AR9287 wireless card not recognized in 2.0

[nlopez]

Hello guys,

I have a fresh installed box running 2.0 and I have encountered a problem getting my Atheros AR9287 Half-Mini wireless card to work. I have been searching on the forums but did not find anything regarding this particular model. The card is not recognized. I tested the card with a CentOS Live CD just to check performance and status and works perfect.

I saw that the Atheros chipset is supported by 2.0 in https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AojFUXcbH0ROdHgwYkFHbkRUdV9hVWljVWl5SXkxbFE&hl=en line 4.

I can't find the ath module in /boot/kernel or /boot/modules and I don't see the module loaded either.

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance!!

Here's my info:

$ kldstat
Id Refs Address    Size     Name
 1    1 0xc0400000 11796f4  kernel

$ pciconf -lv
hostb0@pci0:0:0:0:	class=0x060000 card=0xa0008086 chip=0xa0008086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
vgapci0@pci0:0:2:0:	class=0x030000 card=0xa0018086 chip=0xa0018086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA
vgapci1@pci0:0:2:1:	class=0x038000 card=0xa0018086 chip=0xa0028086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = display
none0@pci0:0:27:0:	class=0x040300 card=0x27d88086 chip=0x27d88086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
pcib1@pci0:0:28:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x27d08086 chip=0x27d08086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib2@pci0:0:28:1:	class=0x060400 card=0x27d28086 chip=0x27d28086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:0:28:2:	class=0x060400 card=0x27d48086 chip=0x27d48086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x01
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
uhci0@pci0:0:29:0:	class=0x0c0300 card=0x27c88086 chip=0x27c88086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
uhci1@pci0:0:29:1:	class=0x0c0300 card=0x27c98086 chip=0x27c98086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
uhci2@pci0:0:29:2:	class=0x0c0300 card=0x27ca8086 chip=0x27ca8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
uhci3@pci0:0:29:3:	class=0x0c0300 card=0x27cb8086 chip=0x27cb8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ehci0@pci0:0:29:7:	class=0x0c0320 card=0x27cc0010 chip=0x27cc8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
pcib4@pci0:0:30:0:	class=0x060401 card=0x24488086 chip=0x24488086 rev=0xe2 hdr=0x01
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:0:31:0:	class=0x060100 card=0x27bc8086 chip=0x27bc8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:0:31:2:	class=0x01018a card=0x27c08086 chip=0x27c08086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
none1@pci0:0:31:3:	class=0x0c0500 card=0x27da8086 chip=0x27da8086 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = SMBus
re0@pci0:1:0:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x816810ec chip=0x816810ec rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
re1@pci0:2:0:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x816810ec chip=0x816810ec rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
none2@pci0:3:0:0:	class=0x028000 card=0x30a4168c chip=0x002e168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    class      = network
vr0@pci0:4:5:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x14061186 chip=0x31061106 rev=0x86 hdr=0x00
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

