Pfsense not detecting wireless card

cybrsrfr · May 20, 2008, 4:48 AM

In the pfSense blog article 'Development status update' pfSense 1.2.1 is mentioned with a link to download. pfSense 1.2.1 uses FreeBSD 6.3 which is one version higher and this newer version o FreeBSD includes more drivers. So I recommend trying that version.
http://blog.pfsense.org/?p=188

For convenience here is the comment.

Chris Buechler Says:
April 29th, 2008 at 7:14 pm

Romain: 1.2.1 will have all the drivers in 6.3. You can already get a 1.2 release with a 6.3 base including that driver here:
http://cvs.pfsense.org/~sullrich/testing_images/6/FreeBSD_RELENG_6_3/pfSense_RELENG_1_2/

P.S. pfSense 1.3 is based on FreeBSD7 which has many improvements to wireless, and additional drivers. So much to look forward in wireless support in the future.

Best Regards

maboo · May 20, 2008, 3:15 PM

Before I bought the miniPCI, I read numerous articles about which ones are supported, and many posts simply state "Any Atheros" or any that madwifi supports. So when I inserted the Atheros miniPCI and booted pfSense, I expected almost 0 configuration. I soon realized this was not the case, and the model of the Atheros matters greatly.

I was starting to look at how to compile and integrate the MADWifi stuff… Your option will be much easier :) Thanks!

dotdash · May 20, 2008, 3:55 PM

@maboo:

Before I bought the miniPCI, I read numerous articles about which ones are supported, and many posts simply state "Any Atheros" or any that madwifi supports. So when I inserted the Atheros miniPCI and booted pfSense, I expected almost 0 configuration. I soon realized this was not the case, and the model of the Atheros matters greatly.

I think you are getting ahead of things. Perhaps your problem is at a more basic level. AFAIK, the 5414A should be supported by 1.2. Your DMESG is missing any indication that your hardware has been found. Normally, even if the card is not supported, you should see a line like:
pci0 <network>at device 12 (no driver attached)
There is a similar line where it finds the currently unsupported crypto chip on the ALIX…
Before jumping to conclusions, I think you need to verify that your card works in another machine (say a Windows laptop) and verify that your ALIX works with another mini-pci card.</network>

GoldServe · May 20, 2008, 4:18 PM

Correct, if your card is working and is attached to the PCI bus, it will say. I'm not seeing it leads me to believe that your card is not working or the slot is not working.

maboo · May 21, 2008, 12:36 AM

I flashed my CF with ZeroShell and the wireless came right up.

ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
wifi0: 11a rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
wifi0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36
Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP
Configuring physical WiFi devices ( wifi0 )

Also, one of the things I noticed with ZeroShell it supports multiple SSIDs, does pfSense?

GruensFroeschli · May 21, 2008, 8:03 AM

@maboo:

Also, one of the things I noticed with ZeroShell it supports multiple SSIDs, does pfSense?

http://blog.pfsense.org/?p=187

maboo · May 21, 2008, 2:16 PM

"That’ll be a while, but it’s something to look forward to in a year or so."

doh!

BillH · Jun 9, 2008, 4:15 PM

Back to the original question.

Most (if not all) Atheros cards, at least the ones sold at Netgate.com, work with the current version of pfSense. The most often difficulty I hear about is someone assuming that they do not need to do any set up. Fact is that pfSense and m0nowall both need to be set up to work with any wireless card. Generally, the first step after physically installing the miniPCI card(s) and booting the machine is to "assign" the interfaces. I hear lots of highly technically competent people who miss this step. If you use the web GUI this is extremely simple. Look at the interface (e.g., LAN, WAN, Opt1, etc.) and see if it will let you choose "ath0" in addition to offering "vr0" et al. If you see "ath0" as an option then FreeBSD and pfSense see the wireless card.

There are a couple of reasons why a card may not be recognized even though it is a supported card. First, if it is not installed physically then there is no way the card can be found (you might be surprised how many times people just do not insert the card all the way.) Second, on the ALIX boards there is an ECN #27 that raises the headroom for the higher powered cards, such as the DCMA-82, EMP-8602 and most of the Ubiquiti cards. If you have an ALIX board that does not have that ECN, some high powered cards may not be seen. You can diagnose that really easily if you have another lower powered Atheros-based card, such as a CM-9. Swap the miniPCI cards and see if it makes a difference. If it does then look for that ECN.

