iMX8 Wifi Access point unreliable

Technical Support
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21

Thanks for the observation @Edward. What is your opinion about NetworkManager?

@tyler_, do you also plan to use the WiFi in Client mode?

And about Bluetooth, any plans for it as well?

Best regards,
André Curvello

22

@Edward I’m documenting the current issues with customers using the AzureWave module.

Are you also facing any issues on your side?

Anything you would like to comment on?

23

Regarding WiFi AP options like modes higher 802.11g, channel width, operating channel both Connman and NetworkManager are very limited. Since Connman became for us unacceptable due to other issues, I decided to skip little better NetworkManager and switched to combination of just systemd-networkd + hostapd.

With NXP driver card is usable.

24

Thank you for your comments, @Edward.
Which module with AzureWave are you using?

25

Hi @andrecurvello.tx, it’s Colibri iMX6ULL

26

Ok!

Thank you.

27

@andrecurvello.tx while we’ve generally seen much more stable behavior from the new drivers, I have still encountered loss of AP functionality with the NXP driver.

I left a unit running with wifi AP running as a long term test; just idling. Checking on it about 6 days later, the wifi AP was inoperable (reported up in the iMX8 OS, but clients can’t connect, like with the mwifiex driver when it fails).

I’ve attached dmesg output. It looks like the driver or card encountered issues after about 20 hours of uptime. The logs are quiet from there, until around 5 days of uptime, when I powered up a laptop that attempted to connect to the AP.

I attempted to restart hostapd, but the AP did not recover. I’ve attached logs from that action as well.

This is with the 2020Q4 Quarterly Release, 5.1 BSP. I’ll start another long term test using the 5.2 BSP that has since been released.

dmesg and hostapd logs

28

Hi @tyler_,

Thanks for the feedback and logs provided.

I have some questions for you:

  1. Can you share which parameters are you passing to the sd8xxx module initialization?
  2. Do you also plan to use the WiFi in Client mode?
  3. Do you also plan to use Bluetooth functionality as well?

Best regards,
André Curvello

29

Andre, my module parameters right now are:

PCIE8997 = {
        cfg80211_wext=0xf
        wfd_name=p2p
        max_vir_bss=1
        cal_data_cfg=none
        drv_mode=7
        ps_mode=2
        auto_ds=2
        fw_name=mrvl/pcieuart8997_combo_v4.bin
}

These are based on the NXP example on their Github as well as @Edward 's comment above.

In the near term we do not require BT nor WiFi Client functionality, but may need them in the future.

Thank you.

30

Hi @tyler_,

Thanks for the feedback.

And just to confirm, are you configuring the AzureWave module to operate in its normal setup with 2 antennas, or are you using the single-antenna configuration?

Best regards,
André Curvello

31

@andrecurvello.tx , our setup has both antennas connected to the module.

32

Ok! Thank you!

33

@andrecurvello.tx to provide another data point - that same system with the 5.1-based OS has been up for about 20 days now with no wifi issues.

This is with very minimal usage (connect a client every few days, do a speed test).

34

@Edward did you find the upstream mwifiex (Marvell) driver to be stable in AP mode?

I’m working with an iMX6 now with an 88w8997 USB chipset, and am having trouble getting the new NXP driver built there. If I can use the old Marvell driver, I will.

35

Hi @tyler_ ,

I tried upstream Marvell driver while ago. It appeared bit more stable in STA mode, but was similarly bad in AP mode as using downstream kernel. Driver source code was identical. Were there changes in Marvel driver this year?

I didn’t yet give long time test for NXP driver in AP mode. In short term looks stable. One bad thing about it. Running simultaneously STA client (wpa_supplicant, mlan0 interface) in 5GHz band and AP (hostapd, uap0 interface) in 2.4GHz band, for some reason hostapd.conf settings quickly get ignored an AP jumps itself to 5GHz band. It starts initially as requested in 2.4GHz band, but then jumps to follow associated mlan0 STA band… Perhaps it is so due to single antenna, need to check, I edited driver conf file to use only one.

36

Hi @tyler1

Have you done anything more with this? We are still working with an alternative driver that we are hoping will be more reliable but I don’t have any specific deliverable dates I can provide.

Drew

37

when I clicked on this (link) it is showing Page not found. Can you please provide me this?

38

Hi @rohitsharma

Can you clarify which link you need access to?

Drew

39

This link: -
https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/user-guide/UM11483.pdf
Showing page not found. And also want to know how to run wifi on iMX8 board since mrvl driver creating issues. Can you help me with this how to replace nxp wifi driver with mrvl driver?

40

I found that document here. It requires a login on the NXP site.

Which driver are you referring to when you say the “mrvl driver”?