Atheros AR9227 wireless PCI on 10.2

[hanzer]

I have a TL-WN751ND in a 10.2 system that seems to be having some problems. Basic info:

# pciconf -lv

ath0@pci0:1:9:0:  class=0x028000 card=0x0301168c chip=0x002d168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
  vendor  = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
  device  = 'AR9227 Wireless Network Adapter'
  class  = network

# ifconfig | grep -B3 -i wireless

ath0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 2290
  ether c4:e9:84:91:9c:20
  nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
  media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11ng
--
  ether c4:e9:84:91:9c:20
  inet 192.168.49.179 netmask 0xfffffc00 broadcast 192.168.51.255
  nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
  media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng

# ifconfig wlan0 list caps

drivercaps=4f85ed01<STA,IBSS,HOSTAP,AHDEMO,TXPMGT,SHSLOT,SHPREAMBLE,MONITOR,MBSS,WPA1,WPA2,BURST,WME,WDS,TXFRAG>
cryptocaps=1f<WEP,TKIP,AES,AES_CCM,TKIPMIC>
htcaps=7016e<CHWIDTH40,SHORTGI20,SHORTGI40>

Basic connectivity isn't a problem (it works) but the console/dmesg gets hammered with continuous reports like:

ath0: ath_rate_tx_complete: ts_rate=27 ts_finaltsi=0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 1 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x81, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x81, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x81, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
ath0: ath_rate_tx_complete: ts_rate=27 ts_finaltsi=0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 3 ts_status 0x0
ath0: ath_rate_tx_complete: ts_rate=27 ts_finaltsi=0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 1 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bb hang detected (0x4), resetting

Often, if the machine is left on over night, I will find that there is no connection in the morning and the network needs to be restarted. Hopefully, there is some tuning that can be done to get the driver/card to interact with the access point more gracefully. At the moment, I don't know how to proceed other than to collect a bunch of data and ask for guidance from the great anonymous network gurus of the inter-ether (there isn't a <smirk> smilie).

Below, is a command followed by an illustrative snippet what gets displayed on the console (and sent to dmesg).

# wlandebug rate

ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 1 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x80, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
ath0: ath_rate_tx_complete: ts_rate=27 ts_finaltsi=0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 1 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x81, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] ath_rate_findrate: min_switch 1077028 > ticks_since_switch 1064071..
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] ath_rate_tx_complete: size 250 (227 bytes) OK rate/short/long 5 MCS/0/1 nframes/nbad [1/0]
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] ath_rate_tx_complete: size 250 (227 bytes) OK rate/short/long 5 MCS/0/1 nframes/nbad [1/0]
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] ath_rate_findrate: min_switch 1078646 > ticks_since_switch 1078031..

# wlandebug input

wlan0: [b0:05:94:16:4e:87] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [00:1d:ce:a1:fc:a0] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [02:1d:ce:a1:fc:a0] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [06:1d:ce:a1:fc:a0] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [b0:05:94:16:4e:87] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [00:1d:ce:a1:fc:a0] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [02:1d:ce:a1:fc:a0] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [06:1d:ce:a1:fc:a0] discard frame, not to bss
wlan0: [52:57:1a:1f:bc:b0] discard frame, not to bss

# wlandebug elemid

wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] discard beacon frame, ie too short, got 26, expected 30
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] discard beacon frame, ie too short, got 26, expected 30
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] discard beacon frame, ie too short, got 26, expected 30
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] discard beacon frame, ie too short, got 26, expected 30
wlan0: [20:b3:99:1c:02:48] discard beacon frame, ie too short, got 26, expected 30

# wlandebug state

ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x80, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x80, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
ath0: bb hang detected (0x4), resetting
ath0: bb hang detected (0x4), resetting
ath0: bb hang detected (0x4), resetting
wlan0: beacon miss, mode STA state RUN
ath0: ath_rate_tx_complete: ts_rate=27 ts_finaltsi=0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 1 ts_status 0x0
wlan0: beacon miss, mode STA state RUN
ath0: ath_rate_tx_complete: ts_rate=27 ts_finaltsi=0
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x1b, tries 1 ts_status 0x0

# wlandebug dumppkts

wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x81, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 31
ath0: bad series0 hwrate 0x80, tries 2 ts_status 0x0
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 32
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 31
wlan0: received beacon from 20:b3:99:1c:02:48 rssi 31