$ dmesg
Copyright (c) 1992-2010 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 8.1-RELEASE-p4 #0: Tue Sep 13 16:58:57 EDT 2011
    root@FreeBSD_8.0_pfSense_2.0-snaps.pfsense.org:/usr/obj./usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/pfSense_SMP.8 i386
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525   @ 1.80GHz (1799.99-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x106ca  Family = 6  Model = 1c  Stepping = 10
  Features=0xbfebfbff <fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>Features2=0x40e31d <sse3,dtes64,mon,ds_cpl,tm2,ssse3,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,movbe>AMD Features=0x20100000 <nx,lm>AMD Features2=0x1 <lahf>TSC: P-state invariant
real memory  = 2147483648 (2048 MB)
avail memory = 2071658496 (1975 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <111010 APIC1115>
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 4 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 HTT threads
 cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
 cpu1 (AP/HT): APIC ID:  1
 cpu2 (AP): APIC ID:  2
 cpu3 (AP/HT): APIC ID:  3
ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 4
ioapic0 <version 2.0="">irqs 0-23 on motherboard
netisr_init: forcing maxthreads to 1 and bindthreads to 0 for device polling
wpi: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_wpi/.
wpi: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_wpi.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (wpi_fw, 0xc0988330, 0) error 1
ipw_bss: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_ipw/.
ipw_bss: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_bss_fw, 0xc0789370, 0) error 1
ipw_ibss: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_ipw/.
ipw_ibss: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_ibss_fw, 0xc0789410, 0) error 1
ipw_monitor: You need to read the LICENSE file in /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_ipw/.
ipw_monitor: If you agree with the license, set legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in /boot/loader.conf.
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (ipw_monitor_fw, 0xc07894b0, 0) error 1
wlan: mac acl policy registered
kbd1 at kbdmux0
cryptosoft0: <software crypto="">on motherboard
padlock0: No ACE support.
acpi0: <111010 XSDT1115> on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: reservation of ffc00000, 300000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of fee00000, 1000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 0, a0000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 100000, 7f600000 (3) failed
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x808-0x80b on acpi0
cpu0: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
cpu1: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
cpu2: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
cpu3: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
acpi_hpet0: <high precision="" event="" timer="">iomem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff on acpi0
Timecounter "HPET" frequency 14318180 Hz quality 900
pcib0: <acpi host-pci="" bridge="">port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib0
vgapci0: <vga-compatible display="">port 0xbc00-0xbc07 mem 0xfe680000-0xfe6fffff,0xd0000000-0xdfffffff,0xfe700000-0xfe7fffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
agp0: <intel pineview="" svga="" controller="">on vgapci0
agp0: detected 8188k stolen memory
agp0: aperture size is 256M
vgapci1: <vga-compatible display="">mem 0xfe580000-0xfe5fffff at device 2.1 on pci0
pci0: <multimedia, hda="">at device 27.0 (no driver attached)
pcib1: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">irq 16 at device 28.0 on pci0
pci1: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib1
re0: <realtek 8111="" 8168="" b="" c="" cp="" d="" dp="" e="" pcie="" gigabit="" ethernet="">port 0xc800-0xc8ff mem 0xfe8df000-0xfe8dffff,0xfdefc000-0xfdefffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
re0: Using 1 MSI messages
re0: Chip rev. 0x28000000
re0: MAC rev. 0x00000000
miibus0: <mii bus="">on re0
rgephy0: <rtl8169s 8110s="" 8211b="" media="" interface="">PHY 1 on miibus0
rgephy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-FDX, auto
re0: [FILTER]
pcib2: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">irq 17 at device 28.1 on pci0
pci2: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib2
re1: <realtek 8111="" 8168="" b="" c="" cp="" d="" dp="" e="" pcie="" gigabit="" ethernet="">port 0xd800-0xd8ff mem 0xfe9df000-0xfe9dffff,0xfdffc000-0xfdffffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci2
re1: Using 1 MSI messages
re1: Chip rev. 0x28000000
re1: MAC rev. 0x00000000
miibus1: <mii bus="">on re1
rgephy1: <rtl8169s 8110s="" 8211b="" media="" interface="">PHY 1 on miibus1
rgephy1:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-FDX, auto
re1: [FILTER]
pcib3: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">irq 18 at device 28.2 on pci0
pci3: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib3
pci3: <network>at device 0.0 (no driver attached)
uhci0: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-a="">port 0xb880-0xb89f irq 23 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
uhci0: LegSup = 0x2f00
usbus0: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-a="">on uhci0
uhci1: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-b="">port 0xb800-0xb81f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
uhci1: LegSup = 0x2f00
usbus1: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-b="">on uhci1
uhci2: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-c="">port 0xb480-0xb49f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [ITHREAD]
uhci2: LegSup = 0x2f00
usbus2: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-c="">on uhci2
uhci3: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-d="">port 0xb400-0xb41f irq 16 at device 29.3 on pci0
uhci3: [ITHREAD]
uhci3: LegSup = 0x2f00
usbus3: <intel 82801g="" (ich7)="" usb="" controller="" usb-d="">on uhci3
ehci0: <intel 82801gb="" r="" (ich7)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">mem 0xfe677c00-0xfe677fff irq 23 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usbus4: EHCI version 1.0
usbus4: <intel 82801gb="" r="" (ich7)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">on ehci0
pcib4: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">at device 30.0 on pci0
pci4: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib4
vr0: <via 10="" vt6105="" rhine="" iii="" 100basetx="">port 0xe800-0xe8ff mem 0xfebefc00-0xfebefcff irq 21 at device 5.0 on pci4
vr0: Quirks: 0x0
vr0: Revision: 0x86
miibus2: <mii bus="">on vr0
ukphy0: <generic ieee="" 802.3u="" media="" interface="">PHY 1 on miibus2
ukphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
vr0: [ITHREAD]
isab0: <pci-isa bridge="">at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <isa bus="">on isab0
atapci0: <intel ich7="" sata300="" controller="">port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xff90-0xff9f at device 31.2 on pci0
ata0: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
pci0: <serial bus,="" smbus="">at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
acpi_button0: <power button="">on acpi0
atrtc0: <at realtime="" clock="">port 0x70-0x71 irq 8 on acpi0
atkbdc0: <keyboard controller="" (i8042)="">port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <at keyboard="">irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
pmtimer0 on isa0
sc0: <system console="">at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
vga0: <generic isa="" vga="">at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
ppc0: parallel port not found.
p4tcc0: <cpu frequency="" thermal="" control="">on cpu0
p4tcc1: <cpu frequency="" thermal="" control="">on cpu1
p4tcc2: <cpu frequency="" thermal="" control="">on cpu2
p4tcc3: <cpu frequency="" thermal="" control="">on cpu3
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
usbus0: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus1: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus2: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus3: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus4: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
ad0: 29579MB <stt 110323="" ftm32g525v="">at ata0-master UDMA100 SATA
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #2 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #3 Launched!
ugen2.1: <intel>at usbus2ugen1.1: <intel>at usbus1ugen0.1: <intel>at usbus0ugen3.1: <intel>at usbus3

