I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I can use Firefox, and Pidgin and the network appears to work fine.
But the minute I start Thunderbird, it appears the wifi/network performance is severely degradated as TB is trys to sync the IMAP server data with local data storage. It knocked out pidgin. gkrellm displayed Xorg was hitting CPU hard, Nautilus froze for a time, gnome terminal blocked text entry, basically, everything appeared eratic. But given several minutes of time for TB to settle down and to finish its tasks, the system seemed to return to some sense of normalcy - just slightly better.
While this was going on, I thought I'd ping a local server to get some sense of what is going on with the network since I cannot think of a better diagnostic test, and the summary is shown below but watching each ping line, there appeared many times, complete line display stoppage running several seconds before the next display appears.
42 packets transmitted, 41 received, 2% packet loss, \ time 41873ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.754/359.603/2005.013/581.445 \ ms, pipe 3
Line by line data, the highest delay was 4000ms at that short time of testing.
Is there anything I can do to see why there is network degradation and if it is related to ndiswrapper or not? I tried wired LAN and there is no network degradation?
On 08/29/2010 10:55 AM, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I can use Firefox, and Pidgin and the network appears to work fine.
But the minute I start Thunderbird, it appears the wifi/network performance is severely degradated as TB is trys to sync the IMAP server data with local data storage. It knocked out pidgin. gkrellm displayed Xorg was hitting CPU hard, Nautilus froze for a time, gnome terminal blocked text entry, basically, everything appeared eratic. But given several minutes of time for TB to settle down and to finish its tasks, the system seemed to return to some sense of normalcy - just slightly better.
While this was going on, I thought I'd ping a local server to get some sense of what is going on with the network since I cannot think of a better diagnostic test, and the summary is shown below but watching each ping line, there appeared many times, complete line display stoppage running several seconds before the next display appears.
42 packets transmitted, 41 received, 2% packet loss, \ time 41873ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.754/359.603/2005.013/581.445 \ ms, pipe 3
Line by line data, the highest delay was 4000ms at that short time of testing.
Is there anything I can do to see why there is network degradation and if it is related to ndiswrapper or not? I tried wired LAN and there is no network degradation?
This is addtional data:
Wifi pings: 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=806 ttl=128 time=0.824 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=807 ttl=128 time=2127 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=808 ttl=128 time=1127 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=809 ttl=128 time=127 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=810 ttl=128 time=11999 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=811 ttl=128 time=11000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=812 ttl=128 time=10000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=813 ttl=128 time=9000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=814 ttl=128 time=8000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=815 ttl=128 time=7000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=816 ttl=128 time=6000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=817 ttl=128 time=5000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=818 ttl=128 time=4000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=819 ttl=128 time=3000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=820 ttl=128 time=2000 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=822 ttl=128 time=2.56 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=823 ttl=128 time=2002 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=824 ttl=128 time=1002 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=825 ttl=128 time=1.46 ms
Wired pings: 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1025 ttl=128 time=0.239 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1026 ttl=128 time=0.233 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1027 ttl=128 time=0.252 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1028 ttl=128 time=0.214 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1029 ttl=128 time=0.233 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1030 ttl=128 time=0.248 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1031 ttl=128 time=0.231 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1032 ttl=128 time=0.200 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1033 ttl=128 time=0.224 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1034 ttl=128 time=0.240 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1035 ttl=128 time=0.202 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1036 ttl=128 time=0.241 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1037 ttl=128 time=0.222 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1038 ttl=128 time=0.235 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1039 ttl=128 time=0.249 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1040 ttl=128 time=0.230 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1041 ttl=128 time=0.239 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1042 ttl=128 time=0.246 ms 64 bytes from 10.1.0.100: icmp_seq=1043 ttl=128 time=0.251 ms
So it appears quite clear that when there is heavy load, the Ndiswrapper/TopDog is peglegging along sputtering blood on the trails while the wired connections have no problems...
Well, if anyone has any idea how I can get the topdog wifi chip working at better performance - please let me know?
Thanks!
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:55:43AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I'm sorry, but I can't offer you any support for ndiswrapper. Did you try the mwl8k driver?
