ADB AV4202N Broadcom Wifi issues

Xerxes · March 23, 2018, 6:56am

Hi,
I have two ADB AV4202N router and I want to use them as APs both have been successfully flashed with Lede/OpenWRT through the recovery webinterface.
Both detect the Wifi module on the SoC and can create Wifi networks just fine.
But they can't find any other network nor are the created wifi networks joinable.

They use slightly different versions of the SoC one using a Broadcom 4322 and another one using a Broadcom 43222.

While the BCM4322 shows nothing suspicius in the kernel log the BCM43222 shows a few issues.

[ 18.026055] b43-phy0: Broadcom 4322 WLAN found (core revision 16)
[ 18.076961] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 8, Type 4 (N), Revision 4
[ 18.083310] b43-phy0: Found Radio: Manuf 0x17F, ID 0x2056, Revision 3, Version 0
[ 18.156983] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PNL ]
[ 18.175041] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'

[ 17.900603] b43-phy0: Broadcom 43222 WLAN found (core revision 16)
[ 17.949427] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 8, Type 4 (N), Revision 6
[ 17.955786] b43-phy0: Found Radio: Manuf 0x17F, ID 0x2056, Revision 6, Version 0
[ 17.979064] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PNL ]
[ 17.998038] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[ 847.412229] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[ 862.316185] b43-phy0 ERROR: DMA RX reset timed out
[ 862.397345] ssb: Timeout waiting for bitmask 01800000 on register 0F90 to clear.
[ 865.372286] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[ 935.104934] b43-phy0 ERROR: DMA RX reset timed out
[ 935.392998] b43-phy0 ERROR: DMA TX reset timed out
[ 935.423197] ssb: Timeout waiting for bitmask 01800000 on register 0F90 to clear.
[ 940.077242] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[ 942.204775] b43-phy0 ERROR: DMA RX reset timed out
[ 942.281906] ssb: Timeout waiting for bitmask 01800000 on register 0F90 to clear.
[ 942.625273] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[ 944.780820] b43-phy0 ERROR: DMA RX reset timed out
[ 944.857993] ssb: Timeout waiting for bitmask 01800000 on register 0F90 to clear.
[ 945.192725] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
[ 947.352832] b43-phy0 ERROR: DMA RX reset timed out
[ 947.429875] ssb: Timeout waiting for bitmask 01800000 on register 0F90 to clear.
[ 973.322313] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)

Something else I noticed are that they both try to use the same MAC-address (on Wifi and Ethernet)

I know that the driver situation for Broadcom devices is really bad thanks to their licensing, but I hope that it is just a minor problem like it selecting the wrong antenna to receive.

Thanks in advance!

lleachii · March 23, 2018, 1:32pm

Broadcom chips are not supported, you should expect issues with them.

This has been reported:

github.com/openwrt/openwrt

FS#855 - Wrong MAC address (00:00:00:00:00:01) on Arcadyan AR7516

opened 06:43PM - 18 Jun 17 UTC

closed 11:26AM - 19 Jun 20 UTC

openwrt-bot

flyspray

*ppuzr:* * Problem occurs on EE Brightbox 1 (Arcadyan AR7516) * Software v…ersion is lede 17.01.1, r3316-7eb58cf109 (https://downloads.lede-project.org/releases/17.01.1/targets/brcm63xx/generic/lede-17.01.1-brcm63xx-generic-A4001N-squashfs-cfe.bin) * Steps to reproduce: <code> root@LEDE:~# ifconfig | grep HW br-lan Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:01 eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:01 eth0.1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:01 eth0.2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:01 wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:02 </code> I know MAC addresses can be overriden in config, but is it possible to automatically detect the original addresses?

Xerxes · April 6, 2018, 10:12pm

Ok thanks for pointing that out it's only a minor annoyance and nothing serious. In the meanwhile I tried to set up the proprietary driver which had exactly the same issue receiving packets over wifi.

sun.flare · January 18, 2019, 9:44pm

Hello @Xerxes I've the same router with same problem you are describing. Did you find a solution? Thanks in advance.

Xerxes · January 30, 2019, 8:54pm

Nope sadly not. Which is a shame because an ISP here used that modem / router combi device for a few years and the wifi was actually decent. As far as I can tell everything but the wifi works.