WiFi, USB and webcam issues (bus related?)

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WiFi, USB and webcam issues (bus related?)

Hi,

I've got some issues with WiFi, USB and webcam which usually erupt when my MBP (early 2015, 13 inch) is under load for minute or so. It's running El Capitan 10.11.3, and I do not know if the errors were present before since I got it just two weeks back.

My minimal working example is using the flash-version of twitch.tv and watching any channel sending a 1080p/i stream. It takes seconds before WiFi goes down then, and sometimes my USB headset stops working as well and the webcam resets. The WiFi reconnects after a while though, the broadcom chip is being reset and when it's up again it's up.

The following usually shows up in the logs:

01/03/16 23:02:37,000 kernel[0]: ARPT: 63809.964428: wl0: fifo 0: data error

01/03/16 23:02:37,000 kernel[0]: ARPT: 63809.964435: wl0: fatal error, reinitializing, total count of reinit's[50], @'wlc_bmac_fifoerrors':9913

I haven't found any way of solving this so far, I've tried googling a lot and talking with friends who have more experience with Macs than me, but it has led us nowhere.

And I've tried all the "Fix WiFi issues" post or solution I've found anywhere on the web for MBPs. But what I find interesting is the lack of google results for wlc_bmac_fifoerrors which points me in the direction that it might be a very rare bug, even a hardware bug?

Error by USB audio:

29/02/16 09:34:05,000 kernel[0]: WARNING: AppleUSBAudio has detected that a connected USB audio device is sending too much audio data.

29/02/16 09:34:05,000 kernel[0]: WARNING: This USB audio device may not function properly. Please notify the device manufacturer.

Error by webcam:

28/02/16 23:16:52,290 AppleCameraAssistant[4824]: FrameReceiverMessageCallback: KernelFrameDropNotification (Frames are dropping). The firmware is not returning buffers quickly enough.

They all lead to the same issue, reinited wifi, reset / non-working usb and reset webcam.

If i had access to the firmware I would simply update it and see what happens, but since I do not have that (Apple policy I guess?) I feel quite handfallen.

(this is basically a duplicate of a SE question I wrote a couple of days ago; http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/229172/issues-with-wifi-seems-bus-relat ed-under-load)

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), early 2015

Posted on Mar 1, 2016 3:24 PM

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Answer 1

my ginger

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Mar 1, 2016 4:13 PM in response to flindeberg

While looking into this. One thing i picked up on is that TwitchTV likes ethernet better than WIFI. Also you might want to see if your broadband is switching between 2.4GHZ and 5 GHZ. Sometimes setting this to one or the other can help. You could also try deleteing some of the network plist. files in preferences. http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/228930/wifi-constantly-disconnects-when -watching-online-stream-video-on-my-mbp

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Answer 2

flindeberg Author

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Mar 2, 2016 1:21 AM in response to my ginger

It isn't "switching", see my log excerpts, it somehow believes it receives faulty data. It's the same regardless of WiFi connection (ie protocol / router / etc, it happens on AC, N, G, and 30+ different routers)

I've already done everything present in any other "fix wifi issue"-thread.

That SE-question could be the same as what I'm experiencing, I'll try to get in touch with him/her.

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Answer 3

my ginger

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Mar 2, 2016 8:45 AM in response to flindeberg

There are a lot of posts on the internet about this, but no real solutions. What happens if you run thru an ethernet connection? Also it is suggested to turn off any firewalls or virus software.

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Answer 4

flindeberg Author

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Mar 3, 2016 12:50 PM in response to my ginger

It doesn't seem to matter with regards to firewall / virus software.

But it works "better" with USB-ethernet plug, although the bus will be "reset" after a while regardless.

I just managed to get several fifo 0: data error with a time discrepancy of 105 ms, just thought to point it out.

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Answer 5

my ginger

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Mar 3, 2016 1:19 PM in response to flindeberg

Here is a thread on this with some ideas and some other links. https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/3n5m0v/buffering_stream_lag_issues_the_ megathread/

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Answer 6

flindeberg Author

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Mar 3, 2016 1:28 PM in response to my ginger

Tyty, didn't find anything useful though =(

Is there anyway to check if your firmware is up to date / not corrupt? I'm primarily thinking with regards to south-bridge and wifi.