John
On 08/30/2010 07:49 AM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:55:43AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I'm sorry, but I can't offer you any support for ndiswrapper. Did you try the mwl8k driver?
John
No I have not tried this driver... where can I get it?
Thanks!
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 08:37:14AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 07:49 AM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:55:43AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I'm sorry, but I can't offer you any support for ndiswrapper. Did you try the mwl8k driver?
John
No I have not tried this driver... where can I get it?
It's part of the Fedora kernel. Also make sure the linux-firmware package is installed.
While testing mwl8k, you will want to remove ndiswrapper so as to avoid interference with the in-kernel driver.
John
On 08/30/2010 11:31 AM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 08:37:14AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 07:49 AM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:55:43AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I'm sorry, but I can't offer you any support for ndiswrapper. Did you try the mwl8k driver?
John
No I have not tried this driver... where can I get it?
It's part of the Fedora kernel. Also make sure the linux-firmware package is installed.
While testing mwl8k, you will want to remove ndiswrapper so as to avoid interference with the in-kernel driver.
John
I have looked on F12 repos and I cannot find this driver but I did find this driver for F13. The problem is, I need this for F12. Is this driver available for F12? If so, can you give me a clue what to look for and now this driver is to be installed and configured, please?
Thanks again, Dan
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 12:04:20PM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 11:31 AM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 08:37:14AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 07:49 AM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 10:55:43AM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
I have a gateway M-6750 laptop which sports a Marvell TopDog wifi chip. I have obtained the latest drivers for this chip, and used ndiswrapper to hook itself to the XP/Vista topdog driver, and it at first appears to be working... although there are crash data appearing in the log files but other than that, it continues on working.
I'm sorry, but I can't offer you any support for ndiswrapper. Did you try the mwl8k driver?
John
No I have not tried this driver... where can I get it?
It's part of the Fedora kernel. Also make sure the linux-firmware package is installed.
While testing mwl8k, you will want to remove ndiswrapper so as to avoid interference with the in-kernel driver.
John
I have looked on F12 repos and I cannot find this driver but I did find this driver for F13. The problem is, I need this for F12. Is this driver available for F12? If so, can you give me a clue what to look for and now this driver is to be installed and configured, please?
What kernel are you using? It is part of the kernel package, not a separate driver.
Please attach the output of running 'lspci -n'. It seems mwl8k may not work for much "consumer" hardware.
John
On 08/30/2010 12:22 PM, John W. Linville wrote:
lspci -n
# lspci -n 00:00.0 0600: 8086:2770 (rev 02) 00:02.0 0300: 8086:2772 (rev 02) 00:1b.0 0403: 8086:27d8 (rev 01) 00:1c.0 0604: 8086:27d0 (rev 01) 00:1c.1 0604: 8086:27d2 (rev 01) 00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:27c8 (rev 01) 00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:27c9 (rev 01) 00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:27ca (rev 01) 00:1d.3 0c03: 8086:27cb (rev 01) 00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:27cc (rev 01) 00:1e.0 0604: 8086:244e (rev e1) 00:1f.0 0601: 8086:27b8 (rev 01) 00:1f.1 0101: 8086:27df (rev 01) 00:1f.2 0101: 8086:27c0 (rev 01) 00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:27da (rev 01) 01:00.0 0180: 105a:4d69 (rev 02) 01:01.0 0200: 8086:1229 (rev 05) 02:00.0 0200: 1969:2048 (rev a0)
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 01:35:31PM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 12:22 PM, John W. Linville wrote:
lspci -n
# lspci -n 00:00.0 0600: 8086:2770 (rev 02) 00:02.0 0300: 8086:2772 (rev 02) 00:1b.0 0403: 8086:27d8 (rev 01) 00:1c.0 0604: 8086:27d0 (rev 01) 00:1c.1 0604: 8086:27d2 (rev 01) 00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:27c8 (rev 01) 00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:27c9 (rev 01) 00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:27ca (rev 01) 00:1d.3 0c03: 8086:27cb (rev 01) 00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:27cc (rev 01) 00:1e.0 0604: 8086:244e (rev e1) 00:1f.0 0601: 8086:27b8 (rev 01) 00:1f.1 0101: 8086:27df (rev 01) 00:1f.2 0101: 8086:27c0 (rev 01) 00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:27da (rev 01) 01:00.0 0180: 105a:4d69 (rev 02) 01:01.0 0200: 8086:1229 (rev 05) 02:00.0 0200: 1969:2048 (rev a0)
Hmmm... I would have expected an 0280 line. Are any of these your wireless device? Is it plugged-in?
