I've had repeated trouble with ath9k causing my system to lock up. It's a macbook, late 2006 model, running 8.10.
lspci -v shows the following info:
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
Memory at 90100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [60] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [90] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=1
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel <?>
Kernel driver in use: ath9k
Kernel modules: ath9k
Kernel:
Linux uviol 2.6.27-7-generic #1 SMP Fri Oct 24 06:40:41 UTC 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Symptoms are the wireless network fails to respond and I am unable to reconnect. I get repeated popups asking for WPA2 password, and lots of messages like this in the log:
[72782.981155] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[72783.337281] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 60 (5300Mhz) flags 0x103
42 hal status 4294967277
[72783.337369] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[72783.693048] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 64 (5320Mhz) flags 0x103
42 hal status 4294967277
[72783.693164] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[72784.049049] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 149 (5745Mhz) flags 0x30
142 hal status 4294967277
[72784.049173] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[72784.336993] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 153 (5765Mhz) flags 0x50
142 hal status 4294967277
First time this happens, I can clear the problem by unloading and reloading the ath9k module. It will occur again shortly afterward. Second or third time around the ath9k module will unload and reload fine, but following this any process that tries accessing the device will hang (NetworkManager, 'ifconfig', etc.) and the system becomes more and more unresponsive until I have to power off.
This bug is a showstopper for me and rebooting twice daily has shot my workflow to bits, so I'm happy to help debug this in any way I can.
I have the same wireless chip set, also in a mac book pro.
The wireless connects for a while, then will kick me off. It won't reconnect and it stops other applications from launching properly, and stops me from authenticating when using sudo.
When it kicks me off, if I try to launch a new application, the window opens, but it has no content. I can't take a screenshot of it.
I also couldn't authenticate using sudo when I try to 'sudo rmmod ath9k'.
Shutting down does not happen properly either. Although the laptop shuts down, when I restart, I have to fsck the disks as they aren't unmounted properly.
Restarting doesn't help, a full shutdown (and remove the battery) seems to be the only way to get the wireless working again for me.
As it stands, I have to use a wired connection as I do not want to risk damaging the file system and having to re-install again.
My kern.log gets the following line repeated many times when this problem occurs.
Oct 26 14:18:05 Zodac kernel: [ 6493.762514] DMA: Out of SW-IOMMU space for 4224 bytes at device 0000:0b:00.0
lspci -v (pretty much the same as Jacob's)
0b:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 0087
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 16
Memory at d7300000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [60] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [90] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=1
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel <?>
Kernel modules: ath9k
If there is any more information I can give you, please ask.