Centrino N 6205.. wanting 802.11n at home.

roccor · Jun 20, 2012, 6:25 PM

Ok so I know what most of you are thinking.. I did search and it seems as though most of the stuff both Googling and searching the forums here is rather dated. I know iwn driver is compatible with FreeBSD 8.1 however I do not know if it supports AP mode. I currently am running my pfsense box hooked to a netgear gigabit switch then a Linksys G wap, I REALLY want to ditch G. So I;m hoping that since most of the posts I've seen around regarding BSD/pfsense and N are older than mid-2011 that things have progressed and N will be easier to setup.

I did install 2.0.1 on a test box with the pciE card installed and it was not recognized. What would be the best method of getting PF to see the card? Would I need to compile it on a FreeBSD machine? Are there instructions anywhere on "installing' drivers in PF or do the generic driver installs on BSD use the same commands and methods?

Thanks!

roccor · Jun 22, 2012, 2:48 PM

Eh well I guess no one cares to comment. I'd say to just ignore this post.. but it seems the community already has.

wallabybob · Jun 22, 2012, 10:15 PM

If you must have 802.11n use an external AP. FreeBSD native 802.11n support is still a way off.

roccor · Jun 26, 2012, 12:04 PM

Thanks for ignoring my actual question(s) Wally.

roccor · Jun 26, 2012, 6:45 PM

FWIW: PF did recognize the card as an Atheros in my test box. I will not know the extent of it's operation until I put in into production. But even if it's not running as N, at least I wont have to change hardware when N is fully supported.

mikhe · Jun 30, 2012, 5:12 PM

I'm testing on PF 2.1 development (based on 8.3 BSD). Card recognized but don't work for me.

wallabybob · Jul 9, 2012, 10:04 PM

@roccor:

Thanks for ignoring my actual question(s) Wally.

You meant me?

If so, my apologies for not replying sooner. Fulfilling other commitments required me to take a break from forum participation.

If you are still reading the forum post a reply and I'll answer the questions.

wallabybob · Jul 9, 2012, 10:09 PM

@mikhe:

I'm testing on PF 2.1 development (based on 8.3 BSD). Card recognized but don't work for me.

If you are looking for help to resolve this please help the readers help you by providing more information. For example, complete the sentence

I did … and saw ... but I expected to see ...

rsagris · Jul 11, 2012, 12:54 PM

I've got the same card (this one is on a PCI-Express 1x desktop card) and I just did a fresh install.

The card didn't seem to have been recognized, it's not available to use as an interface.

Was yours auto-detected on install?

wallabybob · Jul 12, 2012, 2:40 AM

@rsagris:

I've got the same card (this one is on a PCI-Express 1x desktop card) and I just did a fresh install.

Which pfSense build?

@rsagris:

The card didn't seem to have been recognized, it's not available to use as an interface.

Where did you look?

Please provide the output of pfSense shell command```
pciconf -lv

mikhe · Jul 16, 2012, 7:51 PM

@wallabybob:

If you are looking for help to resolve this please help the readers help you by providing more information. For example, complete the sentence

In pfSense card work only in "Infrastructure (BSS)" 802.11a/b/g mode

wallabybob · Jul 16, 2012, 9:21 PM

@mikhe:

@wallabybob:

If you are looking for help to resolve this please help the readers help you by providing more information. For example, complete the sentence

In pfSense card work only in "Infrastructure (BSS)" 802.11a/b/g mode

Are you looking for a card to act as an Access Point? If so a card with the Atheros chipset should do the job fine. If I recall correctly, some readers have reported problems with some 802.11n capable cards but other readers have had a satisfactory experience with 802.11n capable cards.

mikhe · Jul 19, 2012, 7:57 AM

When remote AP switched off pfSense crashed

Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode
cpuid = 0; apic id = 00
fault virtual address = 0xffffffffffffffe0
fault code = supervisor read data, page not present
instruction pointer = 0x20:0xffffffff8078d21b
stack pointer = 0x28:0xffffff803a380ab0
frame pointer = 0x28:0xffffff803a380ad0
code segment = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
= DPL 0, pres 1, long 1, def32 0, gran 1
processor eflags = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process = 0 (iwn0 taskq)

rsagris · Jul 29, 2012, 11:37 PM

@wallabybob:

@rsagris:

I've got the same card (this one is on a PCI-Express 1x desktop card) and I just did a fresh install.

Which pfSense build?

