*NEWB* After Install it won't boot !

[wallabybob]

@nathan715:

my system isn't dual core its single,

Does it support hyperthreading?

@nathan715:

I get an error message saying

---

ral0: only 1 vap supported

---

Not sure what it means

It is either a statement  (for example, "Don't try to create more than one VAP because I support only one") or its is a warning that you have attempted to exceed the capabilities of the driver and device (for example, you have have attempted to create more than one VAP).

VAP = Virtual Access Point. Some WiFi devices can provide multiple WiFi access points on the one piece of hardware - hence Virtual Access Points.

[nathan715]

Stephen: I chose the option in the middle, I believe it had something to do with no monitor,

WallabyBob: I got it when I make the Wireless Access point, I have reset everything now as I couldn't connect to it anymore, I'm not sure i'm doing any of this right, I believe it has HyperThreading,

[stephenw10]

Or could just be a warning and nothing to worry about!
Good point.  :)

If you chose the embedded kernel then after the kernel boots the console output switches to the serial port. The video console appears to hang.

Steve

[nathan715]

Thanks, Could you help me with another thing, Well alot, maybe a guide from the ground up, All I want to do is make this box connect to the network already and then just act as a wifi hot spot,

[stephenw10]

Set your WAN to dhcp. Assign the ral0 interface as LAN. Set it as static and make sure you give it a different subnet to the rest of your network. In the wireless settings set it as an access point (hostap).
From there you should be good. You will have internet access from wifi clients.
If you need access to wifi clients from the wan side you will have to add firewall rules to allow it.
If you want wifi clients to be on the same submerged as the rest of your network you will need to setup pfSense as a bridge. That's a more complex subject!  ;)

Steve

[nathan715]

I have set it up as followed and configured the wireless but when I press save, I get "ral0: only 1 vap supported" Do you have suggestions as to what I have to fill in so that I can get it to work ?
Also could it be the wireless card doesn't support running like that ? or does it matter what card I have, I only have one other card. One more thing after I hit save and got the error message I
can no-longer connect to the pfSense box

Thanks
Nathan

[wallabybob]

@nathan715:

I believe it has HyperThreading,

A single core CPU with hyperthreading can appear to the software as a multicore system.

Due to the problem you are having I would be inclined to assign your LAN interface to a wired interface so you can access the web GUI while you play with the wireless configuration. If you have only one wired interface assign ral0 to WAN.

Please post output of pfSense shell command```
ifconfig

I suspect you have inadvertently created additional AP. Did you create a wireless interface through _Interfaces_ -> _(assign)_ _Wireless_ tab?

[nathan715]

I have 2 Network cards (1ob) and  a wireless card, Should I remove my Gigabit pci card and use the onboard for it, it also picks up something with firewire, and yes I did go to Interfaces -> (assign)

[stephenw10]

How are you accessing the webgui?
I seem to remember reading something about firewire connections being incorrectly claimed by some network driver. That can't help, disable firewire in the BIOS.
If you can give us the output of ifconfig that would help a lot.

Steve

[nathan715]

I am accessing it through my Gigabit pci card, it sets it up I have
some assistance in it then it will spit out an I.P eg.192.168.1.129,
Go to a browser on a main pc then type that in and I
go through the setup process there,

As for the FireWire, I could not disable it as there is no feature to do so,
I have disabled other unnecessary things, I don't think they made a difference though,

And for the Output from the ifconfig, I would give it to you if I knew what it is,

Thanks
Nathan

[stephenw10]

Ah sorry. At the console menu select option 8, shell, and then enter ifconfig at the command line.
If you do that via an SSH session you can easily copy and paste the result. Alternatively you can run ifconfig via the Diagnostics: Command prompt: section in the webgui.

Steve

[nathan715]

Well I tried SSH'ing into it and no luck so typing I go, Well I can't see all of it, I can not connect to it anymore …. I'm not sure how i'm going to do this, got anymore suggestions ?

[wallabybob]

@nathan715:

Well I tried SSH'ing into it and no luck so typing I go,

Sorry, I have idea what that means. Please give at least the ssh command and system response - that would be far more informative than "no luck"

@nathan715:

Well I can't see all of it

Can't see all of what? You were working on the console, selected option 8 to get a shell prompt, then typed```

ifconfig

@nathan715:

> I can not connect to it anymore

How are you attempting to connect and what is reported when you attempt to connect?

@nathan715:

> anymore suggestions ?

