TL-WR1043ND. wifi troubles and the fw versions affected

[UsernameTaken]

I got a TL-WR1043ND, hardware version 1.8. I think the hardware version is important because I had another router with hw v 1.7 that proved to be much more stable even when running the exact same firmware.

As discussed in the thread about 1.5.2. the wifi drops completely or slows down to a crawl after a while. I've now tested a number of different firmware version and types and feel confident that my findings points to something being wrong in the underlying openwrt version being used.

I've tried the following firmwares that all display the same wireless issues:
Gargoyle 1.5.2 and 1.4.5, openwrt final and trunk (from two weeks ago).

After reading about others having the same problem with the same router, I tried their suggested solution: using the rc5 version.

My router has now been up and running for four says without any troubles, so I would say that something happened between rc5 and final
that broke something important.

Maybe the latest gargoyle version could be also be compiled using rc5 until this problem has been fixed in trunk, so this very common router could take advantage of the functionality offered in the latest version of gargoyle.

[hnl_dk]

I have two TL-WR1043NDv1.8 running 1.5.2. WIFI has been totally stable since 1.5.0 (and IIRC a few versions before that).
Some month ago, I discovered that one of my AP was not "compatible" with the router and it made WIFI crash, so I bought a new AP (my second TL-WR1043NDv1.8).

Try to post your syslog from around the time (at least a few minutes before and then a few minutes after), when you WIFI crashes.

And post if you are using Tor, dynDNS or something like it.

[UsernameTaken]

As i said, I saw the same thing in plain openwrt, so it's not gargoyle that is at fault here.

If you don't experience the same problem it's probably due to you not using the same openwrt settings that I, and others experiencing problems, do. It probably got something to do with using the "N" standard in combination with certain encryption settings (I use aes). Perhaps the degree and type of load also plays a role. I don't know. I just know that rc5 does not exhibit this problem, while with the other versions I could reliably expect to see the wifi slow down within 12 hours.

Some month ago, I discovered that one of my AP was not "compatible" with the router and it made WIFI crash, so I bought a new AP (my second TL-WR1043NDv1.8).

I'm not sure what this means, you used it as a wds client? If some client communicated with it in such a way that the wifi crashed, I would say that is a serious bug initself.

[hnl_dk]

As i said, I saw the same thing in plain openwrt, so it's not gargoyle that is at fault here.

If you don't experience the same problem it's probably due to you not using the same openwrt settings that I, and others experiencing problems, do. It probably got something to do with using the "N" standard in combination with certain encryption settings (I use aes). Perhaps the degree and type of load also plays a role. I don't know. I just know that rc5 does not exhibit this problem, while with the other versions I could reliably expect to see the wifi slow down within 12 hours.

This is my wireless settings, and as told, is it runnign totally stable (and I am a heavy user on at least 2-3 WIFI devices at the time 2-4 'N' and 1-2 'G'):

Wireless settings on my router

wireless.png (11.32 KiB) Viewed 14163 times

Where have you been able to select AES?
Or have you not used the Gargoyle interface to setup the router?
You should not use the backup from Gargoyle in OpenWRT and also not use the backup from OpenWRT in Gargoyle.

Some month ago, I discovered that one of my AP was not "compatible" with the router and it made WIFI crash, so I bought a new AP (my second TL-WR1043NDv1.8).

I'm not sure what this means, you used it as a wds client? If some client communicated with it in such a way that the wifi crashed, I would say that is a serious bug initself.

No, it was a "simple client", no wds... the client was disconneced/reconnected (the AP worked for a few minutes) all the time and after some time (maybe after 4 - 12 hours)... the router ran possibly out of memory.

[nicram]

Hello UsernameTaken
I also have TL-WR1043ND 1.8, i started with Gargoyle because for me oryginall firmware was freezing every few days. On russian forum it appeared there are many, hundrets of people had same problem that i got. So i try to search something different. DD-WRT didn;t work well, Gargoyle was better, but had some problems, that finally looks gone, and it works fine for me.
What i advise You to do is:
https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=30315
try noscan option for you, it may help You.
Also with 802.11n You shoudl always use WPA2-PSK with AES encryption.

[UsernameTaken]

Where have you been able to select AES?

It seems I remembered wrong, I assumed wpa2 was AES based. It seems I got the same encryption settings as you do.

I'm not sure why your router is more stable then. Maybe the type of traffic is part of the puzzle. Do you run any p2p software?

[hnl_dk]

Where have you been able to select AES?

It seems I remembered wrong, I assumed wpa2 was AES based. It seems I got the same encryption settings as you do.

