UGREEN AX900: firmware upload fails

[evertedsphere]

Managed to package this driver for NixOS and enable it, but it doesn't seem to work:

[  787.294391] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[  802.645890] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 6
[  804.002085] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[  804.129729] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=a69c, idProduct=8d80, bcdDevice= 1.00
[  804.129737] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  804.129740] usb 1-4: Product: AIC Wlan
[  804.129742] usb 1-4: Manufacturer: aicsemi
[  804.129745] usb 1-4: SerialNumber: 20220103
[  804.130670] AICWFDBG(LOGINFO)	aicwf_usb_probe vid:0xA69C pid:0x8D80 icl:0x0 isc:0x0 ipr:0x0
[  804.130674] AICWFDBG(LOGINFO)	aicloadfw_chipmatch USE AIC8800D80
[  804.130676] Aic high speed USB device detected
[  804.131251] chip_id=7, chip_mcu_id = 1
[  804.131255] aic_load_firmware :firmware path = /lib/firmware/aic8800D80/fw_patch_table_8800d80_u02.bin
[  804.131259] aic_load_firmware: fw_patch_table_8800d80_u02.bin file failed to open
[  804.131261] is_Err
[  804.131262] ### Upload fw_patch_table_8800d80_u02.bin fw_patch_table, size=-1
[  804.131263] wrong size of firmware file
[  804.131265] aicbt_patch_table_alloc fail
[  804.131266] aicwf_bus_deinit
[  804.631633] usb_err:<aicwf_usb_rx_submit_all_urb,232>: bus is not up=0
[ --- snipping some repeats of previous message --- ]
[  804.632445] q_sz/max:  0 /  8 - next tkn: 1
[  804.632447] q_sz/max:  0 /  8 - next tkn: 1
[  804.632469] usb bustx thread will to stop
[  804.632475] usb bustx thread stop
[  804.632484] exit aicwf_bus_deinit
[  804.632501] usb busrx thread will to stop
[  804.632506] usb busrx thread stop
[  804.632533] usb_err:<aicwf_usb_probe,1709>: failed with errno 0

% lsusb | grep aic
Bus 001 Device 005: ID a69c:8d80 aicsemi AIC Wlan

What does "failed to open" mean? As far as I can tell the file is there:

% ls /run/booted-system/kernel-modules/lib/firmware/aic8800D80/
aic_userconfig_8800d80.txt  fw_ble_scan_ad_filter.bin
calibmode_8800d80.bin       fw_patch_8800d80_u02.bin
fmacfw_8800d80_u02.bin      fw_patch_table_8800d80_u02.bin
fmacfw_8800d80_u02_ipc.bin  lmacfw_rf_8800d80_u02.bin
fw_adid_8800d80_u02.bin

[shenmintao]

Hello, I'm not an expert on NixOS, but my understanding is that, similar to ChimeraOS, certain parts of the system are immutable. This could be the reason you're encountering the 'file failed to open' error. I found a resource that might be relevant: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/overwrite-lib-firmware-file/9650/6. It seems you may need to adjust your configuration to allow this operation. I hope that points you in the right direction.

[evertedsphere]

Thank you for looking into it.

Indeed, that file is read-only, but does it need to be writable? It seems like all the firmware would need to do is read the file to then upload it to the device.

[shenmintao]

I think this might be related to how NixOS manages permissions. Only firmware declared in the hardware.firmware option within the configuration file can be loaded correctly.

[shenmintao]

Added some codes for UGREEN AX900