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[Bug 867869] Re: brcmsmac wireless driver does not have power management enabled and is eating batteries

 

fejes, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any
activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If
so, could you please test for this with the latest development release
of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com
/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in
the development release from a Terminal
(Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather
and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.11-rc5

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's
Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your
understanding.

** Tags added: needs-kernel-logs needs-upstream-testing oneiric

** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
       Status: Confirmed => Incomplete

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/867869

Title:
  brcmsmac wireless driver does not have power management enabled and is
  eating batteries

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  A lot of people have been reporting that the oneiric kernels have been
  sucking up power (which they were, early on), but a closer look shows
  that the kernel regressions are mainly all fixed - however, the
  brcmsmac wireless driver appears to be a main culprit left, sucking up
  to ~3W of power.

  As far as I can tell, the use of the brcmsmac wireless driver co-
  incided with the use of the introduction of the kernel bug that was
  making battery life poor for many oneiric users, and I suspect that
  this is one of the major contributors to that problem.  Perhaps the
  brcmsmac should be rolled back until power management is available, or
  a push on this driver could possibly enable this feature.  Either one
  would be a good way to extend battery life for laptop users.

  I am using: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.19-generic 3.0.4  (Oneiric, with up to
  date packages)

  The important line from lspci is:
  03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4353] (rev 01)
          Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device [106b:0093]
          Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
          Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
          Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 256 bytes
          Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
          Region 0: Memory at c1b00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
          Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
                  Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                  Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-
          Capabilities: [58] Vendor Specific Information: Len=78 <?>
          Capabilities: [48] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
                  Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000
          Capabilities: [d0] Express (v1) Endpoint, MSI 00
                  DevCap: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <4us, L1 unlimited
                          ExtTag+ AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset-
                  DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
                          RlxdOrd- ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop-
                          MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 128 bytes
                  DevSta: CorrErr+ UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq+ AuxPwr+ TransPend-
                  LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Latency L0 <4us, L1 <64us
                          ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep+ BwNot-
                  LnkCtl: ASPM L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- Retrain- CommClk+
                          ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
                  LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive+ BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
          Capabilities: [100 v1] Advanced Error Reporting
                  UESta:  DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
                  UEMsk:  DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
                  UESvrt: DLP+ SDES- TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
                  CESta:  RxErr+ BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr+
                  CEMsk:  RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr+
                  AERCap: First Error Pointer: 14, GenCap+ CGenEn- ChkCap+ ChkEn-
          Capabilities: [13c v1] Virtual Channel
                  Caps:   LPEVC=0 RefClk=100ns PATEntryBits=1
                  Arb:    Fixed- WRR32- WRR64- WRR128-
                  Ctrl:   ArbSelect=Fixed
                  Status: InProgress-
                  VC0:    Caps:   PATOffset=00 MaxTimeSlots=1 RejSnoopTrans-
                          Arb:    Fixed- WRR32- WRR64- WRR128- TWRR128- WRR256-
                          Ctrl:   Enable+ ID=0 ArbSelect=Fixed TC/VC=ff
                          Status: NegoPending- InProgress-
          Capabilities: [160 v1] Device Serial Number 83-c3-dd-ff-ff-b5-10-9a
          Capabilities: [16c v1] Power Budgeting <?>
          Kernel driver in use: brcmsmac
          Kernel modules: wl, bcma, brcmsmac

  From powertop:

  The battery reports a discharge rate of 16.6 W

  Summary: 0.0 wakeups/second,  0.0 GPU ops/second and 0.0 VFS ops/sec

  Power est.      Usage       Events/s    Category       Description
    2.61 W    100.0%                      Device         Radio device: brcmsmac
    2.35 W     60.0%                      Device         Display backlight
    759 mW     29.5 ms/s       0.0        Process        /usr/sbin/macfanctld
    727 mW     20.5%                      Device         Audio codec alsa:hwC0D0: mbp55 (Cirrus Logic)
    564 mW     40.7 pkts/s                Device         Network interface: wlan0 (brcmsmac)
    469 mW     18.3 ms/s       0.0        Process        /usr/bin/knotify4
    279 mW     10.9 ms/s       0.0        Process        /usr/lib/firefox-7.0.1/firefox
    260 mW     10.1 ms/s       0.0        Process        powertop

  and, of course some output from iwconfig:

  wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"XXXXXXXXXX"  
            Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: 00:22:B0:B2:6A:80   
            Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=19 dBm   
            Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
            Power Management:off
            Link Quality=47/70  Signal level=-63 dBm  
            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
            Tx excessive retries:15  Invalid misc:2221   Missed beacon:0

  And finally:

  "sudo iwconfig wlan0 power on" gives:

  Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
      SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.

  What I expected:
  Ubuntu would not use a wireless driver on laptops that eats 3W of power and can't be set to use less power.

  What happened: 
  My batteries are being drained by a wireless card that is constantly hot (I can feel it through the case) for which no option to enable power management exists.

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