Archer C7 with mesh: ath10k and corresponding non-ct firmware

[linuxuser]

Continuing the discussion from Problem creating mesh with Archer C7 v2:

@slh

Please try ath10k and the corresponding non-ct firmware, iirc -ct doesn't like meshing on wave1 hardware.

How do I find out, what is installed already?

root@C7v5-K1:~# ubus call system board
{
	"kernel": "5.15.137",
	"hostname": "C7v5-K1",
	"system": "Qualcomm Atheros QCA956X ver 1 rev 0",
	"model": "TP-Link Archer C7 v5",
	"board_name": "tplink,archer-c7-v5",
	"rootfs_type": "squashfs",
	"release": {
		"distribution": "OpenWrt",
		"version": "23.05.2",
		"revision": "r23630-842932a63d",
		"target": "ath79/generic",
		"description": "OpenWrt 23.05.2 r23630-842932a63d"
	}
}

[linuxuser]

A little step further

root@C7v5-K1:~# dmesg | grep -i ath10 | grep -i firm
[   14.420394] ath10k 5.15 driver, optimized for CT firmware, probing pci device: 0x3c.
[   19.471627] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: firmware ver 10.1-ct-8x-__fW-022-ecad3248 api 2 features wmi-10.x,has-wmi-mgmt-tx,mfp,txstatus-noack,wmi-10.x-CT,ratemask-CT,txrate-CT,get-temp-CT,tx-rc-CT,cust-stats-CT,retry-gt2-CT,txrate2-CT,beacon-cb-CT,wmi-block-ack-CT crc32 3e4cf97f
[   21.604081] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: NOTE:  Firmware DBGLOG output disabled in debug_mask: 0x10000000

So this C7 uses ath10k, but I have no idea about the firmware. How do I use a non ct-firnware? Or is the problem solved already?

[hnyman]

There are ath10k (the mainline ath10k in Linux) and ath10k-ct.

Based on that "optimized for ct" you are actually using the ath10k-ct.

You can check the installed packages via opkg.
opkg list-installed | grep ath10k

[hnyman]

Example of the removal / install process.
A slightly different firmware, but gives example. And do the removal first.

Why the switch to unstable ath10k-ct?

@slh Thanks for the help! To confirm I did the following opkg commands below... It seems to work, but my it is unstable under dumb AP mode. https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/dumbap Unstable as in once I start a speed on my phone. It suddenly disconnects and web GUI is frozen. After waiting web GUI comes back up. However when my UBNT AP AC Lite is in router mode with the eth0 set as WAN and the WiFi chips on LAN it's stable. opkg update opkg install ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct …

[linuxuser]

@hnyman

You can check the installed packages via opkg.

root@C7v5-K1:~# opkg list-installed | grep ath10k
ath10k-board-qca988x - 20230804-1
ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct - 2020-11-08-1
kmod-ath10k-ct - 5.15.137+2022-05-13-f808496f-5

So which one do I have to use instead of the ct-version?

kmod-ath10k - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3 - This module adds support for wireless adapters based on Atheros IEEE 802.11ac family of chipsets. For now only PCI is supported.

What about "smallbuffers"?

root@C7v5-K1:~# opkg list | grep ath10k
ath10k-board-qca4019 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca4019 board firmware
ath10k-board-qca9377 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9377 board firmware
ath10k-board-qca9887 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9887 board firmware
ath10k-board-qca9888 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9888 board firmware
ath10k-board-qca988x - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca988x board firmware
ath10k-board-qca9984 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9984 board firmware
ath10k-board-qca99x0 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca99x0 board firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca4019 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca4019 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca4019-ct - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for IPQ4019 radio from Candela Technologies. Enables IBSS and other features.  Works with standard or ath10k-ct driver. See:  http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php
ath10k-firmware-qca4019-ct-full-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for IPQ4019 radio from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. Enables IBSS and other features. See:  http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca4019-ct-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for IPQ4019 radio from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. This firmware lacks a lot of features that ath10k does not use, saving a lot of resources. Enables IBSS and other features. See:  http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca6174 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca6174 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca9377 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9377 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca9887 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9887 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca9887-ct - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9887 from Candela Technologies. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.1.php This firmware conflicts with the standard 9887 firmware, so select only one.
ath10k-firmware-qca9887-ct-full-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9887 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and fixes .11r authentication. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.1.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca9888 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9888 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9886 and QCA9888 from Candela Technologies. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware conflicts with the standard 9886 and 9888 firmware, so select only one.
ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct-full-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9886 and QCA9888 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9886 and QCA9888 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. This firmware lacks a lot of features that ath10k does not use, saving a lot of resources. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca988x - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca988x firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA988X from Candela Technologies. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.1.php This firmware will NOT be used unless the standard ath10k-firmware-qca988x is un-selected since the driver will try to load firmware-5.bin before firmware-2.bin
ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct-full-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA988X from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and fixes .11r authentication. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.1.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca9984 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca9984 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca9984-ct - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9984 from Candela Technologies. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware conflicts with the standard 9984 firmware, so select only one.
ath10k-firmware-qca9984-ct-full-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9984 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca9984-ct-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA9984 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. This firmware lacks a lot of features that ath10k does not use, saving a lot of resources. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca99x0 - 20230804-1 - ath10k qca99x0 firmware
ath10k-firmware-qca99x0-ct - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA99x0 from Candela Technologies. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware conflicts with the standard 99x0 firmware, so select only one.
ath10k-firmware-qca99x0-ct-full-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA99x0 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ath10k-firmware-qca99x0-ct-htt - 2020-11-08-1 - Alternative ath10k firmware for QCA99x0 from Candela Technologies. Uses normal HTT TX data path for management frames, which improves stability in busy networks and may be required for .11r authentication. This firmware lacks a lot of features that ath10k does not use, saving a lot of resources. Enables IBSS and other features.  See: http://www.candelatech.com/ath10k-10.4.php This firmware selects and requires the ath10k-ct driver.
ct-bugcheck - 2016-07-21 - Scripts to check for bugs (like firmware crashes) and package them for reporting. Currently this script only checks for ath10k firmware crashes. Once installed, you can enable this tool by creating a file called /etc/config/bugcheck with the following contents: DO_BUGCHECK=1 export DO_BUGCHECK
kmod-ath10k - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3 - This module adds support for wireless adapters based on Atheros IEEE 802.11ac family of chipsets. For now only PCI is supported.
kmod-ath10k-ct - 5.15.137+2022-05-13-f808496f-5 - ath10k-ct driver optimized for CT ath10k firmware
kmod-ath10k-ct-smallbuffers - 5.15.137+2022-05-13-f808496f-5 - ath10k-ct driver optimized for CT ath10k firmware (small buffers for low-RAM devices)
kmod-ath10k-smallbuffers - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3 - Atheros 802.11ac wireless cards support (small buffers for low-RAM devices)

