iwm0: could not initiate scan

[Scribner]

Today, after I booted my FreeBSD computer, I kept getting this message at the login prompt:

iwm0: could not initiate scan

It would flash on a new line roughly every five seconds (I didn't count). I was eventually able to log in, enter my password, log in to root, enter the root password, and shut down. It kept showing up during this time. I tried Ctrl-C and was not able to get it to stop.

Does anyone know what this message was? If it happens again, does anyone know how to get it to stop?

When I booted up the computer again the message did not appear.

 

[robotchaos]

That is your wireless interface. It is telling you it is unable to initiate a scan of wireless networks. I had a similar problem, I noticed, until I set the region. Which can be done by following the handbook: FreeBSD Handbook: Wireless Networking

Do you know if that's been done yet?

 

[Scribner]

Thanks. I think my computer sometimes has a problem connecting to my wireless network at boot time, but this is the first time I got this message. I'm not sure about setting a region -- I set up my wireless network when I installed FreeBSD last month. Do you know how to make that message stop repeating once it starts?

 

[robotchaos]

Well if it's not being used, you could maybe disable the interface with ifconfig wlan0 down

Also, I'm not certain if this is how it works or not on FreeBSD, but I think iwm0 is the physical device. Which wlan0 becomes the pseudo-device backed by iwm0. Maybe someone could elaborate.