WiFi Help

M

markbsd

I'm afraid I've no idea where to start. I've just installed 9.2 to an old piece of x86 architecture. I know it has WLAN, but that's it.

pciconf -lv reveals

Code: 
ath0@pci0:x:xxx:xx:	class=xxxxxx card=xxxxxx chip=xxxxxx rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
    device     = 'AR2413 802.11bg NIC'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

<snip>

rl0@pci0:xx:xxx:x:	class=xxxxx card=xxxxx chip=xxxxx rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.'
    device     = 'RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

I performed echo "ifconfig_ath0="DHCP WPA"" > /etc/rc.conf and also ran make install clean in /usr/ports/net-mgmt/wifimgr, but when running this app it shows no networks.

Here's my /etc/rc.conf:

Code: 
hostname="freebsd"
#ifconfig_rl0="DHCP"
ifconfig_ath0="DHCP WPA"

And ifconfig reveals:

Code: 
ath0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 2290
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
	status: no carrier




Any suggestions?
 
markbsd said:
I'm afraid I've no idea where to start.
Click to expand...
I’m a beginner, so I started here: Wireless Networking.

I think you are missing the wlan() part, but I could be wrong. For example, putting wlans_ath0="wlan0" in /etc/rc.conf is the equivalent of # ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0. Have you tried using the command line to test functionality?

Hope it helps!
 
Okay. Thanks everyone. I think I've made some progress, but still no WiFi.

Steps thus far:

1. created new file /boot/loader.conf with the following lines:
Code: 
if_ath_load="YES"
if_wi_load="YES"
wlan_wep_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"

2. reboot

3.
Code: 
root@freebsd:~ # [CMD]ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0[/CMD]
[FILE]ifconfig: wlandev: bad value[/FILE]

4.
Code: 
root@freebsd:~ # [CMD]ifconfig wlan0 up scan[/CMD]
root@freebsd:~ #

5. added the following to /etc/rc.conf

Code: 
##Attempts to configure WLAN
wlans_ath0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="DHCP WPA"
#ifconfig_ath0="inet xx.0.0.xx netmask 255.255.255.0"

6. ifconfig reveals:
Code: 
wlan0: flags=8c43<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,OACTIVE,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
	status: no carrier
	ssid "" channel 10 (2457 MHz 11g)
	regdomain 100 indoor ecm authmode WPA1+WPA2/802.11i privacy OFF
	txpower 20 bmiss 7 scanvalid 450 bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250
	roam:rssi 7 roam:rate 5 protmode CTS wme burst roaming MANUAL

7. pciconf -lv reveals:
Code: 
ath0@pci0:2:4:0:	class= <snip>
    vendor     = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
    device     = 'AR2413 802.11bg NIC'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

So, I guess all I've managed to achieve is assigning ath0 to wlan0, which in effect does nothing for me. For some reason ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 returns a bad value and ifconfig wlan0 up scan returns absolutely nothing!

I'm at a loss. I figure there's no point configuring wpa_supplicant till this is addressed. Any takers? I'd really love to have WiFi up and running on this FreeBSD box. Thanks.
 
I don't get it. ifconfig wlan0 shows the device is UP. So, ifconfig wlan0 scan should return available networks. But it returns nothing. This is really annoying!

Code: 
root@freebsd:~ # [CMD]ifconfig wlan0[/CMD]
wlan0: flags=8c43<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,OACTIVE,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
	status: no carrier
	ssid "" channel 1 (2412 MHz 11g)
	regdomain 100 indoor ecm authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpower 20 bmiss 7
	scanvalid 60 bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250 roam:rssi 7
	roam:rate 5 protmode CTS wme burst bintval 0
 
Yes.

Code: 
root@freebsd:~ # [CMD]ifconfig[/CMD]
ath0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 2290
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
	status: no carrier
rl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	options=2008<VLAN_MTU,WOL_MAGIC>
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	inet xxx.xx.xx.xxx netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast xx.xx.xx.xx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
	status: active
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
	options=600003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
	inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 
	inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6 
	inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
	nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
wlan0: flags=8c02<BROADCAST,OACTIVE,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
	status: no carrier

Don't know what else to do!
 
Interestingly, in Post 7, you can see that ipconfig returned an inet field. It no longer returns this value. Not sure what this suggests? I also can't think what I've specifically changed since then as I've done a whole lot of rebooting with and without certain lines in /etc/rc.conf

This is really frustrating.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, we have lift off!

Code: 
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	inet xxx.xx.xx.xxx netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast xxx.xx.xx.xxx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/24Mbps mode 11g
	status: associated
	ssid "MY NETWORK" channel 5 (2421 MHz 11g) bssid xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	regdomain 100 indoor ecm authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
	deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 3:128-bit txpower 20 bmiss 7 scanvalid 450
	bgscan bgscanintvl 300 bgscanidle 250 roam:rssi 7 roam:rate 5
	protmode CTS wme burst roaming MANUAL

So, for clarity, and in the hope to help others. This is the process:

Preliminary steps to ascertain PCI data:

a. pciconf -lv returns a page and a half of data. Search for your wireless adaptor. For example:

Code: 
ath0@pci0:2:4:0:	class=0x0xxxxx card=0x<snip> chip=0x<snip> rev=0x.. hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
    device     = 'AR2413 802.11bg NIC'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

ifconfig confirms this:

Code: 
root@freebsd:~ # [CMD]ifconfig[/CMD]
ath0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 2290
	ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g
	status: associated

In this example, ath0 is the device. Adjust the following according to your PCI device.


1. Ensure you create /boot/loader.conf and add the following lines:

Code: 
if_ath_load="YES"
if_wi_load="YES"
wlan_wep_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"

2. reboot

3. nano /etc/rc.conf and add the following lines:

Code: 
wlans_ath0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="DHCP"

4. nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.confand add the following lines:

Code: 
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
	eapol_version=2
	ap_scan=1
	fast_reauth=1

network={
	ssid="YOUR NETWORK SSID"
	psk="YOUR PASSPHRASE"
}

5. reboot

And FreeBSD will automatically load WLAN upon boot.

Thanks everyone for your help!
 
markbsd said:
1. Ensure you create /boot/loader.conf and add the following lines:

Code: 
if_ath_load="YES"
if_wi_load="YES"
wlan_wep_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"
Click to expand...

All of these are part of the default GENERIC kernel. Besides, WEP should not be used any more.
 
Ensure you create /boot/loader.conf and add the following lines:
Click to expand...
After you add items to /boot/loader.conf, you don't need to reboot. You can load the kernel modules and continue to the next step. So, # kldload if_ath will load the if_ath kernel module, unless it is already loaded. For a GENERIC kernel, when you try to load that module (because it is already loaded), you will see:
Code: 
kldload: can't load if_ath: File exists
 
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