1\. You will help the forum readers to help you if you give details of what you did and the response to that than if you give an information-free description like "no luck".
2\. Reboot, select option 4 (Reset to factory defaults), reboot then select option 8 (Shell) and type the shell command```
# ifconfig | grep ral
```which shouldn't generate more than a few lines, leave the system in that state and I will try to take things from there.

[stephenw10]

Oops!  :-[
I forgot to say you need to enable SSH first. It's in the webgui under System: Advanced: enable secure shell.

I assume from your not mentioning it that having wireless clients on a separate subnet is not a problem for you.

Steve

[nathan715]

Wallabybob: I didn't use any commands for it, I used WinSCP and just used the I.P and account info, the error was simply could not connect, I now know it couldn't connect because SSH is not enabled,

For the "ifconfig" It is more then could fit the screen there is a half cut off text at the top, I'm not sure if that is the top of the message but I think it's not, If I could get to what it used to say I would write it here, sorry

I attempt to connect to it by using a browser on my main pc, typing in the I.P and it will not connect it just tells me that "This webpage is not available."

I'm sorry if I am scarce on detail, I have only started learning about pfSense yesterday, The only other operation system that is based on FreeBSD that I know is FreeNAS and I barely know how to use it, so again i'm sorry if I don't include many details, I'm not sure what to include,

As for the 2nd option I managed to get the Ifconfig message using SSH and switching from WinSCP to PuTTY.

---

ral0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 2290
        ether 00:12:17:9a:96:15
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
        status: no carrier
fwe0: flags=8943 <up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=8 <vlan_mtu>ether 02:07:e9:47:69:66
        inet6 fe80::7:e9ff:fe47:6966%fwe0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
        nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>ch 1 dma 0
fwip0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        lladdr 0.7.e9.0.0.47.69.66.a.2.ff.fe.0.0.0.0
        inet6 fe80::207:e900:47:6966%fwip0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
        nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>fxp0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=2009 <rxcsum,vlan_mtu,wol_magic>ether 00:07:e9:47:69:66
        inet6 fe80::207:e9ff:fe47:6966%fxp0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
        inet 192.168.1.121 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active
lo0: flags=8049 <up,loopback,running,multicast>metric 0 mtu 16384
        options=3 <rxcsum,txcsum>inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
        inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5
        nd6 options=3 <performnud,accept_rtadv>pfsync0: flags=0<> metric 0 mtu 1460
        syncpeer: 224.0.0.240 maxupd: 128 syncok: 1
pflog0: flags=100 <promisc>metric 0 mtu 33200
enc0: flags=0<> metric 0 mtu 1536

---

For the "ifconfig grep ral"

---

It simply tells me

ifconfig: interface grep does not exist

I am assuming that has something to do with the fact that the interface ral0, is not configured, so I
will configure it and give this, ( as soon as I configured it and saved changes I get, "ral0 only 1 vap supported")

I changed the command and this is what I got. ( used "ifconfig ral0" ) My new results are:

ral0: flags=8843 <up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 2290
        ether 00:12:17:9a:96:15
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect <hostap>)
        status: no carrier

---

I thought that it would be worth noting that my PuTTY instance has turned inactive, I was gonna retry it from the beginning to get the error, but it gave me another error, well a warning, " Warning: Invalid argument supplied for each() in /etc/inc/util.inc on line 646",

EDIT*By the time it all failed and I could not connect
anymore I was not able to get the error report sorry.*EDIT

I got past the warning by trying to setup the network connection, I'm not sure how it fixed it but the warning is gone,

Now to setup the Wifi.

I am now gonna include all the settings I choose.

Interfaces -> Assign,
add interface button, It makes a Lan interface with the Wifi card selected, So I save the changes,
I now move to the Wireless tab, add wireless interface button,

Parent Interface : ral0 (00:12:17:9a:96:15)
Mode : Access Point
Description : Wifi

Move to
Interfaces -> Lan,
(I'm only going to write what I change or set)
Enable Interface, Check,
Description : Wifi
Mode : access point
SSID : Test
WEP : Enable WEP, Check
      : Key 1: EXAMPLE123 ( the TX Key box is automatically checked after I press save )
Save.

---

After I hit save I lost connection, same as before. I hope I have provided you with enough information and detail, I really would like this box up and running the way it is supposed to,

Now for stephen:

I set it up and the ifconfig message is up on the page, obviously. I will most likely be the only one on the Wireless, that's the point to this, A connection where no one is on, so hopefully I could gain a little more speed, So separate subnet in not a problem for me,

Thanks to both of you,

Nathan