I'm not sure why your router is more stable then. Maybe the type of traffic is part of the puzzle. Do you run any p2p software?

only when updating linux.

I would still liek to see a log.
Even if it has not been crashing, would it be nice to see if one of your computers or another device it spaming the router, like my old AP did. Or if anything else might be visible on the log.

If you are a heavy p2p user, the router may have run out of memory.
Remember that even if you stop using the p2p software, other peoples computers will continue to spam your router, sometimes for days, to check if you are still providing the parts of the file, that you have on the computer.

So if you are a heavy p2p user, would I recommend you to at least add a USB HDD and add a SWAP partition, so the router will not run out of memory.

[UsernameTaken]

I don't have gargoyle installed right now, but when I did, I did check the logs and posted about it in the 1.5.2 news thread.

I never tried the noscan option I'm afraid, so if that would offer a solution I cannot say. Even if it does work, I would still say it's a bug since the wireless interference where the router is never had that affect on pre rc5 versions of openwrt. The speed of the wifi when affected is also so low that it cannot be just a question of a regulatory down throttling.

[hnl_dk]

The last two days I have tried to make very heavy downloads, from one of my laptops... And yes, wifi does also crash on my router (the mac addresses have been edited).

Code: Select all

01-31-2012	12:18:17	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:15 kernel: ath: Could not stop RX, we could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
01-31-2012	12:18:17	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:15 kernel: ath: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0x00000024 AR_DIAG_SW=0x42000020 DMADBG_7=0x00026020
01-31-2012	12:18:17	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:15 kernel: ath: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x001!
01-31-2012	12:18:16	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:14 hostapd: wlan0: STA 00:14:a4:74:45:cd IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:18:15	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:13 kernel: ath: Could not stop RX, we could be confusing the DMA engine when we start RX up
01-31-2012	12:18:15	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:13 kernel: ath: DMA failed to stop in 10 ms AR_CR=0x00000024 AR_DIAG_SW=0x42000020 DMADBG_7=0x00006020
01-31-2012	12:18:15	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:13 kernel: ath: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x005!
01-31-2012	12:18:15	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:13 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:18:13	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:11 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:18:12	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:10 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:18:10	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:08 kernel: ath: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x001!
01-31-2012	12:18:08	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:06 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:18:08	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:06 kernel: ath: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x005!
01-31-2012	12:18:07	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:18:05 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:17:57	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:17:55 kernel: ath: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x001!
01-31-2012	12:17:56	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:17:54 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: deauthenticated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:17:55	User.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:17:53 kernel: ath: Failed to stop TX DMA, queues=0x005!
01-31-2012	12:17:55	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:17:53 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: disassociated due to inactivity
01-31-2012	12:11:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:11:01 crond[2969]: USER root pid 5238 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	12:11:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.5	Jan 31 12:11:01 crond[25317]: USER root pid 2362 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	12:09:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:09:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	12:09:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:09:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	12:09:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:09:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	12:09:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:09:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	12:01:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:01:01 crond[2969]: USER root pid 5216 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	12:01:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.5	Jan 31 12:01:01 crond[25317]: USER root pid 2358 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	12:00:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:00:01 crond[2969]: USER root pid 5192 cmd /tmp/do_bw_backup.sh
01-31-2012	12:00:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:00:01 crond[2969]: USER root pid 5191 cmd date -u  +"%Y.%m.%d-%H:%M:%S" >/usr/data/time_backup
01-31-2012	12:00:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 12:00:01 crond[2969]: USER root pid 5190 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	12:00:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.5	Jan 31 12:00:01 crond[25317]: USER root pid 2334 cmd /tmp/do_bw_backup.sh
01-31-2012	12:00:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.5	Jan 31 12:00:01 crond[25317]: USER root pid 2333 cmd date -u  +"%Y.%m.%d-%H:%M:%S" >/usr/data/time_backup
01-31-2012	12:00:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.5	Jan 31 12:00:01 crond[25317]: USER root pid 2332 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	11:59:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:59:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	11:59:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:59:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	11:59:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:59:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	11:59:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:59:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	11:51:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:51:01 crond[2969]: USER root pid 5170 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	11:51:03	Cron.Error	192.168.254.5	Jan 31 11:51:01 crond[25317]: USER root pid 2328 cmd /usr/bin/set_kernel_timezone >/dev/null 2>&1
01-31-2012	11:49:29	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:49:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)
01-31-2012	11:49:28	Daemon.Info	192.168.254.1	Jan 31 11:49:26 hostapd: wlan0: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: group key handshake completed (RSN)

[mix]

I am curious if the wireless fixes for atheros hardware that should be included in the 1.5.3 firmware will finally fix these dma issues.