[SOLVED] Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

[SOLVED] Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Dec 29th, '19, 22:51

I have Mageia 7.1 installed on my Surface Pro 2 (dual boot). My issue is with the Marvell 88W8897 wi-fi. It connects when I first log into Linux, but after I use the internet (via browser, torrent, or MCC to update/install software), it drops out and the only way to re-establish the connection is to do a hard re-boot.

I have searched and found lots of information about issues with the Marvell wi-fi, but I have to admit that most of the instructions were above my pay grade (a bit to complex for me to follow). Any suggestions?

Also - if you reply, could you also provide some details as to what we are doing? If I get a reply that says "run this script and run that command", it really doesn't help me understand Linux. I don't need a lot of detail. Just explain what the commands are doing (I understand basic stuff like cd, rd, mv, urpmi, etc.). Don't mean to sound rude, I just want to learn.

Thanks.
Last edited by drichard58 on Jan 28th, '20, 20:15, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby doktor5000 » Dec 29th, '19, 23:26

Would be helpful if you could share the chipset model and the driver in use. You can query that either via
Code: Select all
lspcidrake -v
or
Code: Select all
lspci -nnk


Although from a quick search only option might be to unload the driver and then load it again. If that hangs or doesn't help a reboot seems to be required.
Check the hints at https://forum.manjaro.org/t/marvell-88w ... /100253/16
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Dec 30th, '19, 02:44

Code: Select all
hci_pci        : Intel Corporation|8 Series USB xHCI HC [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:9c31 subv:1414 subd:9c31) (rev: 04)
Card:Intel 810 and later: Intel Corporation|Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [DISPLAY_VGA] (vendor:8086 device:0a16 subv:1414 subd:0005) (rev: 0b)
snd_hda_intel   : Intel Corporation|Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO_DEV] (vendor:8086 device:0a0c) (rev: 0b)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller [BRIDGE_HOST] (vendor:8086 device:0a04 subv:1414 subd:0a04) (rev: 0b)
i2c_i801        : Intel Corporation|8 Series SMBus Controller [SERIAL_SMBUS] (vendor:8086 device:9c22 subv:1414 subd:9c22) (rev: 04)
snd_hda_intel   : Intel Corporation|8 Series HD Audio Controller [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO_DEV] (vendor:8086 device:9c20 subv:1414 subd:9c20) (rev: 04)
mwifiex_pcie    : Marvell Technology Group Ltd.|88W8897 [AVASTAR] 802.11ac Wireless [NETWORK_ETHERNET] (vendor:11ab device:2b38 subv:0001 subd:045e)
mei_me          : Intel Corporation|8 Series HECI #0 [COMMUNICATION_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9c3a subv:1414 subd:9c3a) (rev: 04)
lpc_ich         : Intel Corporation|8 Series LPC Controller [BRIDGE_ISA] (vendor:8086 device:9c43 subv:1414 subd:9c43) (rev: 04)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9c14) (rev: e4)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|8 Series SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] [STORAGE_SATA] (vendor:8086 device:9c03 subv:1414 subd:9c03) (rev: 04)
hub             : Linux 5.4.6-desktop-2.mga7 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0002)
hub             : SMSC|USB2137B [Hub|Unused|TT per port] (vendor:045e device:07cc)
snd_usb_audio   : Microsoft Corp.|Microsoft Docking Station Audio Device [Audio|Control Device] (vendor:045e device:07ca)
usbhid          : Primax Electronics, Ltd|USB Optical Mouse [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Mouse] (vendor:0461 device:4d81)
usbhid          : Lite-On Technology Corp.|USB Multimedia Keyboard [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Keyboard] (vendor:04ca device:004f)
btusb           : Marvell|Bluetooth and Wireless LAN Composite Device [Wireless|Radio Frequency|Bluetooth] (vendor:1286 device:204b)
hub             : Linux 5.4.6-desktop-2.mga7 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0003)
hub             : SMSC|USB5537B [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:045e device:07cb)
r8152           : Microsoft|Ethernet Adapter (vendor:045e device:07c6)
usb_storage     : Western Digital|Elements 10B8 [Mass Storage|SCSI|Bulk-Only] (vendor:1058 device:10b8)
usb_storage     : Ugreen|Ugreen Storage Device [Mass Storage|SCSI|Bulk-Only] (vendor:174c device:55aa)
hid_generic     : Lite-On Technology Corp. USB Multimedia Keyboard
hid_generic     : USB Optical Mouse
hid_generic     : MSHW0030:00 045E:07C4
hid_generic     : Microsoft Corp. Microsoft Docking Station Audio Device
hid_generic     : NTRG0001:01 1B96:1B05
hid_generic     : Lite-On Technology Corp. USB Multimedia Keyboard


