Trouble with usb wifi adapter

Sragonal · #1 December 4th, 2009, 02:23

Hello FreeBSD people,

I've got an old pc here where I put FreeBSD 8.0 on, the problem is that I can't get the wifi adapter to work. The adapter is a "Siemens Gigaset USB Adapter 108" . I've checked the hardware notes and the device should work with the 'uath' driver.

It's a fresh install, and I've compiled a whole new kernel for that device. I made sure that all dependencies where met.

When I connect the device this shows up: "ugen0.2 <Atheros Communications Inc> at usbus0". But it doesn't show up in /dev as uath0. The program 'uathload' for loading the right firmware in the device seems to work fine though.

I'm quite a newbie concerning FreeBSD. I hope someone could help me with this problem, I would really appreciate that.

aragon · #2 December 4th, 2009, 04:17

When it's plugged in, paste us the output of this:

Code:

usbconfig -u 0 -a 2 dump_device_desc

The above assumes it comes up as ugen0.2.

Sragonal · #3 December 4th, 2009, 11:54

The output of usbconfig -u 0 -a 2 dump_device_desc:

Code:

gen0.2 <AR5523 Atheros Communications Inc> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON

bLength = 0x0012
bDescriptorTyupe = 0x0001
bcdUSB = 0x0200
bDeviceClass = 0x00ff
bDeviceSubClass = 0x0000
bDeviceProtocol = 0x0000
bMaxPacketSize0 = ox0040
idVendor = 0x129b
idProduct = 0x160c
bcdDevice = 0x0001
iManufacturer = 0x0001 <Atheros Communications Inc>
iProduct = 0x002 <AR5523>
iSerialNumber = 0x0003 <1.0>
bNumConfigurations = 0x0001

Thanks for replying

aragon · #4 December 4th, 2009, 20:18

Unfortunately that card is not supported at this time, but it might be possible/easy to add support because the AR5523 controller is supported. Do you know how to patch source code and recompile your kernel?

Sragonal · #5 December 5th, 2009, 03:52

I know basic C. And as mentioned in my first post, I have recompiled a kernel with the instructions from the handbook.

Maybe you could give me some more instructions to get my wifi adapter working?

I have no experience patching source code though. :/

aragon · #6 December 5th, 2009, 06:16

Great. Download the attached patch. Apply it as follows:

Code:

cd /usr/src
patch </path/to/siemens.txt

It should apply cleanly on 8.0 source. After patching, recompile your kernel and hold thumbs.

(it says CYBERTAN in the source because that vendor was already defined for 0x129b)

Sragonal · #7 December 5th, 2009, 07:31

OK, I have executed the commands in your post. And after that I've executed "make buildkernel KERNELCONF=HOMESERVER", this is my custom kernel, at the moment it is compiling. When it is done I will execute "make installkernel KERNELCONF=HOMESERVER".

I am not really understanding what is happening in the 'siemens.txt' file tough. Maybe you could explain what is happening, or link me to a web address where I could learn more about patch files. What does a line like: "@@ -1120,6 +1120,7 @@" mean? Did you write this file yourself?

I'm holding thumbs right now.

I really appreciate the work you have put into this.

aragon · #8 December 5th, 2009, 07:57

The patch file is created with diff(1). I found this guide. Take a look at patch(1) too.

Hope it works.

Sragonal · #9 December 5th, 2009, 11:25

Now there seems to be happening more with the device while booting. But in the end it turns out that there is still no uath0 in /dev.

dmesg with some irrelevant stuff filtered out:

Code:

ugen0.3: <Atheros Communications Inc> at usbus0
uath0: <Atheros Communications Inc AR5523, rev 2.00/0.01, addr 3> on usbus0
Root mount waiting for: usbus0
uath0: timeout waiting for reply to cmd 0x1 (1)
uath0: could not initialize adapter
device_attach: uath0 attach returned 35
uath0: <Atheros Communications Inc AR5523, rev 2.00/0.01, addr 3> on usbus0
uath0: timeout waiting for reply to cmd 0x1 (1)
uath0: could not initialize adapter
device_attach: uath0 attach returned 35

aragon · #10 December 5th, 2009, 11:30

Ack. That's a pity. Unfortunately it's not an easy fix then, at least not for me. Since you know some C, you might be able to add support in src/sys/dev/usb/wlan/if_uath.c

Sragonal · #11 December 5th, 2009, 11:40

Haha, alright. Back to the days when if you wanted something with your pc, you will have to write the code yourself.

Thanks for your help anyway.

aragon · #12 December 5th, 2009, 11:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sragonal

Haha, alright. Back to the days when if you wanted something with your pc, you will have to write the code yourself.

Something like that.

Actually there is more you could still try. The mailing lists are a good source of help too.

Or you could try another card. My Cisco/Linksys WUSB54G works great with rum(4).

Sragonal · #13 December 5th, 2009, 15:13

Strange that the hardware notes say that the device I'm using is supported. While in practice it doesn't seem to work. :/

aragon · #14 December 5th, 2009, 15:17

Yup. Usually a patch like mine works fine. Not so lucky this time.

Something else you can try is ndis(4).

Sragonal · #15 December 8th, 2009, 15:44

I'll try that, I hope it works. What troubles me is that the uath driver changed the firmware. I've been searching a bit on the net but I couldn't find it.

I will just try it and see how it works out.

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