2.0.1-RELEASE (amd64)
built on Mon Dec 12 18:16:13 EST 2011
FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE-p6

@wallabybob:

@rsagris:

The card didn't seem to have been recognized, it's not available to use as an interface.

Where did you look?

Interface => Assign

@wallabybob:

Please provide the output of pfSense shell command```
pciconf -lv

$ pciconf -lv
hostb0@pci0:0:0:0: class=0x060000 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x01008086 rev=0x09 hdr=0x00
class = bridge
subclass = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:0:1:0: class=0x060400 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x01018086 rev=0x09 hdr=0x01
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
vgapci0@pci0:0:2:0: class=0x030000 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x01028086 rev=0x09 hdr=0x00
class = display
subclass = VGA
none0@pci0:0:22:0: class=0x078000 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c3a8086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
class = simple comms
em0@pci0:0:25:0: class=0x020000 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x15038086 rev=0x05 hdr=0x00
class = network
subclass = ethernet
ehci0@pci0:0:26:0: class=0x0c0320 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c2d8086 rev=0x05 hdr=0x00
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
pcib2@pci0:0:28:0: class=0x060400 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c108086 rev=0xb5 hdr=0x01
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
pcib4@pci0:0:28:2: class=0x060400 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c148086 rev=0xb5 hdr=0x01
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
pcib5@pci0:0:28:4: class=0x060400 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c188086 rev=0xb5 hdr=0x01
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
ehci1@pci0:0:29:0: class=0x0c0320 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c268086 rev=0x05 hdr=0x00
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
isab0@pci0:0:31:0: class=0x060100 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c5c8086 rev=0x05 hdr=0x00
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:0:31:2: class=0x010601 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c028086 rev=0x05 hdr=0x00
class = mass storage
subclass = SATA
none1@pci0:0:31:3: class=0x0c0500 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x1c228086 rev=0x05 hdr=0x00
class = serial bus
subclass = SMBus
igb0@pci0:1:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x12a18086 chip=0x150e8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
class = network
subclass = ethernet
igb1@pci0:1:0:1: class=0x020000 card=0x12a18086 chip=0x150e8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
class = network
subclass = ethernet
igb2@pci0:1:0:2: class=0x020000 card=0x12a18086 chip=0x150e8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
class = network
subclass = ethernet
igb3@pci0:1:0:3: class=0x020000 card=0x12a18086 chip=0x150e8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
class = network
subclass = ethernet
pcib3@pci0:2:0:0: class=0x060401 card=0x200d8086 chip=0x88921283 rev=0x30 hdr=0x01
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
none2@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x13018086 chip=0x00828086 rev=0x34 hdr=0x00
class = network
em1@pci0:5:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x10838086 chip=0x10b98086 rev=0x06 hdr=0x00
class = network
subclass = ethernet

wallabybob · Jul 30, 2012, 12:43 AM

From the file of PCI identification codes distributed with Ubuntu 12.05 this device:
@rsagris:

none2@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x13018086 chip=0x00828086 rev=0x34 hdr=0x00
class = network

Is a Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN
The current source code for the iwn driver should recognise this device, but the device id is not in the table of supported devices in FreeBSD 8.1 (so not in pfSense 2.0.x), nor in FreeBSD 8.2. It is in the table of supported devices for FreeBSD 9.0 and for FreeBSD 8.3 (and hence pfSense 2.1). pfSense 2.1 is not yet released but snapshot builds are available from http://snapshots.pfsense.org.

If you install (or upgrade firmware to) a snapshot build of pfSense 2.1 you will need to add it to the pool of devices pfSense uses by going to Interfaces -> (assign) and clicking on the "+" at the bottom right of the page.

rsagris · Jul 30, 2012, 1:04 AM

@wallabybob:

From the file of PCI identification codes distributed with Ubuntu 12.05 this device:
@rsagris:

none2@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x13018086 chip=0x00828086 rev=0x34 hdr=0x00
class = network

Is a Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN
The current source code for the iwn driver should recognise this device, but the device id is not in the table of supported devices in FreeBSD 8.1 (so not in pfSense 2.0.x), nor in FreeBSD 8.2. It is in the table of supported devices for FreeBSD 9.0 and for FreeBSD 8.3 (and hence pfSense 2.1). pfSense 2.1 is not yet released but snapshot builds are available from http://snapshots.pfsense.org.

If you install (or upgrade firmware to) a snapshot build of pfSense 2.1 you will need to add it to the pool of devices pfSense uses by going to Interfaces -> (assign) and clicking on the "+" at the bottom right of the page.

Thanks for the help, I'll re-install later tonight!