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AX2xx bluetooth random disconnects, firmware issue?

Bobsen
Novice
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Hi everyone, since approx. 6 weeks my soundbar disconnects randomly during playback. Digging around I've found several forums (Manjaro, Arch, reddit) where people describe exactly the same problem related to devices with AX200/AX201/AX210 wireless chipset. Most of them reverted their firmware to the december release or even bought a new BT dongle... Well, thats one way solving the issue, but I'd like to know what's going on :) I have a NUCi5 (BXNUC10i5FNH2), latest bios installed. OS is fedora 34 beta with updates-testing enabled (was the same with stock F33), so I'm pretty much on the bleeding edge right now. The most recent firmware update on 15th of march did not solve the issue. https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/log/ shows the prior fw update happened on 8th february - I guess this is where it all started. btmon logs show nothing more than a connection loss / timeout. btsnoop.log taken from here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=263040&p=2 has been copied to https://pastebin.com/BmPXM4vC - the interesting bits are around timeframe #60582 [hci0] 666.947643. Above that frame you can see the music stream which then gets interrupted. My log looks pretty much the same, resulting in a variety of error messages vom pipewire etc. Please let me know what you need as additional info. Regards, Bobsen
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Bobsen
Novice
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https://pastebin.com/cR0aYHWc  syslog excerpt.

SELinux could also be involved, I'll try to rule that out.

edit:

https://pastebin.com/fBBhEne4  another syslog with bt hiccup.

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
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Bobsen, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

 

In reference to this scenario, just to let you know, the supported and validated operating system that was tested by Intel® with the Intel® NUC NUC10i5FNH is Windows* 10 and the drivers that we have available are only for that OS as you can confirm in the following links:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005628/intel-nuc.html 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/189239/Intel-NUC-10-Performance-kit-NUC10i5FNH

 

Now, in order to try to further assist you with this matter, please follow the steps requested below:

What is the model of the Router?

Is this a new Intel® NUC?

Was it working fine before?

When did the issue start?

Did you make any recent hardware/software changes?

The wireless card, did you purchased it separately or did it came installed on the Intel® NUC?

 

WiFi troubleshooting steps

 

Step 1: Check whether the kernel version customer uses supports this device:

The reference table of Wireless adapters and corresponding kernel versions is available by the link: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi

The latest FWs are available by the following link:​ ​https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/

If the kernel version corresponds to the Wireless adapter, proceed with step 2.

 

Step 2: Check whether the Wireless adapter is connected correctly:

Type the following command to the terminal: # lspci​ 

Verify that the Intel network controller ​is identified, as on a picture below. If not, then the system doesn't identify the Intel network adapter and you will need to make sure it's properly integrated. You may need to request help from the system manufacturer. If the wireless adapter is properly identified - proceed with the step 3.

Alberto_R_Intel_0-1616790859875.png

 

Step 3: Check whether this is an iwlwifi issue:

Type the following command to the terminal: # modinfo iwlwifi​ (example of the command output is on the picture below). If there is no output, then the module isn’t installed this is the distribution installation issue.

Alberto_R_Intel_3-1616791169395.png

 

Please type: # lsmod | grep iwlwifi​    

Alberto_R_Intel_4-1616791217773.png

 

If the result is empty, the driver hasn't been loaded. Most likely to be a distribution issue.

To verify, please type: # dmesg | grep iwlwifi​    

Alberto_R_Intel_5-1616791322974.png

If the result is empty, the driver wasn’t initialized and this is a distribution issue. If the result is populated as on the above picture, proceeed with the step 4.

 

Step 4: Check whether the suitable firmware is installed:

Please type: # dmesg | grep “no suitable firmware found!”​

Alberto_R_Intel_6-1616791382320.png

 

If the result is not empty, it means you don't have a suitable FW (api mentioned in the dmesg).

Please visit here​ h​ttps://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi for supported FW, or here​ ​https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/ for the latest versions.

If these steps didn't reveal the issue or didn't solve the problem, proceed with the Step 5: 

 

Step 5: Collect the debug data:

Please type: # dmesg | grep ASSERT​ 

If the output is empty, please follow this wiki: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi/debugging to extract dmesg and trace-cmd.

