25.12.0 slow boot on Linksys WRT3200ACM

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

I have upgraded to 25.12.0 on a Linksys WRT3200ACM. Previous version was 23.05.4 but I did not keep any configuration. After the upgrade I noticed that every reboot took several minutes.

This seems to be the problem:
[ 22.129186] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[ 22.210887] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: Direct firmware load for nxp/rgpower_FR.bin failed with error -2
[ 22.220308] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: Falling back to sysfs fallback for: nxp/rgpower_FR.bin
[ 84.955678] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: Direct firmware load for nxp/rgpower_US.bin failed with error -2
[ 84.965056] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: Falling back to sysfs fallback for: nxp/rgpower_US.bin
[ 146.424184] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: info: MWIFIEX VERSION: mwifiex 1.0 (15.68.7.p189)
[ 146.432371] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: driver_version = mwifiex 1.0 (15.68.7.p189)
[ 146.440511] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: Direct firmware load for nxp/rgpower_FR.bin failed with error -2
[ 146.449928] mwifiex_sdio mmc0:0001:1: Falling back to sysfs fallback for: nxp/rgpower_FR.bin

ChatGPTs advice:
Why this is happening on your router
The Linksys WRT3200ACM actually has three wireless components:
PCIe radio #1 → mwlwifi
PCIe radio #2 → mwlwifi
SDIO Marvell/NXP combo chip → mwifiex (Wi-Fi + Bluetooth)
OpenWrt normally does not use the SDIO Wi-Fi, but the driver still loads and tries to initialize it.
So you're seeing delays from a device that most people never use.
...
mwifiex-sdio-firmware
contains the main firmware, but not the regulatory power table files (rgpower_*.bin).
Those are often missing in OpenWrt builds.
...
Disable the unused SDIO Wi-Fi driver.
mkdir -p /etc/modprobe.d
echo "blacklist mwifiex_sdio" > /etc/modprobe.d/mwifiex.conf

It seems to solve the slow boot. So is ChatGPT correct here or can I expect any other problem by disabling this? Is this a flaw in the build?

2

If not using the 3rd radio(recommended), there is not issue.

2 Likes
3

I had the same issue. First I looked the available packages that could possibly include the nxp/rgpower_FR.bin and nxp/rgpower_US.bin files, but had no success. Since I don't use the radio2, I blacklisted the modules this way and the boot time is now good:

echo "blacklist mwifiex_sdio" >> /etc/modules.d/blacklist
echo "blacklist mwifiex" >> /etc/modules.d/blacklist
1 Like
4

FYI, I’m having the same problem with a WRT32X (similar hardware):