uhub0: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus2
uhub1: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus0
uhub2: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus3
uhub3: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus1
ugen4.1: <intel>at usbus4
uhub4: <intel 1="" 9="" ehci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usbus4
Root mount waiting for: usbus4 usbus3 usbus2 usbus1 usbus0
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
uhub4: 8 ports with 8 removable, self powered
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a
pflog0: promiscuous mode enabled
re1: link state changed to DOWN
vr0: link state changed to DOWN</intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></stt></cpu></cpu></cpu></cpu></generic></system></at></keyboard></at></power></serial></ata></ata></intel></isa></pci-isa></generic></mii></via></acpi></acpi></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></intel></network></acpi></acpi></rtl8169s></mii></realtek></acpi></acpi></rtl8169s></mii></realtek></acpi></acpi></multimedia,></vga-compatible></intel></vga-compatible></acpi></acpi></high></acpi></acpi></acpi></acpi></software></version></lahf></nx,lm></sse3,dtes64,mon,ds_cpl,tm2,ssse3,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,movbe></fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe> 

[wallabybob]

@nlopez:

I can't find the ath module in /boot/kernel or /boot/modules and I don't see the module loaded either.

You won't. Just about all necessary drivers are built into the pfSense kernel.

The AR9287 appears in the pciconf output:
@nlopez:

$ pciconf -lv

none2@pci0:3:0:0:	class=0x028000 card=0x30a4168c chip=0x002e168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    class      = network

and in the dmesg output:
@nlopez:

pci3: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib3
pci3: <network>at device 0.0 (no driver attached)</network></acpi> 

The kernel doesn't include any driver prepared to claim the AR9287 card in your system. Maybe one of the pfSense developers can account for this. (Perhaps sometime in the pfSense 2.0 development cycle they reverted to an earlier version of the driver to work around a reported problem and neglected to check the support statement.)

You might be able to get your card working by copying the ath driver (if_ath.ko) from a stock FreeBSD 8.1 install to the appropriate place on your pfSystem system, then loading it into the kernel. If that works (ifconfig shows an ath interface, you can add it and configure it in pfSense etc) then you should add the line

if_ath_load="YES"

to /boot/loader.conf.local (creating it if it doesn't exist) so the driver gets loaded automatically on reboot.

[nlopez]

@wallabybob:

You might be able to get your card working by copying the ath driver (if_ath.ko) from a stock FreeBSD 8.1 install to the appropriate place on your pfSystem system, then loading it into the kernel.

wallabybob, Thank you for your reply, I'm going to try this one today and post back the results.

[nlopez]

wallabybob,

Just tried the approach you suggested but had no luck … I found this http://forums.freebsd.org/archive/index.php/t-14998.html on the archives of the FreeBSD forums and this guys is having the same problem. He suggested to recompile the kernel taking out the ath driver from the kernel compilation and then using the kld* tools … not sure if it's worth the hassle  :-\ ... I've seen in the forums that the AR9285 works like a charm  ::) ... I'm going to try with previous versions and keep crawling the forums and see what's up ...

[wallabybob]

Can you elaborate on "no luck":  From the link I suspect when you tried to kldload  if_ath kldload reported "Module already loaded" Correct?

Initially I suspected that loading a kernel module for a device driver that was already present in the kernel was unlikely to succeed but other forum reader have reported they have successfully done so. I thought it worth a try.