[Debian-uk] Recent kernels and Atheros AR9271 wifi adapters

[Daniel Hatton]

On 19/10/2026 15:56, Daniel Hatton wrote:

> I have a couple of USB wifi dongles based on the Atheros AR9271 
> chipset.  It looks like they work fine under Linux-libre kernel 
> version 6.18.55 (from the freesh .deb repository), but 
> reproducibly fail to connect (and sometimes fail even to show up 
> in lsusb) under Linux-libre kernel versions 6.18.56 and 6.18.57 
> (from the same source).
Further to my conversation with Andrew yesterday about whether 
this is even on-topic here, further testing has revealed that the 
devices are quite flaky even on 6.18.55.  The slightest touch of a 
finger on the outside of the device body causes the connection to 
drop with something like this in dmesg:

[ 1635.742977] usb 1-9: USB disconnect, device number 91
[ 1635.757964] wlx30144a85d884: deauthenticating from 
c0:d7:aa:51:7c:69 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
[ 1635.770530] ath: phy10: Failed to wakeup in 500us
[ 1635.785392] ath: phy10: Failed to wakeup in 500us
[ 1635.788833] workqueue: hub_event hogged CPU for >13333us 7 
times, consider switching to WQ_UNBOUND
[ 1635.795560] ath: phy10: Failed to wakeup in 500us
[ 1635.815971] usb 1-9: ath9k_htc: USB layer deinitialized
[ 1636.871030] usb usb1-port9: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable 
is bad?
[ 1637.823008] usb usb1-port9: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable 
is bad?
[ 1637.823172] usb usb1-port9: attempt power cycle
[ 1638.775036] usb usb1-port9: Cannot enable. Maybe the USB cable 
is bad?

Which I think might be telling me my USB bus is knackered.

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