Follow on conversation for TP-Link Archer A6 v2 5GHz improvements, including user support

[pdinc-oss]

@humanOS

in variant 2 builds

Which build #?

[humanOS]

i have used master snapshot and variant 2 snapshot. In both i have changed country code to TW , changed tx power to max, turned of legacy 11b rates and reboot. After doing this 5ghz radio is connected to my android phone without any problems

[humanOS]

26 builds (...us-sysupgrade.bin)

[humanOS]

Please, include network tools "iperf3" in your build to check 5ghz performance

[pdinc-oss]

@humanOS

#pci bus errors.

Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.info kernel: [    1.756031] pci_bus 0000:00: No busn resource found for root bus, will use [bus 00-ff]
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.info kernel: [    1.764247] pci 0000:00:00.0: [168c:0056] type 00 class 0x028000
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.info kernel: [    1.770508] pci 0000:00:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x001fffff 64bit]
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.info kernel: [    1.777650] pci 0000:00:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.info kernel: [    1.784287] pci_bus 0000:00: busn_res: [bus 00-ff] end is updated to 00
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.info kernel: [    1.791149] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x12000000-0x121fffff 64bit]
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.err kernel: [    1.801367] squashfs: SQUASHFS error: Xattrs in filesystem, these will be ignored
Sat Dec  5 20:28:14 2020 kern.err kernel: [    1.809155] unable to read xattr id index table

@humanOS

build 26 (...us-sysupgrade.bin)

@humanOS

variant 2

Is the pci bus errors preventing something?

Does this happen when you try build 25?

[pdinc-oss]

@humanOS

Please, include network tools "iperf3" in your build to check 5ghz performance

Have you tried

opkg install iperf3

Build script patches welcome.

[humanOS]

No. Because i am using this router for testing. no internet connection in this router. Also "zram_swap and kmod_zram" are useless for non-usb router. So, remove this two packages from your build.

[humanOS]

may be it not prevent anything. But create a random reboots( also 5g wireless radio becomes inactive) after first booting of openwrt firmware.

[humanOS]

Firmware from Latest stock 1.1.7 firmware>>

firmware – Google Drive

BoardData2.bin from stock 1.1.7 firmware

[zymanias]

@pdinc-oss

Snapshot, variant 1, or variant 2?

Did some testing with both variant 1 and 2. Both exhibit same behavior for me. Only my phone fails to connect to 5ghz, other devices I tried connected fine. But when any amount of load is placed the router restarts. Tried copying a file, restarts after one or 2 megs have been transferred, same with running a speed test. Starts fine and router restarts immediately. 2.5ghz works perfectly fine.
Also tested out both variants you suggested(25 v1 and v2), same behaviour as 27 v1 and v2.

[zymanias]

Tried everything you suggested and changed other settings as well. Still the same as I mentioned above.

[humanOS]

check removing zram-swap and kmod-swap. i have faced random reboot only one time after first boot of openwrt. after that random reboot never happen to me. i have run the router as second wired ap for 4 hours and have found random boot no more.

[pdinc-oss]

changes will be in build 29

@humanOS

Please, include network tools "iperf3" in your build to check 5ghz performance

CONFIG_PACKAGE_iperf3=y

@humanOS

No. Because i am using this router for testing. no internet connection in this router. Also "zram_swap and kmod_zram" are useless for non-usb router. So, remove this two packages from your build.

#CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-zram=y
#CONFIG_PACKAGE_zram-swap=y

[pdinc-oss]

@zymanias

Also tested out both variants you suggested(25 v1 and v2), same behaviour as 27 v1 and v2.

Build 25 is from before 10-Nov-2020, someone more knowledgeable on openwrt than I will have to troubleshoot this. Can you open a new thread on this specific issue and link it back here? I will continue to build what ever is needed for testing.

[pdinc-oss]

@humanOS

BoardData2.bin from stock 1.1.7 firmware

See build 30, variant 3

[rsalvaterra]

@humanOS

Also "zram_swap and kmod_zram" are useless for non-usb router.

Absolute nonsense. Do you even know what zram is and how it works?

[humanOS]

why not. i use zram_swap in lineage os in my android phones. zram do compression of pages and save them to data partition to reduce over-use of ram. it is useful for low end devices. but our router have 128mb ram that is huge for its operation, so we do not need to hit our 16mb flash for zram.. Also zram need some manual coding to work on and many non linux users are not familiar with it..

[pdinc-oss]

@rsalvaterra

@humanOS

Also "zram_swap and kmod_zram" are useless for non-usb router.

Absolute nonsense. Do you even know what zram is and how it works?

So should it stay or go? If I have to decide it will go back in since it was from the config used to build the tests in the PR. Please provide an articulate risks & benefits analysis. I will put it back before tonight's scheduled build otherwise.

[rsalvaterra]

There is no "zram_swap" in LineageOS. On some (not all!) phones, LineageOS uses a zram block device for swapping (which is the typical use case, akin to what the zram-swap package in OpenWrt does). There's no coding invloved, the UCI configuration system takes care of the zram-swap configuration for you.
Now, suggesting zram is only useful on devices with USB support makes absolutely no sense.

[Exeleration-G]

I just flashed your builds on my Archer C6. The speed improvement on 5GHz is very noticeable. Thank you very much for your work.