I thought this tidbit of info may help. These are all the interfaces my system can see, I have now removed my Gigabit pci card, and I am gonna use the onboard.

ral0  00:12:17:9a:96:15  (up) Ralink Technology TR2560
fwe0  02:07:e9:47:69:66  (up) Etherenet over fireWire
fwip0 00:07:e9:00:00:47:69:66:0a:02:ff:fe:00:00:00:00  (up) IP over FireWire
fxp0  00:07:e9:47:69:66  (up) Intel 82801ba (D865) Pro/100 VE Ethernet</hostap></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></promisc></performnud,accept_rtadv></rxcsum,txcsum></up,loopback,running,multicast></full-duplex></performnud,accept_rtadv></rxcsum,vlan_mtu,wol_magic></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></performnud,accept_rtadv></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast></performnud,accept_rtadv></vlan_mtu></up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast></up,broadcast,running,simplex,multicast>

[stephenw10]

Ok. Several things come to mind here.
First off really only for information:
@nathan715:

For the "ifconfig grep ral"
It simply tells me

ifconfig: interface grep does not exist

This is because you omitted the | symbol from Wallabybob's request. The pipe symbol, |, instructs pfSense to pipe the output of ifconfig to the grep command. The grep command takes that data and only shows lines containing 'ral'.

You have given all the information anyway so no worries there.

Secondly, since you have removed the gigabit interface I assume you are now initially setting up the box with only one interface, WAN. In single interface mode pfSense will allow access from the WAN connection as it's the only one. As soon as you apply the changes after adding another interface pfSense will default to a two interface setup in which all access from WAN is blocked by default. Hence you are disconnected.

To prevent yourself being locked out your can leave the gigabit NIC installed, enable that as LAN first and use that to access the GUI. Alternatively you can add a firewall rule to the WAN interface to allow access after you enable the wifi NIC. Since this is all internal and security is not an issue at this point just add a rule to allow all traffic, you can always change it to a more restrictive rule later. Your rule should be something like:
Protocol: any
Source: any
Destination: any
Port: any

The ethernet over firewire interfaces are simply confusing matters but aren't causing a problem. You can probably disable them later for completeness.

Steve

[wallabybob]

@nathan715:

Wallabybob: I didn't use any commands for it, I used WinSCP and just used the I.P and account info, the error was simply could not connect, I now know it couldn't connect because SSH is not enabled,

As far as I know, WinSCP doesn't have a mechanism for interactive login. PuTTY does. So as well as needing SSH enabled you needed to use the correct tool.

@nathan715:

I'm sorry if I am scarce on detail, I have only started learning about pfSense yesterday, The only other operation system that is based on FreeBSD that I know is FreeNAS and I barely know how to use it, so again i'm sorry if I don't include many details, I'm not sure what to include,

I'm sympathetic. I think a good guide is to describe what you did, how the system responded and how you expected it to respond.

@nathan715:

For the "ifconfig grep ral"

You left out the "|" character from the command. On the two keyboards in front of me "|" is produced as SHIFT-\  (hold down the SHIFT key and tap the \ key.)

The "|" character is a direction to the Unix shell to "pipe" the output of the command on the left ("ifconfig") to the command on the right ("grep ral").
@nathan715:

I thought that it would be worth noting that my PuTTY instance has turned inactive, I was gonna retry it from the beginning to get the error, but it gave me another error, well a warning, " Warning: Invalid argument supplied for each() in /etc/inc/util.inc on line 646",

I don't know what you would have done to get the Unix shell to report that, but this is probably a distraction from the main game.

@nathan715:

Now to setup the Wifi.

I am now gonna include all the settings I choose.

Interfaces -> Assign,
add interface button, It makes a Lan interface with the Wifi card selected, So I save the changes,
I now move to the Wireless tab, add wireless interface button,

Parent Interface : ral0 (00:12:17:9a:96:15)
Mode : Access Point
Description : Wifi

Move to
Interfaces -> Lan,
(I'm only going to write what I change or set)
Enable Interface, Check,
Description : Wifi
Mode : access point
SSID : Test
WEP : Enable WEP, Check
      : Key 1: EXAMPLE123 ( the TX Key box is automatically checked after I press save )
Save.

---

After I hit save I lost connection, same as before. I hope I have provided you with enough information and detail, I really would like this box up and running the way it is supposed to,

Thanks for the additional information.

In this state does the system respond to typein on the console? (Perhaps the system has "hung", perhaps it is working fine but you lost connection because you messed with the LAN interface.) I presume you are accessing the pfSense GUI through the WAN interface.

I suggest you put back the Gigabit interface and on reboot, from the console reset to factory defaults (in case your previous changes will cause ongoing problems), re-assign interfaces assigning the onboard and Gigabit interfaces to WAN and LAN respectively and reboot. (This should mean you can access the pfSense GUI while messing with the wireless interface. Once the wireless interface is working the interface assignments can be changed if desired.)