John
On 08/30/2010 01:46 PM, John W. Linville wrote:
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 01:35:31PM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 12:22 PM, John W. Linville wrote:
lspci -n
# lspci -n 00:00.0 0600: 8086:2770 (rev 02) 00:02.0 0300: 8086:2772 (rev 02) 00:1b.0 0403: 8086:27d8 (rev 01) 00:1c.0 0604: 8086:27d0 (rev 01) 00:1c.1 0604: 8086:27d2 (rev 01) 00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:27c8 (rev 01) 00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:27c9 (rev 01) 00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:27ca (rev 01) 00:1d.3 0c03: 8086:27cb (rev 01) 00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:27cc (rev 01) 00:1e.0 0604: 8086:244e (rev e1) 00:1f.0 0601: 8086:27b8 (rev 01) 00:1f.1 0101: 8086:27df (rev 01) 00:1f.2 0101: 8086:27c0 (rev 01) 00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:27da (rev 01) 01:00.0 0180: 105a:4d69 (rev 02) 01:01.0 0200: 8086:1229 (rev 05) 02:00.0 0200: 1969:2048 (rev a0)
Hmmm... I would have expected an 0280 line. Are any of these your wireless device? Is it plugged-in?
John
Apologies, the above was taken from the wrong machine.
This is the Gateway laptop data:
# uname -a Linux <hostname> 2.6.32.19-163.fc12.i686 #1 SMP Wed Aug 18 11:39:59 UTC 2010 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
# lspci -n 00:00.0 0600: 8086:2a00 (rev 03) 00:02.0 0300: 8086:2a02 (rev 03) 00:02.1 0380: 8086:2a03 (rev 03) 00:1a.0 0c03: 8086:2834 (rev 03) 00:1a.1 0c03: 8086:2835 (rev 03) 00:1a.7 0c03: 8086:283a (rev 03) 00:1b.0 0403: 8086:284b (rev 03) 00:1c.0 0604: 8086:283f (rev 03) 00:1c.2 0604: 8086:2843 (rev 03) 00:1c.5 0604: 8086:2849 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:2830 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:2831 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:2832 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:2836 (rev 03) 00:1e.0 0604: 8086:2448 (rev f3) 00:1f.0 0601: 8086:2815 (rev 03) 00:1f.1 0101: 8086:2850 (rev 03) 00:1f.2 0106: 8086:2829 (rev 03) 00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:283e (rev 03) 02:00.0 0200: 11ab:2a08 (rev 03) 06:00.0 0200: 10ec:8136 (rev 01)
# lspci -nn 02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Device [11ab:2a08] (rev 03)
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 01:38:02PM -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
On 08/30/2010 12:22 PM, John W. Linville wrote:
What kernel are you using?
# uname -r 2.6.32.16-150.fc12.i686
mwl8k is enabled on that kernel. You can verify that it is present by running 'modinfo mwl8k'.
On 08/30/2010 01:48 PM, John W. Linville wrote:
modinfo mwl8k
$ modinfo mwl8k filename: /lib/modules/2.6.32.19-163.fc12.i686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mwl8k.ko license: GPL author: Lennert Buytenhek buytenh@marvell.com version: 0.10 description: Marvell TOPDOG(R) 802.11 Wireless Network Driver srcversion: C6187652AA0FEE17B0F7F02 alias: pci:v000011ABd00002A30sv*sd*bc*sc*i* alias: pci:v000011ABd00002A2Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i* depends: mac80211,cfg80211 vermagic: 2.6.32.19-163.fc12.i686 SMP mod_unload 686