[hnyman]

@linuxuser

opkg list-installed | grep ath10k
ath10k-board-qca988x - 20230804-1
ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct - 2020-11-08-1
kmod-ath10k-ct - 5.15.137+2022-05-13-f808496f-5

So which one do I have to use instead of the ct-version?

opkg remove kmod-ath10k-ct
opkg remove ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct
opkg install kmod-ath10k

(kmod-ath10k will also pull in the ath10k-firmware-qca988x)

[linuxuser]

@hnyman

opkg remove kmod-ath10k-ct
opkg remove ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct
opkg install kmod-ath10k

(kmod-ath10k will also pull in the ath10k-firmware-qca988x)

Unfortunately this doesn't work or works a little bit different.

I did a few minutes before:

opkg update

Installed wpad-openssl and mesh11sd and rebooted. Maybe this was the problem. I did not update opkg again.

After the 1st remove:

root@C7v5-K1:~# opkg list | grep kmod | grep ath
kmod-ath - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3
kmod-ath9k - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3
kmod-ath9k-common - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3
kmod-phy-ath79-usb - 5.15.137-1

I got:

root@C7v5-K1:~# opkg install kmod-ath10k
Unknown package 'kmod-ath10k'.
Collected errors:
 * opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package kmod-ath10k.

So no more ath10. Installed ath10 with ct again, worked without problems, but was not listed. Checked for kmod files and saw kmod for ath10 without ct again.

Removed "ct" again and did an opkg update . Now I could install the ath10-versions without ct, But I needed to install the firmware file separately.

opkg install kmod-ath10k
opkg install ath10k-firmware-qca988x

Now I have:

root@C7v5-K1:~# opkg list-installed | grep ath10
ath10k-board-qca988x - 20230804-1
ath10k-firmware-qca988x - 20230804-1
kmod-ath10k - 5.15.137+6.1.24-3

Hope everything is prepared for mesh.

[hnyman]

@linuxuser

opkg update

Installed wpad-openssl and mesh11sd and rebooted. Maybe this was the problem. I did not update opkg again.

Opkg fetches the package list to /tmp ramdisk, so if you reboot, you naturally lose the list...
After reboot you need to do opkg update again, if you need the package list.

[linuxuser]

@hnyman

Opkg fetches the package list to /tmp ramdisk

Yes, that was the problem, worked without reboot without update.

@hnyman

kmod-ath10k will also pull in the ath10k-firmware-qca988x

I could install the firmware, so I assume it doesn't pull the package. Actually no problem to do another package install.

[hnyman]

Yeah, that was wrong from me. There are so many alternative ath10k- firmware files that there is automatic dependency.

[linuxuser]

No problem, wanted to mention it for others reading the thread. You wonder why something is not working and do not think, that you did not install a package.

I have another question.

Can I remove the ct-package via WLAN?

To be exactly, the c7 is connected via ethernet. But the PC which executes the commands is connected via Wifi. IMHO this should work?

[hnyman]

The removal itself should work, independently of the connection type, but if the PC is connected via wlan, it would lose the connection. (Actually, not quite sure if that connection loss would happen immediately, or would it work until reboot. My guess is immediately.)

[linuxuser]

@hnyman

if the PC is connected via wlan

Yes the PC is connected via WLAN, but not the C7. I am modifying the C7, which is connected via ethernet and not the wireless connected PC.

I was brave and tested it, no problems, but unexpected problems with a Netgear: Netgear EX6150v2: non ct-firmware needed for Mesh? - #5 by linuxuser

Same connection as with the C7, maybe because the Netgear is an extender?

Does 802.11r work with ct-packages, I mean withaout 802.11s?

[hnyman]

Yes, I have been using 802.11r without mesh. With ath10k-ct R7800.