Molski · Jun 23, 2008, 10:05 PM

I am also having an similar issue. I bought the Netgate m1n1wall (ALIX2), and the Atheros CM9. My dmesg is very similar..

Copyright (c) 1992-2007 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE-p11 #0: Sun Feb 24 17:36:53 EST 2008
    sullrich@builder6.pfsense.com:/usr/obj.pfSense/usr/src/sys/pfSense_wrap.6
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Geode(TM) Integrated Processor by AMD PCS (498.05-MHz 586-class CPU)
  Origin = "AuthenticAMD"  Id = 0x5a2  Stepping = 2
  Features=0x88a93d <fpu,de,pse,tsc,msr,cx8,sep,pge,cmov,clflush,mmx>AMD Features=0xc0400000 <mmx+,3dnow+,3dnow>real memory  = 268435456 (256 MB)
avail memory = 253272064 (241 MB)
pnpbios: Bad PnP BIOS data checksum
wlan: mac acl policy registered
K6-family MTRR support enabled (2 registers)
ath_hal: 0.9.17.2 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
cpu0 on motherboard
pcib0: <host to="" pci="" bridge="">pcibus 0 on motherboard
pci0: <pci bus="">on pcib0
MFGPT bar: f00100006200
pci0: <encrypt decrypt,="" entertainment="" crypto="">at device 1.2 (no driver attached)
vr0: <via 10="" vt6105m="" rhine="" iii="" 100basetx="">port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0xe0000000-0xe00000ff irq 10 at device 9.0 on pci0
miibus0: <mii bus="">on vr0
ukphy0: <generic ieee="" 802.3u="" media="" interface="">on miibus0
ukphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
vr0: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:14:6f:f0
vr1: <via 10="" vt6105m="" rhine="" iii="" 100basetx="">port 0x1400-0x14ff mem 0xe0040000-0xe00400ff irq 11 at device 10.0 on pci0
miibus1: <mii bus="">on vr1
ukphy1: <generic ieee="" 802.3u="" media="" interface="">on miibus1
ukphy1:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
vr1: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:14:6f:f1
vr2: <via 10="" vt6105m="" rhine="" iii="" 100basetx="">port 0x1800-0x18ff mem 0xe0080000-0xe00800ff irq 12 at device 11.0 on pci0
miibus2: <mii bus="">on vr2
ukphy2: <generic ieee="" 802.3u="" media="" interface="">on miibus2
ukphy2:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
vr2: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:14:6f:f2
isab0: <pci-isa bridge="">port 0x6000-0x6007,0x6100-0x61ff,0x6200-0x623f,0x9d00-0x9d7f,0x9c00-0x9c3f at device 15.0 on pci0
isa0: <isa bus="">on isab0
atapci0: <generic ata="" controller="">port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xff00-0xff0f at device 15.2 on pci0
ata0: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci0
ata1: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci0
ohci0: <ohci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">mem 0xefffe000-0xefffefff irq 15 at device 15.4 on pci0
ohci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb0: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb0: <ohci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on ohci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: AMD OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub0: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
ehci0: <amd cs5536="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">mem 0xefffd000-0xefffdfff irq 15 at device 15.5 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb1: EHCI version 1.0
usb1: companion controller, 4 ports each: usb0
usb1: <amd cs5536="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">on ehci0
usb1: USB revision 2.0
uhub1: AMD EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1
uhub1: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
orm0: <isa option="" rom="">at iomem 0xe0000-0xea7ff on isa0
ppc0: parallel port not found.
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x30 on isa0
sio0: type 16550A, console
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
RTC BIOS diagnostic error 80 <clock_battery>Timecounter "TSC" frequency 498052564 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
Fast IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
ad0: 488MB <sandisk sdcfj-512="" hdx="" 4.03="">at ata0-master PIO4
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider ad0a is ufs/pfSense.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider ad0d is ufs/pfSenseCfg.
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfSense
WARNING: / was not properly dismounted
WARNING: /cf was not properly dismounted
WARNING: R/W mount of / denied.  Filesystem is not clean - run fsck
WARNING: R/W mount of /cf denied.  Filesystem is not clean - run fsck
vr0: link state changed to UP
vr1: link state changed to UP
vr2: link state changed to UP
pflog0: promiscuous mode enabled</sandisk></clock_battery></isa></amd></amd></ohci></ohci></ata></ata></generic></isa></pci-isa></generic></mii></via></generic></mii></via></generic></mii></via></encrypt></pci></host></mmx+,3dnow+,3dnow></fpu,de,pse,tsc,msr,cx8,sep,pge,cmov,clflush,mmx>

