Wlan help

I've never really bothered with wireless lan, but I'd like to see if I can get wi-fi working on my Z83 Mini-PC, but I don't know where to start.

Any pointers would be appreciated.
 
After some reading, I'm not sure if I need to add anything to /boot/loader.conf

dmesg:-
Code:
iwn0: <Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205> mem 0xf2400000-0xf2401fff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci2
...so I guess it is recognised.

I'm using a ThinkPad T420 which has a switch at the side for Wi-Fi, but no LED comes on when I switch it on...

pciconf -lcve:-
Code:
iwn0@pci0:3:0:0:   class=0x028000 card=0x13118086 chip=0x00858086 rev=0x34 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = 'Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]'
    class      = network
    cap 01[c8] = powerspec 3  supports D0 D3  current D0
    cap 05[d0] = MSI supports 1 message, 64 bit enabled with 1 message
    cap 10[e0] = PCI-Express 1 endpoint max data 128(128) FLR RO NS
                 link x1(x1) speed 2.5(2.5) ASPM L1(L0s/L1)
    ecap 0001[100] = AER 1 0 fatal 0 non-fatal 0 corrected
    ecap 0003[140] = Serial 1 8c705affff64e5dc

After adding
Code:
wlans_iwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
to /etc/rc.conf, creating /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:-
Code:
network={
   ssid=ssid
   psk=password
}
and running service netif restart
I end up with ifconfig:-
Code:
wlan0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
   ether 8c:70:5a:64:e5:dc
   nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
   media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
   status: no carrier
   ssid "" channel 1 (2412 MHz 11b)
   regdomain FCC country US authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpower 30
   bmiss 10 scanvalid 60 wme bintval 0
   groups: wlan

What have I overlooked?
 
There is nice ncurses tool you can use for that:
bsdinstall wireless

This is assuming you are trying to setup a wireless client.

Thanks for the suggestion... although you probably meany bsdinstall netconfig...

Unfortunately I got an error saying that wpa_supplicant could not be started (or some such...)
 
although you probably meany bsdinstall netconfig
Nope I meant what I said:

screenshot24.png
 
After running ifconfig wlan0 up the wifi led starts flashing and this msg pops up:-
Code:
iwn0: iwn_read_firmware: ucode rev=0x12a80601

ifconfig wlan0 scan displays all the nearby SSIDs...
 
The manual mentions some firmware:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?iwn
I had a look, but it's unclear which driver goes with which card. I have Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 but can't work which is the correct driver.

In the end I added
Code:
if_iwn_load="YES"
       iwn1000fw_load="YES"
       iwn100fw_load="YES"
       iwn105fw_load="YES"
       iwn135fw_load="YES"
       iwn2000fw_load="YES"
       iwn2030fw_load="YES"
       iwn4965fw_load="YES"
       iwn5000fw_load="YES"
       iwn5150fw_load="YES"
       iwn6000fw_load="YES"
       iwn6000g2afw_load="YES"
       iwn6000g2bfw_load="YES"
       iwn6050fw_load="YES"
to /boot/loader.conf but it made no difference.

Sorry I got the app name wrong.
bsdconfig wireless

bsdinstall * writes to a chroot and really don't work for an installed system.

Good to know about this, but I get - 'Failed to reach wpa_supplicant'.

After a number of searches it appears that:

iwn0: iwn_read_firmware: ucode rev=0x12a80601

is a common problem with FreeBSD 11, whereas the same card worked with previous versions.

One suggestion I came across was
Code:
legal.intel_iwn.license_ack=1 # loader.conf
!!!
 
Yes that is what you need. The license ack. I believe the firmware is now built in and the manpage is outdated.
Not sure though as I use Atheros wireless.
 
The license ack doesn't seem to make any difference.... nor all the drivers here...

Guess it's time to put wlan on the back burner :(

Strange, but the interface becomes active, since it will scan for nearby SSIDs, but seem unable to connect.
 
Following your suggestion that it was an authentication issue, I switched on tethering on my phone with no password and was able to connect to it... so it looks like the iwn0: iwn_read_firmware: ucode rev=0x12a80601 msg must have been a red herring...

dmesg tells me
Code:
module iwn already present!
so, I should probably clean up /boot/loader.conf

I'll try again to connect wirelessly to the router, although I did check the password a number of times, assuming an authentication error would have been flagged as such.
 
Can anyone explain what the differences are between these options for assigning IP an address to a WLAN interface?

Code:
#ifconfig_wlan0="DHCP"
#ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"
#ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"

How do I go about switching wifi access on and off? Is it just ifconfig wlan0 up and ifconfig wlan0 down?
I can't seem to have both interfaces active at the same time...
 
WPA use WPA key negotiation
DHCP get an IP address from a DHCP server (may timeout if the server is too slow)
SYNCDHCP forces the startup to wait until dhclient(8) returns

How do I go about switching wifi access on and off? Is it just ifconfig wlan0 up and ifconfig wlan0 down?
Works for me :)
 
If you're running 11.x kernel you can al so use service netif restart
 
If you can see other access points in a scan, then it's probably an auth problem, as Phishfry wrote. Easiest way to diagnose this is to run wpa_supplicant manually with the -dd option. This will give boatloads of information, and tell you exactly where the problem is (most likely). Something like:

/usr/local/sbin/wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Dbsd
 
In my case on My Hp Eleite Book 8470w Mobile Workstation it turned out to ber the following code on the /boot/loader.conf file
Code:
iwn_load="YES"

iwn6000fw_load="YES"

/etc/crazy.conf

Code:
ifconfig_iwn0="wlan0
ifconfig_wlan0=WPA SYNCDHCP"
Code:
 
I guess I've got a similar problem at hand, my NIC (Centrino Advanced-N 6205) shows erratic behavior.

Sometimes the startup works just fine, then again it shows "iwn0: iwn_intr: fatal firmware error".
Most of the time when I log on chrome works and after some time the wireless LED starts flickering
and the connection is lost although I didn't change my location or anything else.

I'll add my rc.conf, loader.conf and dmesg.boot later on, but at the moment I'm puzzled.
 
Just run wpa_supplicant with the -dd option. That will tell you if the adapter driver is purposely disconnecting, or is more seriously misbehaving (like hardware problem). If need further info, can run a separate machine in monitor mode and look at the RF packets individually.
 
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