[PATCH rtw-next v2] wifi: rtlwifi: rtl8723be: Remove unnecessary irq save/restore in hw_init()

From: William Hansen-Baird

Date: Tue Jun 09 2026 - 06:02:11 EST


rtl8723be hw_init() calls local_save_flags(flags) followed by
local_irq_enable(). Later, local_irq_restore(flags) is called.

This causes warnings from Lockdep on boot and modprobe,
as local_irq_restore(flags) should only be called while irqs are disabled.
The warning was introduced to detect this class of bug in [1].

With testing I found that all paths which call hw_init() have irqs
already enabled for rtl8723be.

Furthermore, the calls were originally added for the rtl8192ce
in commit f78bccd79ba3 ("rtlwifi: rtl8192ce: Fix too long disable of IRQs")
before later being added to most other rtlwifi drivers.

Commit d3feae41a347 ("rtlwifi: Update power-save routines for 062814 driver")
then replaces the call to spin_lock_irqsave() before hw_init(),
and thus the codepath which caused irqs to be disabled in hw_init and
prompted the original commit has been removed.

The same irq save/restore pattern is also present in the hw_init() of
rtl8192ce, rtl8723ae, rtl8188ee, rtl8192se and rtl8192cu,
however I don't have the hardware to test them,
so I did not include them in my changes.

Tested on a Razer Blade 14 2017.

Example of output from Lockdep prior to fix:

raw_local_irq_restore() called with IRQs enabled

...

Call Trace:
<TASK>
rtl8723be_hw_init+0x5992/0x7220 [rtl8723be]
? static_obj+0x61/0xa0
rtl_pci_start+0x222/0x5c0 [rtl_pci]
rtl_op_start+0x128/0x1a0 [rtlwifi]
? __kasan_check_read+0x11/0x20
drv_start+0x16c/0x550 [mac80211]

...

irq event stamp: 887679
hardirqs last enabled at (887689): [<ffffffff96511170>] __up_console_sem+0x90/0xa0
hardirqs last disabled at (887698): [<ffffffff96511155>] __up_console_sem+0x75/0xa0
softirqs last enabled at (887670): [<ffffffff962f4675>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x175/0x2f0
softirqs last disabled at (887649): [<ffffffff962f4675>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x175/0x2f0
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20210111153707.10071-1-mark.rutland@xxxxxxx/

Signed-off-by: William Hansen-Baird <william.hansen.baird@xxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Ping-Ke Shih <pkshih@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes since v1:
- Remove timestamps from dmesg output
- Use [1] footnote style for link
- Fix subject prefix to rtw-next

drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/hw.c | 6 ------
1 file changed, 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/hw.c b/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/hw.c
index e1f811218894..bf7b5a32adaa 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/hw.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/hw.c
@@ -1333,11 +1333,6 @@ int rtl8723be_hw_init(struct ieee80211_hw *hw)
bool rtstatus = true;
int err;
u8 tmp_u1b;
- unsigned long flags;
-
- /* reenable interrupts to not interfere with other devices */
- local_save_flags(flags);
- local_irq_enable();

rtlhal->fw_ready = false;
rtlpriv->rtlhal.being_init_adapter = true;
@@ -1443,7 +1438,6 @@ int rtl8723be_hw_init(struct ieee80211_hw *hw)

rtl8723be_dm_init(hw);
exit:
- local_irq_restore(flags);
rtlpriv->rtlhal.being_init_adapter = false;
return err;
}
--
2.54.0