Caution: EXT Email

NXP people: Sharvari, Rakesh, Cathy, Zheng: could you please look at
this issue? It is really serous!

On Monday 27 September 2021 09:47:23 Josh Boyer wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 6:43 AM Pali Rohár <pali@kernel.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hello Josh, Sharvari and other from NXP!
> >
> > On Saturday 25 September 2021 19:23:48 Gérald Kerma wrote:
> > > Correcting old marvell address to new nxp...
> > >
> > > Le 25/09/2021 à 19:19, Gérald Kerma a écrit :
> > > > Héllo All,
> > > >
> > > > I made some few tests on EspressoBin-Ultra from GlobalScaleTechnologies,
> > > > because of problem with the WiFi.
> > > >
> > > > I have done some quick tests on all the firmware of PCIEUSB-8997 using
> > > > the pcieuart8997_combo_v4.bin on OpenWrt 21.02.x
> > > >
> > > > Here is a summary of the tests :
> > > > - W16.68.10.p159 = KO
> > > > - W16.68.1.p195 = KO
> > > > - V16.68.1.p145 = OK
> > > > - 16.68.1.p140 = OK
> > > > - 16.68.1.p133 = OK
> > > > - 16.68.1.p97 = OK
> > > > - 16.68.1.p70 = KO
> >
> > From this user test result can be seen that last two versions of
> > pcieusb8997_combo_v4.bin firmware file for 8997 wifi+bt card with
> > official mainline linux kernel driver mwifiex were not properly tested
> > internally in NXP and are causing serious issues which make 8997 card
> > basically unusable.
> >
> > Sharvari and other NXP developers: Do you have some internal testing of
> > this pcieusb8997_combo_v4.bin firmware for PCIe+USB variant of 8997
> > wifi chips? Or are you aware of this issue and do you have in NXP some
> > workaround for it (e.g. at driver level)? Could you please look at this
> > serious issue and try to debug firmware and release a new version, as
> > this is obvious fatal error in firmware itself?
> >
> > Josh, how you in linux-firmware repository handle such, I must say,
> > "fatal issues"? Wait for vendor fixes or revert problematic commits? Or
> > something else?
>
> We can revert if we need to, but I think it's not quite that simple.
>
> > Because when users starts upgrading linux-firmware packages in their
> > downstream distributions then basically wifi cards on this 8997 chips
> > with official mwifiex driver stops working.
>
> The first broken version was committed in Feb of 2019.  That's
> approaching 3 years ago.  Given that this is binary firmware, I have
> no idea what else may or may not be included in the updates in the
> meantime.
>
> josh

Josh, as Gérald wrote, current binary in linux-firmware repository is
unusable. And there is no reply from NXP for 3 months.

You are right that nobody knows what is in firmware binary, but working
binary is at least usable than non-working binary.

So I would really suggest to start reverting non-working firmware files
if NXP does not respond in few days.

Gérald, what is your opinion? Do you see other way how to make mainline
linux driver work (again)?

> > > > REF (and all details of tests) :
> > > > https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FNXP%2Fmwifiex-firmware%2Fissues%2F1&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cprashanthkrishnan.ranganathan%40nxp.com%7C1af6972248544d58a02d08d9d77f70ac%7C686ea1d3bc2b4c6fa92cd99c5c301635%7C0%7C0%7C637777764622094175%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=Dt9GPodlLhnKXOvovRMHabvd5DLiEQ3We4%2FsMBDfMQw%3D&amp;reserved=0
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Broken firmware :
> > > >
> > > > Version |W16.68.1.p195| of |pcieusb8997_combo_v4.bin| was included into
> > > > linux-firmware repository by this pull request:
> > > > https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flore.kernel.org%2Fall%2FCA%2B5PVA5yQbjg3vaT7F8120B6ngLn7%2BsZC0OWt0KoUiQR9hS4FA%40mail.gmail.com%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cprashanthkrishnan.ranganathan%40nxp.com%7C1af6972248544d58a02d08d9d77f70ac%7C686ea1d3bc2b4c6fa92cd99c5c301635%7C0%7C0%7C637777764622094175%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=vr9a9ZEDsOPqNyafaEbAJ69CU9RgpXIvzpYMvhRv5GE%3D&amp;reserved=0
> > > > <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flore.kernel.org%2Fall%2FCA%2B5PVA5yQbjg3vaT7F8120B6ngLn7%2BsZC0OWt0KoUiQR9hS4FA%40mail.gmail.com%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cprashanthkrishnan.ranganathan%40nxp.com%7C1af6972248544d58a02d08d9d77f70ac%7C686ea1d3bc2b4c6fa92cd99c5c301635%7C0%7C0%7C637777764622094175%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=vr9a9ZEDsOPqNyafaEbAJ69CU9RgpXIvzpYMvhRv5GE%3D&amp;reserved=0>
> > > >
> > > > And latest version |W16.68.10.p159| of |pcieusb8997_combo_v4.bin| by
> > > > this pull request:
> > > > https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flore.kernel.org%2Flinux-firmware%2FCA%2B5PVA5on7%2BCRtEV7tThPxgucwt3W9i-tEXm4cgH-AmMB-Jrtg%40mail.gmail.com%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cprashanthkrishnan.ranganathan%40nxp.com%7C1af6972248544d58a02d08d9d77f70ac%7C686ea1d3bc2b4c6fa92cd99c5c301635%7C0%7C0%7C637777764622094175%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=V2pZdm8AMwhdFUa%2FMyodXk8BW6hJEiTvguxqFBQgEpI%3D&amp;reserved=0
> > > > <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flore.kernel.org%2Flinux-firmware%2FCA%2B5PVA5on7%2BCRtEV7tThPxgucwt3W9i-tEXm4cgH-AmMB-Jrtg%40mail.gmail.com%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cprashanthkrishnan.ranganathan%40nxp.com%7C1af6972248544d58a02d08d9d77f70ac%7C686ea1d3bc2b4c6fa92cd99c5c301635%7C0%7C0%7C637777764622094175%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=V2pZdm8AMwhdFUa%2FMyodXk8BW6hJEiTvguxqFBQgEpI%3D&amp;reserved=0>
> > > >
> > > > Olders looks to works better.
> > > >
> > > > In quick tests, they allow more than 1 clients at a time !
> > > >
> > > > I am still testing the V16.68.1.p145 and report the results after some
> > > > longer use...
> > > >
> > > > Hopes it will help...
> > > > Regards,
> > > > Gérald Kerma
> > > > gandalf(at)gk2(dot)net
> > >