With your suggestion on the above output, I did find a bugzilla report for Fedora with the same issue (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1505058). Looks like they had to do a kernel update.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby doktor5000 » Dec 30th, '19, 18:09

So it actually uses the mwifiex_pcie driver. And yes, based on one comment an update to kernel 4.17.7 seemingly fixed some issues with this chipset.

You'd still have to figure out which of the issues with this chipset are the ones that occur on your system. You can view the journald logs and filter for messages from the driver via
Code: Select all
journalctl -ab | grep -i mwifi

journalctl queries the log, -a means all messages, -b means only messages from the current boot, grep searches for the string "mwifi" and -i ignores case. Hope that helps.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Jan 2nd, '20, 21:17

OK. Looked at the file and there is one thing that seems to appear multiple times. It looks like it is having problems resolving the BSSID. It tries to associate with one BSSID several times and then tries a different one. After about a dozen tries, it says that the Firmware wakeup failed, shuts down the mwifiex. Tried to restart it from MCC; configured a new connection after deleting the original one; tried to re-start from terminal as root. None of this worked.

Did some research and found that for Fedora it was fixed in Fedora 28 and the kernel 4.17 series with mwifiex 1.0 (15.68.7.p154). This was in 2018 (see https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1505058). I may be missing something, but what is in the Bugzilla report looks a lot like what I am seeing. I am not at a location where I can share the output of the journalctl command (my office has strict controls on files being transferred from one machine to another).
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby doktor5000 » Jan 3rd, '20, 19:12

Well, if your particular issue would be fixed, then you shouldn't be seeing that same problem, no ?

I can only point you again to the hints at https://forum.manjaro.org/t/marvell-88w ... /100253/16 for some things to try as a workaround. Disabling power management might help.
In general after reading a few reports about mwifiex_pcie, I'd suggest to use a different wifi adapter. It often drops the connection or stops responding, even on newer surface models.
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[Solved] Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Jan 3rd, '20, 20:39

I think I am at the point of just buying a USB wi-fi like you suggest. Thanks for the help.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby doktor5000 » Jan 4th, '20, 16:38

Did you at least try to play around with the power management settings as suggested ?
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Jan 4th, '20, 20:27

I did and it didn't seem to help. One post I read said he had to do other changes in addition to get it to work. One was to change settings on his router. I wanted to try and avoid that if I could. I will just use the USB for now, but if I find another solution, I will post it here.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Jan 22nd, '20, 16:48

An update - The issue was supposedly fixed with kernel 4.17, but Marvell seems to have issued an update (see https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/ ... ll/mwifiex) recently. It calls for updating the kernel.

@doktor5000 - I am hesitant to do this because I am not sure what the ramifications would be or how I would recover from this if it does not work. Do you have any recommendations?

BTW - I am able to connect by using an external USB wi-fi adapter.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby doktor5000 » Jan 22nd, '20, 20:07

I don't get what you're asking for in particular. You asked about kernel 4.17 previously, but you already have a newer kernel running and your issue still exists, no?
And I don't see what Marvell update you refer to, are you talking about a firmware update?
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Jan 27th, '20, 03:31

I think I mis-read the information in the link. You are right - I do have the latest kernel, but I saw that there was some sort of script or file that was recent talking about a heap overflow error. I didn't realize I was reading the text for the kernel update and not the text for the heap overflow.

Sorry... :(
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby drichard58 » Jan 28th, '20, 01:26

Not sure what happened or what changed, but the WiFi is working now on the Marvell. Maybe it was one of the recent updates I did or maybe when I re-booted the machine this last time with the USB wi-fi. If I come up with any other answers, I will let you know.
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Re: Marvell 88W8897 on Surface Pro 2

Postby morgano » Jan 28th, '20, 10:43

Great! We told you it is Magic inside ! ;)

Please edit your first post and put [Solved] first i the subject.

Thank you
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