View Full Version : Hit and Miss for Dlink G520 (Atheros 5212)
rbolduc
12-22-2003, 08:01 AM
Hello, I just updated to the latest beta and installed a Dlink G520 into my main AP to see if I could get transfer rates up a little but, ran into a problem. I have all the clients associating with no troubles but I cannot pass any data. If I change some settings on the AP I can pass some data to my hermes clients but no data will pass to my prism 2.5 clients. Here are the settings I tried..
Ch 2437
Rate=11
Ack=0
US
30 dbm
802.11b
Access Point
The Above Settings will let everything associate but no data will pass at all (Cannot Ping Clients)
CH 2437
Rate=auto
Ack=0
US
30 dbm
802.11b
Access Point
These settings will let everything associate and pass data only to the hermes cards but my 2 senao (prism 2.5 1.7.4) backhauls will not pass data at all and the hermes clients are all over the place with rates locked at 11, 5 and 2 even 1 on one client.
What “little” item am I missing ?
Thanks
Reed
bobbyc
12-22-2003, 10:30 AM
Can't help you with the rates (there are some issues with .b atheros rates at the moment), but try setting the ACK higher, see this thread:
http://forums.star-os.com/viewtopic.php?t=1754
Last night I lit up a 1.5mile 5.8 link, and had to set the ACK higher than 0 before I could ping. I ended up getting 6000KB/s one direction, and 3000-4000KB/s in the other with a 350 ACK setting. Not bad!
Bob C
ginovilla
12-22-2003, 08:41 PM
Bobby
what antennas did you use on your link?
did you use Dlink or atheros cards?
Gino
bobbyc
12-22-2003, 09:41 PM
I have the ydi panels...
Davader
12-23-2003, 01:19 AM
Which one of YDI panels?
A5.8FP21-M
A5.3FP23-M
A5.8FP28-M
Is there an advantage/disadvantage with using the 5.15 to 5.850 GHz type panels?
Seems like it's good to have a wide spectrum antenna, or does it also then pickup other channel noise?
rbolduc
12-23-2003, 07:01 AM
Ok here is a little more info
The AP is a Dlink G520 atheros 5212 minipci card in 802.11b mode. I was trying this link on an amped "500mw" slotted waveguide; all the other clients are using 19-24 dbi grids. This setup has been working now for a little over 1 year with a Orinoco silver as the AP with no issues.
UPDATE, I tried to use the Dlink card in the star-os box as a second ap with the stock puny 2db antenna and a Orinoco silver in my laptop only 20' away. the connection was fine as long as I was set to auto mb, the signal quality reported was 52/56 on the star-os box. This worked fine for about 15 min then the AP dropped the client and the only way I could reconnect was to save and activate changes on the AP. The client would show that I had "more than one wireless network available" which was fine but it would not reconnect. Using netstumbler it would show the AP there then it would drop off then it would come back again, I noticed that the channel was showing up as 2*14 together.. WHAT?
I am going to try a different card to rule out hardware on my G520 card
Thanks
Reed
lonnie
12-23-2003, 08:44 AM
Reed, what signal levels do you see on the association screen of the AP?
rbolduc
12-23-2003, 11:13 AM
Here is the screen shot of the link
[test card] 2b:56:69 - 100.2 32/36 -63/-102 -102/-102 2 0s
Reed
lonnie
12-23-2003, 04:22 PM
Excellent signal level. Maybe the card is crashing and we need to check for that and do a reset. That might explain all the code in the sample driver that rebooted the machine in response to certain events.
rbolduc
12-23-2003, 06:03 PM
Tommorow I will try another card to see if that helps, I want to rule out that also. Is anyone else having problems with using the g520 just in 802.11b mode? Can't wait for those WRAP boards.. :P
Thanks
Reed
bobbyc
12-23-2003, 07:19 PM
Correction: I'm using some weird grids that are 5.3ghz only. The panels are still at the office.
That explains why I was getting -85 signal levels at 5.8ghz; we're currently at 5.3ghz and within alloted power levels (only 1.5 mile link and 76dB signal.
As a matter of fact, this thing has been so stable (and our TrangoLink10 was pulled off the towers due to hardware problems) that we switched our primary backhaul over to this atheros link last night. It replaced a WET11 at the office associated to one of our APs at the hilltop (that was our emergency backhaul when the trango went down.)
Bob C
rbolduc
12-25-2003, 01:21 PM
Ok tried a different card and am seeing the same problem, I did look in the dmesg log and did see this error
wpci0: INT_FATAL - fatal error reported by card, resetting...
wpci0: Reverting to previous cache line size
now I know that cannot be good :lol:
Reed
avara
12-25-2003, 06:44 PM
Does the Atheros card really support 30dbm output? It lets users adjust between 1 and 30dbm, but I believe it's lying. Can't see it doing that without an amp...
bobbyc
12-25-2003, 06:47 PM
30mw, not dBm :)
lonnie
12-25-2003, 06:57 PM
No, the settings are in dBm, but are ready for the future. It is like the volume control of a small stereo. It might only be half volume per the knob but there is nothing more to be had, except distortion, as you keep turning it up.
From watching with the Spectrum Analyzer we woulds say that anything above 20 is merely adding distortion and thus noise. It is actually very clean at 20 and does not spill out of band.
This is something that occurs once in a while, however we are normally able to shake the card enough to wake it up if this occurs. Once in a while however we have noticed the card does not wake up right away and requires one to reactivate changes, or reboot the system. We are currently devising methods to keep the card from falling into this unrecoverable state.
Ok tried a different card and am seeing the same problem, I did look in the dmesg log and did see this error
wpci0: INT_FATAL - fatal error reported by card, resetting...
wpci0: Reverting to previous cache line size
now I know that cannot be good :lol:
Reed
bobbyc
12-25-2003, 08:55 PM
Hi Lonnie,
Does 0 keep it at it's factory power level, or actually 0?
Bob C
bobbyc
12-26-2003, 08:54 PM
Cool.
This afternoon I dried out the connectors and re-sealed them, as well as aligned the dishes alot better. I had thought the 30dBm was 30mw, so I set the dbm back to 0 in the starOS config, and now have -75 signal at 5.3ghz. I guess I was way over the limit there for a while.
I know it works, because after I aligned the dishes and before I set the cards back to 0dBm (default), I had -66 signal.
Bob C