It does seem like it partially detects the device, but doesn't associate the driver given these lines from dmesg..

wlan: mac acl policy registered
ath_hal: 0.9.17.2 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
pci0: <encrypt decrypt,="" entertainment="" crypto="">at device 1.2 (no driver attached)</encrypt>

bigbox:~#  pciconf -lv
hostb0@pci0:1:0:        class=0x060000 card=0x20801022 chip=0x20801022 rev=0x33 hdr=0x00
    class    = bridge
    subclass = HOST-PCI
none0@pci0:1:2: class=0x101000 card=0x20821022 chip=0x20821022 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    class    = encrypt/decrypt
vr0@pci0:9:0:   class=0x020000 card=0x01061106 chip=0x30531106 rev=0x96 hdr=0x00
    class    = network
    subclass = ethernet
vr1@pci0:10:0:  class=0x020000 card=0x01061106 chip=0x30531106 rev=0x96 hdr=0x00
    class    = network
    subclass = ethernet
vr2@pci0:11:0:  class=0x020000 card=0x01061106 chip=0x30531106 rev=0x96 hdr=0x00
    class    = network
    subclass = ethernet
isab0@pci0:15:0:        class=0x060100 card=0x20901022 chip=0x20901022 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
    class    = bridge
    subclass = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:15:2:      class=0x010180 card=0x209a1022 chip=0x209a1022 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    class    = mass storage
    subclass = ATA
ohci0@pci0:15:4:        class=0x0c0310 card=0x20941022 chip=0x20941022 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class    = serial bus
    subclass = USB
ehci0@pci0:15:5:        class=0x0c0320 card=0x20951022 chip=0x20951022 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class    = serial bus
    subclass = USB

bigbox:~#  ifconfig -a
vr0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>mtu 1500
        inet 10.1.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.1.1.255
        inet6 fe80::20d:b9ff:fe14:6ff0%vr0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
        ether 00:0d:b9:14:6f:f0
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
vr1: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>mtu 1500
        inet6 fe80::20d:b9ff:fe14:6ff1%vr1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        inet 75.155.83.40 netmask 0xfffff000 broadcast 75.155.95.255
        ether 00:0d:b9:14:6f:f1
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
vr2: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>mtu 1500
        inet 10.1.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.1.2.255
        inet6 fe80::20d:b9ff:fe14:6ff2%vr2 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
        ether 00:0d:b9:14:6f:f2
        media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
enc0: flags=0<> mtu 1536
lo0: flags=8049 <up,loopback,running,multicast>mtu 16384
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
pfsync0: flags=41 <up,running>mtu 2020
        pfsync: syncdev: lo0 syncpeer: 224.0.0.240 maxupd: 128
pflog0: flags=100 <promisc>mtu 33208</promisc></up,running></up,loopback,running,multicast></full-duplex></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></full-duplex></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></full-duplex></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

Does anyone have any ideas?

dotdash · Jun 25, 2008, 2:54 PM

The CM9 should be showing up, but I don't see it in the dmesg.
This is the Geode crypto chip (currently no FreeBSD driver):
pci0: <encrypt decrypt,="" entertainment="" crypto="">at device 1.2 (no driver attached)</encrypt>
You checked that it's properly seated? Tried putting the card in a laptop to verify it's good?

Molski · Jun 28, 2008, 12:31 AM

I was careful seeding the card, then tried twice more with the same results.

So even with no freebsd driver, a 'CM9' should be showing up at boot up? I haven't tried a laptop yet, but I guess I better with the 30 day Netgate return policy.

So even if the card was working properly, it wouldn't work, is what you're saying?

dotdash · Jun 30, 2008, 2:11 PM

@molski:

So even if the card was working properly, it wouldn't work, is what you're saying?

Um… No.
I'm trying to say that the CM9 should work fine.
FreeBSD should detect it and load the driver. IF the card was unsupported, then you should still see a dmesg where the OS probes it, something like:
pci0 <network>at device 12 (no driver attached)
I was pointing out that dmesg previously posted showed the cypto chip with no driver attaching (expected behavior in 1.2), but did not show a network device with no driver. That made me suspect the physical seating of the card.</network>