Then access the pfSense GUI and do what you did previously EXCEPT assign the wireless interface to OPT1 rather than LAN, DON'T go through the Interfaces -> (assign), Wireless tab, fill in your Wireless details on the Interfaces -> OPTx page, Save and Apply. Does the web GUI still respond? Are you able to detect the wireless network you configured?

Edit: A couple of further bits of information might be useful:
1. What build of pfSense are you using? (Its on the home page of your pfSense box.)
2. What is the brand and model of your wireless card?

[nathan715]

Well guys, I'm sorry If I am going to be information scarce here, my power went out, I had a reply half way made up then everything spun down, I really don't want to have to write all that again, but I'll do my best.

Steve: From what I can read, you don't need me to get the other info from the ifconfig with the"|" ?
and as for the rule, I don't think i will use it, thanks for the thought though,

Bob: I have started to use PuTTY as WinSCP could not connect properly, about the ifconfig | grep ral do you need me to do that ?

The error about PuTTY was in Windows, you had said to include detail so I was trying to get it again,

Linksys wmp54g is the wireless card,
3.0.1-RELEASE(i386) is the build I believe

From there I can use the console so I think it was when I messed with the LAN interface, I was using WAN to connect, Well I have done everything you have said, but I got a different message
on the console it's telling me : ral0: need multicast update callback x2

I'm sorry if I didn't include a lot of info, I hope I did provide enough, If I did not just tell me what you need and I will try to get it,

Thanks

Nathan

EDIT : I found the type field in general configuration and set it to DHCP then on the console I saw the "ral0: need multicast update callback" again, then a crap load of the weird text that no one can understand then the system rebooted,

EDIT : It now says "ral0: device timeout" and keeps sending the message

EDIT : I can not connect to it again, I'm sorry, I'm gonna smash this piece of **** soon if I can't get it to work

[wallabybob]

@nathan715:

Bob: I have started to use PuTTY as WinSCP could not connect properly, about the ifconfig | grep ral do you need me to do that ?

The error about PuTTY was in Windows, you had said to include detail so I was trying to get it again,

Thanks.

@nathan715:

Linksys wmp54g is the wireless card,
3.0.1-RELEASE(i386) is the build I believe

"3.0.1" probably should be "2.0.1"

@nathan715:

From there I can use the console so I think it was when I messed with the LAN interface, I was using WAN to connect, Well I have done everything you have said, but I got a different message

I presume "you" means Steve since my instructions didn't involve messing with the LAN interface.

@nathan715:

on the console it's telling me : ral0: need multicast update callback x2

Don't worry about that message.

@nathan715:

EDIT : I found the type field in general configuration and set it to DHCP

Why set the type to DHCP?

@nathan715:

then on the console I saw the "ral0: need multicast update callback" again, then a crap load of the weird text that no one can understand then the system rebooted,

I suspect the "weird text" was a crash report.  Crash reports can be deciphered by suitably skilled people.

@nathan715:

EDIT : It now says "ral0: device timeout" and keeps sending the message

What message - "ral0: device timeout"? "ral0: need multicast update callback"? something else?

@nathan715:

EDIT : I can not connect to it again, I'm sorry, I'm gonna smash this piece of **** soon if I can't get it to work

I understand your sense of frustration. However attempting to relieve the frustration in that way will likely only add to the frustration.

I presume you didn't follow my suggestion of keeping the pfSense LAN interface tied to a "wired" interface so you could continue to access the web GUI while you tinkered with the wireless interface. Correct?

I have a device supported by the ral driver in my test pfSense. I have never needed to activate it. I have just attempted to do so. The console contains a number of additional reports of

ral0: only 1 vap supported

I have actually managed to configure two APs on the interface (presumably one "real" AP and one Virtual AP) and seen the two corresponding SSIDs recognized on my laptop. This pfSense box is running a snapshot build of pfSense 2.1. Unfortunately there have been reports that recent snapshot builds of pfSense 2.1 are broken so I suggest you stick with your current software, at least for the time being. Your report of what I suspect was a crash report leads me to suspect you might have encountered a bug in the ral driver in pfSense 2.0.1. pfSense 2.1 (not yet officially released) uses more up to date device drivers but there have been problems in recent snapshot builds.

It is probably confusing being new to pfSense and getting different suggestions from me and the very capable stephenw10. I certainly find it difficult to guess what you have done to the system to get where you are.

[stephenw10]

@wallabybob:

It is probably confusing being new to pfSense and getting different suggestions

I agree. I'll hold back unless I see something obvious.  :)

Steve