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    Atheros wireless card - 2 interfaces both only work 802.11g

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved 2.2 Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
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    • R
      rjcrowder
      last edited by

      I have a build with an Atheros AR9287 (or AR5B97) pci-e card that I was hoping I could get to work at 802.11n speed in version 2.2. Unfortunately, it shows with two interfaces (ath0_wlan0 and ath0_wlan1) and neither of them will work if I select a speed (on the interface screen) greater than 802.11g. If I select 802.11n, the interface will not come up. I've also confirmed that it only gets G speeds when I select 802.11g.

      Couple questions:
      1.) Why does it show two interfaces (ath0_wlan0 and ath0_wlan1)?
      2.) Why can't I get 802.11 speed on this card? Is it a driver issue?

      Thanks!

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      • dotdashD
        dotdash
        last edited by

        I tried a recent 2.2 build with an AR5B95. It only created one interface by default. I could go to interfaces, assign and create a second one. If you don't want a second virtual AP, delete it. Maybe it was a bug in the build you had. Mine came up fine under 'ng' and I was able to connect to it with an n client. I did not test throughput.
        I think I used this image: pfSense-2.2-BETA-2g-i386-nanobsd-20141009-1505.img.gz

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        • R
          rjcrowder
          last edited by

          Interesting… This is the third build I've tried and it always shows two interfaces. and... like I said it will only let me select 802.11g as the speed. If I select 802.11n, the interfaces wont come up.

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          • R
            rjcrowder
            last edited by

            Just bumping…

            Anyone have any ideas why this card (Atheros AR9287/AR5B97) only works in G mode? If not, can anyone tell me cards that is tested to work in 2.2 in N mode?

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            • dotdashD
              dotdash
              last edited by

              Mine was just a generic 9285/AR5B95 from a laptop.

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              • R
                rjcrowder
                last edited by

                Hate to ask, but based on your prior post I wasn't sure - is there any way you can confirm getting "N" speed out of it? I just don't want to buy another one and have it not work… Also, did you try turning on WPA2 encryption?  Thanks!

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                • dotdashD
                  dotdash
                  last edited by

                  Can't confirm speed at the moment. That box is not connected to the Internet, and it's back running 2.1.5 for the time being. Sorry.

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Did you try removing the second virtual interface? It could be that it won't allow you switch radio modes when you have a multiple VAPs assigned or it's trying to operate on the virtual interface rather than the real hardware.

                    Steve

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                    • R
                      rjcrowder
                      last edited by

                      Hmmm… Not sure I fully understand what you are suggesting...

                      How would I "remove the second virtual interface"? There are two interfaces - ath0_wlan0 and ath0_wlan1 - and it seems that they are auto-detected by FreeBSD at bootup. I have tried not setting one of them up in pfSense (on the interfaces menu) but that doesn't make any difference. In other words, even if I only set one of them up in pfSense, I still only get "G" speeds out of the configured interface...

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                      • dotdashD
                        dotdash
                        last edited by

                        Go into interfaces, assign and click the X next to the second wireless interface.

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                        • R
                          rjcrowder
                          last edited by

                          @dotdash:

                          Go into interfaces, assign and click the X next to the second wireless interface.

                          Yep… that's what I've done. I've also just tried not even setting it up in pfSense at all. Of course, even if I don't create an interface for it (say for example and opt1 interface associated with ath0_wlan1), it still shows as an option to pick in the dropdown list of interfaces on that page (for "opt" whatever).

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                          • dotdashD
                            dotdash
                            last edited by

                            Did you flip to the wireless tab under assign interfaces?

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              I may have misunderstood the situation. Is this a dual radio card perhaps?
                              I have seen similar problems with trying to apply some driver specific config to a virtual interface. A vlan instead of it's parent interface for example.

                              Steve

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                              • R
                                rjcrowder
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10:

                                I may have misunderstood the situation. Is this a dual radio card perhaps?
                                I have seen similar problems with trying to apply some driver specific config to a virtual interface. A vlan instead of it's parent interface for example.

                                Steve

                                Yea… that was my first thought as well Steve... not sure if it is dual radio (or dual range which I guess ends up being two radios) or not. But I was asking if that is how a dual card would show up? Interfaces listed as I described? So, assuming you had two atheros based cards with each having two radios, would you end up with ath0_wlan0, ath0_wlan1, (for the first card) and ath1_wlan0, ath1_wlan1 (for the second card)?

