How do I install a driver for wireless card

danielc

Hi Everyone:

I bought this card: http://www.tp-link.com/ca/products/details/?model=TL-WN881ND

Which I want to try and setup as an AP in my Pfsense box, but I have no clue how to install and load up a driver for it. I though the system would do it automatically, but its not recognizing it at all, so I assume I have to be the one uploading the driver. I believe this driver here: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ath&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+8.1-RELEASE will work with this card, but how do I go about installing it? I'm not familiar with FreeBSD all all, so if somebody could walk me through the installation of the driver, then I can do the rest, it would be very much appreciated.

Thank you!

danielc

Geez, no responses, can it be that difficult to install a driver into a pfsense box.

cmb

We include all the drivers that are supported in the base OS version we use, including ath. If you need a newer driver, you also need a newer base OS, and would have to use 2.1 in that case.

danielc

@cmb:

We include all the drivers that are supported in the base OS version we use, including ath. If you need a newer driver, you also need a newer base OS, and would have to use 2.1 in that case.

I don't need a new driver, I just to want be able to use whatever driver is supposed to be used for this type of card. I put the card in the PC, then I re-installed pfsense, but the wireless interface does not show for assignment, so I'm assuming I need to install the driver to at least attempt at recognizing the card. Should this be done automatically by pfsense at time of installation? And if it's not, does it mean the card may not be supported? It has a Atheros AR9287 chipset which is supposed to be at least partly supported by Freebsd according to what I've read in other places on the net. So, I'm thinking I might have to do it manually. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your reply.

cmb

There is no installing drivers, they're all just there, built into the kernel. If it's not detected, it's not a supported card in that base OS version. That Atheros card is newer, you'll either need 2.1, or potentially a newer base OS than we have available at this time if that doesn't work.

wallabybob

@danielc:

I put the card in the PC, then I re-installed pfsense, but the wireless interface does not show for assignment,

Did you go to Interfaces -> (assign) and click "+" to add the newly installed WiFi card to the pool of interfaces available to pfSense?

Please post the output of the pfSense shell command```
dmesg


Have you searched the pfSense forums for _AR9287_ or _WN881ND_ for reports of experience of that card with pfSense?

danielc

I've re-installed Pfsense, but still does not recognize the card at all, so I assume I must need a newer version of the wireless driver for this chipset. I'll try going the route of upgrading my installation to 2.1 and see if it has the support for this type of card. Thank you for your replies.

danielc

Just to report that version 2.1 supports the card I bought. I installed yesterday, and recognized the card automatically. Cheers!

rocketdog

Hi, I got the same issue as the OP, but I have a D-Link DWL-G122 USB Adapter.
This is my dmesg:

[2.0.2-RELEASE][admin@zealot.skynet.gov]/root(13): dmesg | grep run

run0: <ralink 0="" 2="" 11g="" adapter,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.01,="" addr="">on usbus0
run0: MAC/BBP RT3070 (rev 0x0201), RF RT2020 (MIMO 1T1R), address fc:75:16:8d:7d:85
runfw: root not mounted yet, no way to load image
run0: failed loadfirmware of file runfw
run0: could not load 8051 microcode
device_attach: run0 attach returned 6
run0: <ralink 0="" 2="" 11g="" adapter,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.01,="" addr="">on usbus0
run0: MAC/BBP RT3070 (rev 0x0201), RF RT2020 (MIMO 1T1R), address fc:75:16:8d:7d:85
runfw: root not mounted yet, no way to load image
run0: failed loadfirmware of file runfw
run0: could not load 8051 microcode
device_attach: run0 attach returned 6</ralink></ralink>

Is there any easy way to update pfSense to 2.1, or do I have to do it the physdiskwrte-way like I just did to install 2.0.2?

wallabybob

@rocketdog:

Is there any easy way to update pfSense to 2.1,

That won't help. You need to load the firmware at boot time: add the following line to pfSense file /boot/loader.conf.local (create the file if it doesn't already exist):```
runfw_load="YES"