Lockups with SMP

[Jirka Bohac]

> I am just wondering if there is any progress on lockups involving SMP
> machines.

...

> then followed by "hostap_pci: wlan0: resetting card", then nothing.

This obviously is not just a SMP issue. We have the same problems on
uniprocessor machines. Some people have more luck with fast computers,
slower ones (like my P100) seem to suffer more. 

My explanation to this is, that there is some locking problem (either
insufficient locking or a deadlock) and, on the fast computer, the first
of the conflicting events is likely to be finished before it is
interrupted by the second... ???????

Upgrading to hostap-0.0.3 increased the average uptime significantly,
most likely because card resets occur much less frequently than with
previous versions. For the same reason, upgrading to the latest (1.5.6)
firmware helped. 

Now my system "only" hangs about once every other day.
I have 3 ZCOM XI-626 cards, each of them under permanent load of about
100-300kB/s. One of them is in managed mode, the other two are masters.
P100, 2.4.21pre7

If I can do anything to help solve this issue, I will try - it's a major
problem for many in our network.


Jirka
CZFree.Net, Prague, Czechia