FreeBSD 7.1: iwi problem with intel 2200 pro wireless card

Fri Jan 30 09:46:00 PST 2009

Dear FreeBSD-questions Group, 

I recently installed freeBSD 7.1 on an IBM Thinkpad T42 (types 2378). The 
system will not connect to the internet wirelessly using the Intel 2200 pro 
wireless card. The problem is described in the following and some relevent 
files (/var/log/messages, /var/run/dmesg.boot, /boot/loader.conf) are pasted 
below my signature. Thanks in advance for any help configuring this feature. 

When I attempt to connect to the internet using the 'ifconfig iwi0 up scan' 
command the terminal gives no response and in /var/log/messages, 'iwi0: could 
not load main firmware iwi_bss' is given as an error. 

Ocassionally, after a system reboot the wireless card will connect to a local 
network. However attempting to change wireless networks causes the wireless 
to crash. Therefore, I do not think the problem is hardware based. 
Additionally, I have checked the hardware using Windows XP device manager 
(Windows XP is installed on a separated hard drive). The wireless works fine 
on Windows XP. 

I have looked through message boards without luck finding a solution for my 
system. Please let me know if this question ought to be sent elsewhere, I am 
a new user. Thanks again for taking the time to read this. 

Best Regards,
John

from /var/log/messages:
(system response to the command "ifconfig iwi0 up scan")
Jan 30 01:39:02 JohnsThinkpad kernel: iwi0: timeout processing command blocks 
for iwi_bss firmware
Jan 30 01:39:02 JohnsThinkpad kernel: iwi0: could not load main firmware 
iwi_bss

-------------------------------

from /var/run/dmesg.boot:
Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
	The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0: Thu Jan  1 14:37:25 UTC 2009
    root at logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
module_register: module uhub/umass already exists!
Module uhub/umass failed to register: 17
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1500MHz (1498.74-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x695  Stepping = 5

Features=0xa7e9f9bf<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,MCE,CX8,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x180<EST,TM2>
real memory  = 2146828288 (2047 MB)
avail memory = 2091171840 (1994 MB)
kbd1 at kbdmux0
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
ACPI Warning (tbfadt-0505): Optional field "Gpe1Block" has zero address or 
length:        0    102C/0 [20070320]
acpi0: <IBM TP-1R> on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi_ec0: <Embedded Controller: GPE 0x1c, ECDT> port 0x62,0x66 on acpi0
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: reservation of 0, a0000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 100000, 7ff00000 (3) failed
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x1008-0x100b on acpi0
acpi_lid0: <Control Method Lid Switch> on acpi0
acpi_button0: <Sleep Button> on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
agp0: <Intel 82855 host to AGP bridge> on hostb0
pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0x3000-0x30ff mem 
0xe0000000-0xe7ffffff,0xc0100000-0xc010ffff irq 11 at device 0.0 on pci1
uhci0: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-A> port 0x1800-0x181f irq 11 
at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-A> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-B> port 0x1820-0x183f irq 11 
at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-B> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-C> port 0x1840-0x185f irq 11 
at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci2: [ITHREAD]
usb2: <Intel 82801DB (ICH4) USB controller USB-C> on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb2
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <Intel 82801DB/L/M (ICH4) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xc0000000-0xc00003ff 
irq 11 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb3: EHCI version 1.0
usb3: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2
usb3: <Intel 82801DB/L/M (ICH4) USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb3: USB revision 2.0
uhub3: <Intel EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb3
uhub3: 6 ports with 6 removable, self powered
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 30.0 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
cbb0: <PCI-CardBus Bridge> mem 0xb0000000-0xb0000fff irq 11 at device 0.0 on 
pci2
cardbus0: <CardBus bus> on cbb0
pccard0: <16-bit PCCard bus> on cbb0
cbb0: [ITHREAD]
cbb1: <PCI-CardBus Bridge> mem 0xb1000000-0xb1000fff irq 11 at device 0.1 on 
pci2
cardbus1: <CardBus bus> on cbb1
pccard1: <16-bit PCCard bus> on cbb1
cbb1: [ITHREAD]
em0: <Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection 6.9.6> port 0x8000-0x803f mem 
0xc0220000-0xc023ffff,0xc0200000-0xc020ffff irq 11 at device 1.0 on pci2
em0: [FILTER]
em0: Ethernet address: 00:16:41:17:29:2d
iwi0: <Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG> mem 0xc0214000-0xc0214fff irq 11 at 
device 2.0 on pci2
iwi0: Ethernet address: 00:0e:35:4c:84:63
iwi0: [ITHREAD]
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
atapci0: <Intel ICH4 UDMA100 controller> port 
0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0x1860-0x186f at device 31.1 on pci0
ata0: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
pci0: <serial bus, SMBus> at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
pcm0: <Intel ICH4 (82801DB)> port 0x1c00-0x1cff,0x18c0-0x18ff mem 
0xc0000c00-0xc0000dff,0xc0000800-0xc00008ff irq 11 at device 31.5 on pci0
pcm0: [ITHREAD]
pcm0: <Analog Devices AD1981B AC97 Codec>
pci0: <simple comms, generic modem> at device 31.6 (no driver attached)
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: model Generic PS/2 mouse, device ID 0
fdc0: <floppy drive controller (FDE)> port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on 
acpi0
fdc0: [FILTER]
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
sio0: type 8250 or not responding
sio0: [FILTER]
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
battery0: <ACPI Control Method Battery> on acpi0
acpi_acad0: <AC Adapter> on acpi0
acpi_ibm0: <IBM ThinkPad ACPI Extras> on acpi0
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
est0: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu0
p4tcc0: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu0
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
pmtimer0 on isa0
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 
0xc0000-0xcffff,0xd0000-0xd0fff,0xd1000-0xd1fff,0xdc000-0xdffff,0xe0000-0xeffff 
pnpid ORM0000 on isa0
ppc0: <Parallel port> at port 0x3bc-0x3c3 irq 7 on isa0
ppc0: Generic chipset (NIBBLE-only) in COMPATIBLE mode
ppbus0: <Parallel port bus> on ppc0
ppbus0: [ITHREAD]
ppi0: <Parallel I/O> on ppbus0
plip0: <PLIP network interface> on ppbus0
plip0: WARNING: using obsoleted IFF_NEEDSGIANT flag
lpt0: <Printer> on ppbus0
lpt0: Interrupt-driven port
ppc0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ppc0: [ITHREAD]
sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 1498736135 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
ad0: 152627MB <Seagate ST9160821A 3.ALE> at ata0-master UDMA100
acd0: CDRW <HL-DT-STCD-RW/DVD DRIVE GCC-4242N/0201> at ata1-master UDMA33
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a

------------------------------------------

from /boot/loader.conf:

#IBM ACPI Config
acpi_ibm_load="YES"

#sound driver
snd_ich_load="YES"

#WiFI Config
if_iwi_load="YES"
wlan_load="YES"
firmware_load="YES"
iwi_bss_load="YES"
iwi_ibss_load="YES"
iwi_monitor_load="YES"
legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1

#USB FlashDrive
umass_load="YES" 

--------------
output of dmesg | grep iwi:
iwi0: <Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG> mem 0xc0214000-0xc0214fff irq 11 at 
device 2.0 on pci2
iwi0: Ethernet address: 00:0e:35:4c:84:63
iwi0: [ITHREAD]

------------------
output of sysctl dev.iwi.0.radio:
dev.iwi.0.radio: 1