Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Wireless interface iwm0 not showing in GUI?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Wireless
    29 Posts 6 Posters 4.9k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      Yeah just check that it appears and is seen as a wireless device.
      So sysctl net.wlan.devices

      Check the boot log for something like the line shown in that bug report:

      iwm0: hw rev 0x200, fw ver 22.361476.0, address  b8:8a:60:xx:xx:xx
      

      Which I assume shows if you don't get that error.

      You may need to kldload the driver and/or firmware. pfSense has it all in-kernel but FreeBSD usually doesn't.

      Steve

      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • M
        mmiller7 @stephenw10
        last edited by mmiller7

        @stephenw10 Gave it a few tries during lunch and got consistent results this time multiple boots in a row.

        FreeBSD 11.3/11.4 do the exact same thing pfSense 2.4.5-p1 is doing.
        FreeBSD 12.1 appears to work properly.

        I did not attempt to "sideload" anything, just booted up livecd, got to a root shell, and typed the commands. I think my prior inconsistency was some glitch with the USB CD-ROM I was using to boot from or cycling power too fast.

        I've attempted to attach photos of the terminal for each (with my finger pointing at the uname line showing which version is booted)
        11.3:
        photo_2020-06-29_13-58-26.jpg
        11.4:
        photo_2020-06-29_13-58-27.jpg

        12.1:
        photo_2020-06-29_13-58-30.jpg

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Huh, well that's interesting. Still shows those errors even when it works.

          Try a pfSense 2.5 snapshot then, that should also work.

          https://www.pfsense.org/snapshots/

          Hmm, that page needs updating, snapshots are built on 12.1-stable now.

          Steve

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • M
            mmiller7
            last edited by

            Good catch - I'm glad I posted the pictures (was debating) because I missed that the suspect error message showed even on 12.1 where it appears to work properly.

            I'll have to read a bit on the snapshots and pfSense 2.5, see how hard it would be to "roll back" if needed and what potential issues I may run into unless there's a way to do a "live boot" test that I am unaware of without affecting the installed version. Or maybe I can try to do the install on a USB thumbdrive and change the boot order so if it goes badly I can just yank the thumbdrive and reboot to get online.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Yup you would need to reinstall to go back to 2.4.5.

              Yes, you can install from one usb drive to another one and boot from that. Boot time will be less that stellar but it will work as test. You might want to enable ram disks after boot to cut down writes to the drive.

              Steve

              M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • M
                mmiller7 @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 Is there any way to get an ISO for the 2.5.0 builds?

                I've tried a few times to use the memstick install but it keeps hanging when it tries to load the installer...I know I've had a lot of issues in general with USB booting. Somehow even a USB DVD-ROM is far more reliable.

                viktor_gV 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • viktor_gV
                  viktor_g Netgate @mmiller7
                  last edited by

                  @mmiller7 https://snapshots.pfsense.org/amd64/pfSense_master/installer/

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • M
                    mmiller7
                    last edited by

                    Ah, ok - got that to work, and after installing on a USB drive it's seeing the wireless card on the GUI.
                    0cfb1d7f-7594-4350-89e7-48bdb2f9a1dc-image.png

                    And after it finished setting up the new install, I added the new interface, set up the WiFi options, and it worked. Only "gotya" is I forgot to tick the box for enabling WPA so it wasn't connecting...but once I corrected my mistake it came right up with 2.5.0-Development snapshot.

                    And without going to the trouble of reconfiguring everything, here's a quicky test from command line showing the interface status and PING over the pfSense WLAN interface to my cellular data card...
                    photo_2020-07-04_16-46-29.jpg

                    Still no idea why 2.4.5-p1 doesn't behave with my Intel 8000 Wireless card with the drivers built into it but it's good to know it will likely work fine on 2.5.0 unless something changes. Now I guess I'll have to think long and hard if I want to risk moving the whole home network up to development/experimental builds or accept that my redundant WiFi WAN probably can't work until 2.5.0 comes out stable.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • W
                      wrobelda
                      last edited by

                      Can the https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/7725 please be re-opened? Alternatively, @kiokoman, can you please file a new bug-report?

                      I have the same 8260 card and seeing same issue here. Nothing helps and it seems that without re-compiling the driver and/or firmware into external module it won't work with 2.4.5

                      Obviously only if there's a 2.4.5-p2 planned before the 2.5 gets released.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • First post
                        Last post
                      Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.