D-Link DWL-G520 connection to a linksys router

diretore

Hi guys…

I'm having an ongoing nightmare with this config going on for weeks now.

The setup:

next to the WAN and LAN there is an OPT1 (D-link) interface connected to a wireless router (linksys). Router has internet access, so I'm trying to use it as a second WAN for my multiwan config.
I'm using wpa2 security setup.

On the interface page i am getting ENORMOUS amount of errors (like every 3 packets in there is an error, and every 100 packets out the same, roughly)
Periodic disconnects...
Can't ping gateway address although the status page reads "associated".
(Load balancer status page says offline even when I ping the control address normaly)
Sometimes I can ping the gateway from my LAN, sometimes I can't (Same goes for the pfsense box itself)

I am crazy already...
dunno what to do. It's not a signal strength issue I think (powerful antena, and windows boxex in the same spot give max signal power)

If you need extra info please tell me what and I'll paste it...

ttnx

danswartz

I've been less than impressed with the wireless stuff in freebsd :( If you STF you will find the various issues I had. I finally gave up and went back to a separate AP. What I would recommend: pull the WLAN card and replace with another enet card, connected only to the AP you have. Make that OPT1 enet card the other gateway and go from there.

wallabybob

It might help other readers to know what version of pfSense you are using and what driver attaches to your WLAN card (e.g. ath, ral, etc).

danswartz has reported problems with ath in pfSense 1.2.3 while I have had satisfactory experience with ath in 1.2.3

diretore

Sorry…

Using pfsense 1.2.3

athstats

352 data frames received
332 data frames transmit
3 tx frames with an alternate rate
12 long on-chip tx retries
128 mib overflow interrupts
48M current transmit rate
212 tx management frames
661 tx frames discarded prior to association
2 tx encapsulation failed
201 tx frames with no ack marked
397 tx frames with short preamble
919 rx failed 'cuz of bad CRC
235 rx failed 'cuz of PHY err
235 CCK restart
52 periodic calibrations
27 rssi of last ack
24 avg recv rssi
-96 rx noise floor
Antenna profile:
[1] tx 527 rx 16584

ifconfig
re0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
options=389b <rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,vlan_hwcsum,wol_ucast,wol_mcast,wol_magic>ether 00:22:b0:cf:c7:7f
inet 192.168.5.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.5.255
inet6 fe80::222:b0ff:fecf:c77f%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
status: active
fxp0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
options=8 <vlan_mtu>ether 00:02:a5:e3:87:ed
inet6 fe80::202:a5ff:fee3:87ed%fxp0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
status: active
ath0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 00:22:b0:ea:f8:79
inet6 fe80::222:b0ff:feea:f879%ath0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
inet 192.168.1.101 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g (OFDM/24Mbps)
status: associated
ssid Doma channel 11 (2462 Mhz 11g) bssid xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 4:128-bit
txpower 31.5 bmiss 7 scanvalid 60 bgscan bgscanintvl 300
bgscanidle 250 roam:rssi11g 7 roam:rate11g 5 protmode OFF burst
roaming MANUAL
lo0: flags=8049 <up,loopback,running,multicast>metric 0 mtu 16384
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
enc0: flags=0<> metric 0 mtu 1536
pfsync0: flags=41 <up,running>metric 0 mtu 1460
pfsync: syncdev: lo0 syncpeer: 224.0.0.240 maxupd: 128
pflog0: flags=100 <promisc>metric 0 mtu 33204
ng0: flags=88d1 <up,pointopoint,running,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1492
inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx –> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 0xffffffff
inet6 fe80::222:b0ff:fecf:c77f%ng0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x8
ng1: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng2: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng3: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng4: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng5: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng6: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng7: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng8: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng9: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng10: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng11: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng12: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng13: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng14: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng15: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ng16: flags=8890 <pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500

read and tried changing antenna settings and diversity... no luck... still errors, still disconnects after some time (10, maybe 15 hours, usualy when there's no trafic)
tried changing transmission power from 20 all the way to 100, still nothing...

EDIT: when it's connected I get full bandwidth to the internet (10 mbit). Basically I don't care about the errors. Just the disconnects!
EDIT2: what danswartz said... When I click the save button on the OPT1 interface page (without making changes) it reconnects and everything starts working again. (On the status page it ALWAYS say associated

Could it be some kind of powersave mode? no traffic disables wireless? I don't know... still experimenting</pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></pointopoint,noarp,simplex,multicast></up,pointopoint,running,noarp,simplex,multicast></promisc></up,running></up,loopback,running,multicast></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></full-duplex></vlan_mtu></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></full-duplex></rxcsum,txcsum,vlan_mtu,vlan_hwtagging,vlan_hwcsum,wol_ucast,wol_mcast,wol_magic></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

danswartz

that was what was happening to me too - getting disconnected - if even for a few seconds, aborts any apps i was running.

diretore

tried playing around with in/out buffers and calibration settings…. nothing :(

at this point I am considering doing a cron scheduled script that simulates clicking on the save button every 5 hours or so...
any idea how to do that?

diretore

Resolved with dd-wrt enabled router in bridge client mode.

Works like a charm now.
Never looked back

Efonnes

Were you getting any "stuck beacon" error messages in your system log? I've seen that at first with both Atheros-based cards I've tried (5212 and 5416 chipsets). Changing channels or removing the antennas sometimes would make it stop. It eventually seemed to go away on its own in both cases after I had already tried changing channels, rebooting, etc., and I was then able to use the channel I wanted without seeing the error. They may require some kind of calibration period before they work right on the ath driver.

I've also seen good results from a card I have that is based on the Marvell 88W8363 (mwl driver in FreeBSD), but with no initial issues either, unlike the Atheros cards. It does require at least FreeBSD 8, however; which means it won't work in pfSense 1.2.3, only 2.0. The card supports 802.11n, but the mwl driver doesn't seem to support 802.11n rates yet (only up to 54mbps). Like ath, the mwl driver also supports virtual access points on 2.0 (new in FreeBSD 8 ), but unfortunately the mwl driver is currently missing something that is needed for the additional access points to actually be usable by wireless clients.