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                                • dotdashD
                                  dotdash
                                  last edited by

                                  I doubt it's a dual radio card. Maybe dual band. I've tried an Atheros dual band miniPCI card under 2.2, and it showed up under assign interfaces as 'ath0'. I expect this is the 'friendly name' because if you create a second vap, it comes up as ath0_wlan1. IIRC, you can't use the raw interface (athx) under FreeBSD versions >8, so to use the interface, you have to create the inital vap (ath0_wlan).
                                  Anyway, In my tests, I just got one interface unless I manually added a second one. The dual band card just allowed me to select 5GHz channels. I've only tried Atheros cards, apart from a run dongle, which I found out still doesn't have an n-capable driver under 10. (Mine was a 2800, errata suggests the 2700 chips work at n speed.)

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                                  • L
                                    Legion
                                    last edited by

                                    @rjcrowder:

                                    Anyone have any ideas why this card (Atheros AR9287/AR5B97) only works in G mode? If not, can anyone tell me cards that is tested to work in 2.2 in N mode?

                                    I would have hoped (probably like many others) that 2.2 Atheros support would look something like this:

                                    https://wiki.freebsd.org/dev/ath_hal(4)/HardwareSupport

                                    In fact, this is one of the biggest drawcards of 2.2 for me. If you're having issues with a specific card, maybe search some FreeBSD forum links and see if its been discussed. I have AR5BXB92, which is just a AR9280, and I was really hoping it would support N speeds.

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                                    • R
                                      rjcrowder
                                      last edited by

                                      As best I can figure it out… here's the deal.

                                      1.) Having two interfaces was my fault. Apparently I had erroneously created a clone on the "wireless" tab. I've now deleted it.
                                      2.) I have ath0 working and I am able to wirelessly connect. However, the interface will NOT come up if I select 802.11ng as the "standard". It will only start if I select 802.11g.

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        Any errors in the system log? Or other evidence?

                                        Steve

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                                        • R
                                          rjcrowder
                                          last edited by

                                          Nothing under "wireless"… grepping dmesg for "ath" gives...

                                          [2.2-BETA][root@pfSense.localdomain]/var/log: dmesg | grep ath
                                          ath0: <atheros 9287="">mem 0xf7d00000-0xf7d0ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci3
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling short-GI in 20MHz mode
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
                                          ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15
                                          ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode disabled
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled
                                          ath0: <atheros 9287="">mem 0xf7d00000-0xf7d0ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci3
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling short-GI in 20MHz mode
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
                                          ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15
                                          ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled
                                          ath0: <atheros 9287="">mem 0xf7d00000-0xf7d0ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci3
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling short-GI in 20MHz mode
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
                                          ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15
                                          ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled
                                          ath0: <atheros 9287="">mem 0xf7d00000-0xf7d0ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci3
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling short-GI in 20MHz mode
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
                                          ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15
                                          ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
                                          wlan0: changing name to 'ath0_wlan0'
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled
                                          ath0: <atheros 9287="">mem 0xf7d00000-0xf7d0ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci3
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling short-GI in 20MHz mode
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
                                          ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15
                                          ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
                                          wlan0: changing name to 'ath0_wlan0'
                                          ath0: ath_reset_grablock: didn't finish after 10 iterations
                                          ath0: ath_reset_grablock: warning, recursive reset path!
                                          ath0: ath_reset: concurrent reset! Danger!
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled
                                          ath0: ath_reset_grablock: didn't finish after 10 iterations
                                          ath0: ath_reset_grablock: warning, recursive reset path!
                                          ath0: ath_chan_set: concurrent reset! Danger!
                                          ath0: <atheros 9287="">mem 0xf7d00000-0xf7d0ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci3
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
                                          ath0: [HT] enabling short-GI in 20MHz mode
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
                                          ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
                                          ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15
                                          ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
                                          wlan0: changing name to 'ath0_wlan0'
                                          ath0_wlan0: promiscuous mode enabled</atheros></atheros></atheros></atheros></atheros></atheros> 
                                          

                                          Don't see anything anywhere else…

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                                          • dotdashD
                                            dotdash
                                            last edited by

                                            It's a dual band card. Did you try setting it for na instead of ng?

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