seeing with the 7260HMW.

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