If the output has value, please collect from the wiki FW dump too.

 

Any questions, please let me know.

 

Regards,

Albert R.

 

Intel Customer Support Technician

 

 

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Bobsen
Novice
3,173 Views

Thanks Alberto,

here are the logs where you can see which firmware is loaded. In my case it seems to fit for the integrated AX201. It is a stock NUC, maybe 5 months old. The device is regularly updated (daily/every other day).

firmwarefirmwaredmesg iwlwifidmesg iwlwifi

Although there is a note that the api flags index 2 is larger than supported by driver it seems to me I'm using the latest available firmware. I guess the driver has to be updated accordingly at some point.

Here are two logs of the same disconnect. 

disconnect complete journaldisconnect complete journaldisconnectdisconnectSince I don't see anything useful I started to enable debugging of the bluetooth daemon. I'll let you know as soon as I'm able to catch another disconnect event. What I also did was disabling power managament for the wifi device (iwconfig [devicename] power off), but I'm not sure if this also applies for bluetooth? I'm not even using wifi and could disable it completely. But doing too many steps at once doesn't help to isolate the problem.

Any other hints are welcome.

Regards,

Mike

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,158 Views

Bobsen, You are very welcome, thank you very much for providing that information and the pictures.


We will do further research on this matter, as soon as I get any updates I will post all the details on this thread.


Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician


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Bobsen
Novice
3,149 Views

Here is a journal log of a disconnect in more detail (debugging enabled in bluetoothd):

debug messagesdebug messages

There's a plain and simple disconnect with "reason 1". According to the sourcecode this translates to a connection timeout. Since this doesn't give us any more hints I guess I'll have to debug the kernel next? I'll see what I can do.

Regards,

Bobsen

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,134 Views

Bobsen, I just received an update on this matter.


After reviewing the case, we determine that the problem seems to be related to compatibility between the Intel® NUC and the Operating System being used.


Do you have the option to install Windows* 10 in the Intel® NUC?


Please verify the information in the link below, where we actually recommend to get in contact directly with your Linux vendor and use their distribution resources for driver downloads and support:

thttps://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005499/intel-nuc.html

 

Regards,

Albert R.


Intel Customer Support Technician



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Bobsen
Novice
3,100 Views

Alberto,

you're selling those NUCs without HD. If I wanted one with Windows I'd have bought a box with HD and OEM license. So no, not an option.

But I was finally able to fix the issue through downgrading the firmware to the december release (FW Build: REL17535, Release Version: 22.20.0.3) Two evenings in a row without interrupting audio...

Since the only thing I did was removing the Intel folder from /lib/firmware and copying the older firmware manually into place - it is at least obvious to me that changes after that release lead to random connection timeouts. Please have your colleagues look into this.  I mean you're only providing binary blobs and no changelog at all. Do the kernel devs at least get more information?

It is not only me having similar problems https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=263040&p=3 - it's all different hardware with the same wireless chipset. I hope you agree that downgrading firmware can only be a temporary "solution".

working fw release versionworking fw release version

Regards,

Bobsen

 

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Alberto_Sykes
Employee
3,090 Views

Bobsen, Thank you very much for sharing those results and the picture.

 

Perfect, excellent, it is great to hear that you were able to find a workaround for this scenario by downgrading the firmware and now you are able to use the audio of the Intel® NUC with no problems.

 

For Intel® is very important all the comments and suggestions provided by all the Intel® customers, so yes, I will send your observations and feedback regarding this topic to the proper department for them to be aware of your recommendations and opinions about the Intel® NUC product.

 

Any other inquiries, do not hesitate to contact us again.

 

Regards,

Albert R.

 

Intel Customer Support Technician

 

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Bobsen
Novice
3,045 Views
Alberto and others, the issues seem to be fixed with the recently released firmware update for AX201 devices: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/commit/?id=73144e02dcff54529ab42d951de682740d204180 I've been testing it the 2nd day now - without interruptions. Big thanks to everyone involved
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