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Answer 7

my ginger

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Mar 4, 2016 9:22 AM in response to flindeberg

The only firmware for a MBP is SMC and EFI. If your EFI firmware in corrupt. You will not be able to boot and the system will automatically go into recovery to reinstall the EFI firmware. SMC is system management control. Which has to do with power settings https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201518 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Management_Controller

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Answer 8

flindeberg Author

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Mar 8, 2016 7:15 AM in response to my ginger

Well, I would highly doubt that actually (ie only firmware is SMC and EFI). Would be the most interesting computer architecture solution ever 🙂 Might be though that what looks as SMC actually covers south bridge / north bridge / SATA-controllers / USB-controllers / wifi / etc, but they do have firmware 🙂

The only SMC firmware available at the site you linked are quite old, so it's impossible to reinstall it current SMC firmware. And I highly doubt corrupted EFI, as you said, then bootstrap would fail.

Seriously though, firmware and drivers, how do I verify integrity? AFAIK the kext-commands are the commands closely related to linux (ls)mod (probe) commands? I only want to verify integrity, because then it's a hardware fault.

I tried posting a kextstat dump, but this forum wouldn't let me.

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Answer 9

flindeberg Author

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Mar 8, 2016 8:10 AM in response to flindeberg

Adding some more information; this is the driver log at http://pastebin.com/xeuGi4u2.

Note A1=04:da:d2:fd:10:c0 A2=f4:5c:89:9f:10:4d where A1 is the hotspot, and A2 is m wifi MAC. At 322175.593268 kernel ticks is where it goes to ****.

After this it's just a power cycling, and then it's up again.

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Answer 10

my ginger

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Mar 8, 2016 8:29 AM in response to flindeberg

I knew when I gave you that link, there were no firmware updates for El Capitan on the list. It was to show that they come by way of software updates from apple. They are machine specific. Not as much by operating system. In system library extensions, you find the drivers for apple devises. And in some cases Drives for third party ad ons. In many cases you can right click on then to get show contents. While apple runs a linux based system,it is not pure linux. Some linux commands work, some no not. Firmware is for the machine. Drivers run the various devises. Settings to run ethernet and wifi are in ether SMC or EFI., because on the newer and some of the older Mac's,one can reinstall the operating system by network without any operating system installed. While there are, in command line, ways to get to the EFI. That is not something I have the expertise or desire to do. As one can mess things up very badly. One fix I saw was to use a VNC server. Have you tried that. Here is a link to apple developers. I don't know if this will help with what you are trying to do or not. https://developer.apple.com/

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Answer 11

flindeberg Author

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Mar 9, 2016 5:23 AM in response to my ginger

Apparently there are two versions of the bcm4360 card as well, I have the (0x14E4, 0x133) chip.

I'll have a look at the developer forum as well, but I dare say that I have to turn the computer in.

And for the record, OSX (XNU) is based on Mach and BSD, ie its Unix-like (even POSIX-compliant I guess), not really Linux-like. I know the architecture in theory but I've never worked with it in practice before now, and it seems to have it's quirks. But I must say I like the kext / IO Kit idea, it seems really sound 🙂

The difference between driver and firmware is where it is located, driver is how the OS talks to the device, firmware is in the device, ie the broadcom chip in this case. I have the com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360 (1020.17.1a1) driver, but the Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.94.136.1a1) firmware. The error I'm getting implies firmware level, not driver level, that's why I would like to verify firmware integrity.

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Answer 12

my ginger

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Mar 11, 2016 8:11 AM in response to flindeberg

Unfortunately there is no separate download for firmware on your computer from apple. As you saw it stops at 2014. This might be done at an apple store thru the genius bar, but I cannot say for certain. If this is a problem with corruption of firmware in any way you can ether take it in to them or try a reinstall. As right now that is the only way to get a firmware update for your computer. I know that on this site. Though not sure what it's under. There are people that know how to run command lines to access the firmware. There was a post some while ago to do this to run windows only on a Mac. Apparently it can be done, though I don't know why one would do it.

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Answer 13

h7n

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Mar 22, 2016 10:39 AM in response to flindeberg

Have you had any luck in resolving this? I appear to have the same issue on the same hardware.

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Answer 14

flindeberg Author

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Mar 22, 2016 10:44 AM in response to h7n

Sadly not, I'm just avoiding using my Mac during the circumstances where it happens, ie I don't use USBAudio-driver, the built-in webcam nor WiFi under heavy load.

I'm currently trying to disable FileVault to see if that helps. But I don't believe it will. I've also upgraded to 10.11.4.

Have you tried anything?

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Answer 15

flindeberg Author

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Mar 23, 2016 7:42 AM in response to h7n

I just did a restart, the restart failed and I got into the boot-helper-thingy where you can repair disk, reinstall osx etc. I just set the main ssd as boot-drive and restarted and it booted up again. But now I have no more issues, at all.

Sadly "waiting for boot to fail" is not a very good solution. Maybe it can work if you force it into recovery mode?

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