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    Driver support for Intel Dual Band AC 7260

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Copy the the iwm kernel module and firmware from an equivalent FreeBSD install, load it that far far easier than recompiling the pfSense kernel.

      Be aware that iwm does not support hostap mode though, you can only use it as client.

      Steve

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      • A
        alex1992 @stephenw10
        last edited by alex1992

        @stephenw10
        Thanks for replying. I'm really keen to get this working. I actually wanna use this adaptor in hostap mode. Is there any other driver that i can use for this adaptor that also supports hostap?

        are iwn drivers the same as iwm drivers? because when i look at the supported drivers matrix by pfsense, i can see iwn doesn't support hostap. but i see no reference to iwm drivers.

        Also when you say copy the kernel file from another build, can this be found over the net? as i have no other pfsense machine that has this adaptor already working on it.

        Thanks again :)

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          I think iwm probably didn't exist when that wifi document was compiled.

          There is no other driver for that card. It can't, yet, work in hostap mode.

          You can get the modules from a FreeBSD ISO file. They need to be at least close to what pfSense is running though. I would try a FreeBSD 11.3 ISO first for pfSense 2.4.5

          Steve

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            alex1992 @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10

            Ok sure, I have downloaded a FreeBSD 11.3 ISO, could you please guide me through where I have to look for those modules? and where I have to copy them on my pfsense machine? please let me know of the directories as Im very new to FreeBSD and don't know where i have to look for stuff.

            Also, Can you please recommend a Wireless card that supports 802.11ac and is Mini PCIe form factor (supported on PCIe 1/2) and is supported by pfsense? (if you know of any)

            Thanks again in advance.

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Put if_iwm.ko in /boot/modules and iwm7260fw in /boot/firmware. You can get them from the ISO file directly.

              Try to load it at the command line first.

              There is currently no 802.11ac support in FreeBSD and hence pfSense. That should change at some point (hopefully soon) but there is no ETA.

              Steve

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              • A
                alex1992 @stephenw10
                last edited by alex1992

                @stephenw10
                Thanks Steve, I copied across the .KO files you mentioned and added the following lines to the loader.conf(5):

                if_iwm_load="YES"
                iwm3160fw_load="YES"
                iwm3168fw_load="YES"
                iwm7260fw_load="YES"
                iwm7265fw_load="YES"
                iwm8000Cfw_load="YES"
                iwm8265fw_load="YES"

                After rebooting pfsense, i can see the kernel shows all the above lines right at the beginning, but still after it's fully loaded, im not able to see the wireless card under the available options for wireless interface in the gui. Any thoughts on that?

                EDIT: using this command in shell "pciconf -lv" gives me the below output, which confirms that it sees the card:

                none2@pci0:4:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x40708086 chip=0x08b18086 rev=0x73 hdr=0x00
                vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
                device = 'Wireless 7260'
                class = network

                So is there a way to enable this card through command so it can be used inside pfsense?

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  It looks like that should be supported:
                  https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/RELENG_2_4_5/sys/dev/iwm/if_iwm.c#L5842

                  So check the module did actually load using kldstat. Look for errors in the boot log.

                  Steve

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    iwm was actually just added to 2.5 recently so if you want to test the card you could upgrade to that. There's no easy way to downgrade though.
                    It will probably be in 2.4.5p1 also.

                    [2.5.0-DEVELOPMENT][admin@fw321.stevew.lan]/root: kldstat -v | grep iwm
                    		161 pci/iwm
                    		166 iwm7265Dfw_fw
                    		165 iwm7265fw_fw
                    		164 iwm7260fw_fw
                    		163 iwm3168fw_fw
                    		162 iwm3160fw_fw
                    		168 iwm8265fw_fw
                    

                    Steve

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                    • A
                      alex1992 @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10
                      You are correct it works in version 2.5 but not 2.4.5. Thank you again ☺

                      ce80cf8f-ed74-4d5b-81f4-0a1a4e97d934-image.png

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Ah, nice. As I say it's just been added to the 2.4.5p1 build list so it should be supported there too when that is available.

                        Steve

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                        • T
                          tquade @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10

                          Seems no support for Access Point mode as of yet.

                          Ted

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Indeed, no hostap mode. I'm not sure that hardware can support it. It's unlikely to in FreeBSD/pfSense anytime soon, in any version.

                            Steve

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                              Freedom Network @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 Instead of copy kernel module manually, can those things be packaged in pak manager?

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                              • stephenw10S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by

                                It is possible. This driver is in the kernel now anyway though:
                                https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/7725

                                Steve

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