Atheros wireless card - 2 interfaces both only work 802.11g

rjcrowder

UPDATE…. if I select a channel (don't use the "Auto" channel select) the interface will start with 802.11ng selected.

I'm still not sure it is actually getting N speed - but I'm going to work on confirming.

rjcrowder

OK More info… Per previous, the card comes up with 802.11ng as the "standard" as long as I manually select a channel.

However, I've tried changing about every setting I can think of (including disabling security), but the card refuses to accept Wireless N connections. When I get connected, the link speed is always 54mbps and the actual throughput is always something lower. In addition, if I set the "minimum wireless standard" (setting a little further down the screen) to 802.11n, then the card refuses all connections. Seems that the card is only setup to accept a "G" connection! Driver issue?

BTW... this is what ifconfig shows...

ath0_wlan0: flags=8943 <up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast>metric 0 mtu 1500
ether 18:f4:6a:32:be:c7
inet6 fe80::1af4:6aff:fe32:bec7%ath0_wlan0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x8
nd6 options=21 <performnud,auto_linklocal>media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11ng <hostap>status: running
ssid pfsense channel 11 (2462 MHz 11g ht/40-) bssid 18:f4:6a:32:be:c7
regdomain FCC country US indoor ecm authmode WPA2/802.11i
privacy MIXED deftxkey 2 AES-CCM 2:128-bit txpower 30 scanvalid 60
protmode OFF ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8 shortgi burst -apbridge
dtimperiod 1 -dfs</hostap></performnud,auto_linklocal></up,broadcast,running,promisc,simplex,multicast>

dotdash

My 9285 also fails when channel is set to auto.
If I set mine to minimum standard n, I can still connect from a Windows laptop. The laptop shows an n connection.
I'm getting some errors in the logs- perhaps only when I change a setting and it reloads the interface…
kernel: ath0: ath_reset_grablock: didn't finish after 10 iterations
kernel: ath0: ath_reset_grablock: warning, recursive reset path!
kernel: ath0: ath_chan_set: concurrent reset! Danger!
But it seems to be working…

rjcrowder

If you set the "minimum wireless standard" to 'N' - can you still connect?

dotdash

Yes.

Monsterturbo

Hello,

I am a SE for a wireless company and the 802.11n spec states that if using any authentication method other than WPA2 will result in a max connection speed of 54M. A few responses ago someone asked if you are using WPA2? Has this been checked? Just a thought.

stephenw10

Are you seeing this?

@https://wiki.freebsd.org/dev/ath(4)/80211n:

"ifconfig -v wlan0 list channel" should show 802.11n channels "ht"

Steve

rjcrowder

Apparently not… this is the output...

[2.2-BETA][root@pfSense.localdomain]/root: ifconfig -v ath0_wlan0 list channel
Channel   1 : 2412      MHz 11b          Channel   6 : 2437      MHz 11g ht/40+   
Channel   1 : 2412      MHz 11g          Channel   6 : 2437      MHz 11g ht/40-   
Channel   1 : 2412      MHz 11g ht/20    Channel   7 : 2442      MHz 11b          
Channel   1 : 2412      MHz 11g ht/40+   Channel   7 : 2442      MHz 11g          
Channel   2 : 2417      MHz 11b          Channel   7 : 2442      MHz 11g ht/20    
Channel   2 : 2417      MHz 11g          Channel   7 : 2442      MHz 11g ht/40+   
Channel   2 : 2417      MHz 11g ht/20    Channel   7 : 2442      MHz 11g ht/40-   
Channel   2 : 2417      MHz 11g ht/40+   Channel   8 : 2447      MHz 11b          
Channel   3 : 2422      MHz 11b          Channel   8 : 2447      MHz 11g          
Channel   3 : 2422      MHz 11g          Channel   8 : 2447      MHz 11g ht/20    
Channel   3 : 2422      MHz 11g ht/20    Channel   8 : 2447      MHz 11g ht/40-   
Channel   3 : 2422      MHz 11g ht/40+   Channel   9 : 2452      MHz 11b          
Channel   4 : 2427      MHz 11b          Channel   9 : 2452      MHz 11g          
Channel   4 : 2427      MHz 11g          Channel   9 : 2452      MHz 11g ht/20    
Channel   4 : 2427      MHz 11g ht/20    Channel   9 : 2452      MHz 11g ht/40-   
Channel   4 : 2427      MHz 11g ht/40+   Channel  10 : 2457      MHz 11b          
Channel   5 : 2432      MHz 11b          Channel  10 : 2457      MHz 11g          
Channel   5 : 2432      MHz 11g          Channel  10 : 2457      MHz 11g ht/20    
Channel   5 : 2432      MHz 11g ht/20    Channel  10 : 2457      MHz 11g ht/40-   
Channel   5 : 2432      MHz 11g ht/40+   Channel  11 : 2462      MHz 11b          
Channel   5 : 2432      MHz 11g ht/40-   Channel  11 : 2462      MHz 11g          
Channel   6 : 2437      MHz 11b          Channel  11 : 2462      MHz 11g ht/20    
Channel   6 : 2437      MHz 11g          Channel  11 : 2462      MHz 11g ht/40-   
Channel   6 : 2437      MHz 11g ht/20

and per the other post… yes I have everything setup for WPA2.

stephenw10

Looks like you are seeing 'ht' channels. No 5GHz channels though. Not really sure what you should be seeing though, I don't have a card to test.

Steve

rjcrowder

OK… since I can get a new card for $5-$6 on eBay, it's about time to give up...

From what I've been able to google, it appears that both the Intel 5100 or Intel Centrino 6230 should work. Can anyone confirm one of them working at 802.11n speed under 2.2?

dotdash

Unless something has changed, you can't run Intel cards in AP mode…
Edit- Here is the list from 2.1
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AojFUXcbH0ROdHgwYkFHbkRUdV9hVWljVWl5SXkxbFE&hl=en#gid=1

Basically, Atheros, RaLink, or Marvell.

stephenw10

Yep. Looks like it's the same in 2.2.
@https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwn&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+10.1-RELEASE&arch=default&format=html:

iwn supports station and monitor mode operation.

Stick with Atheros. At this point it seems by far the best supported wifi hardware in FreeBSD.

Steve