wireless networking

[Ian Smith]

In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 542, Issue 5, Message: 6
On Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:54:47 +0200
Anthony Simm <simm.anthony at googlemail.com> wrote:

 > I have installed FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE on an IBM T42 box and have problems 
 > to connect it's wireless card to the router / to the internet.
 > 
 > I have read this
 > https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-wireless.html
 > 
 > and followed the chapter
 > 
 > 31.3.2. Quick Start
 > 
 > and have done this
 > 
 > > ifconfig | grep -A4 -i wireless
 > 
 > which gives
 > 
 > media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
 > status: no carrier
 > plip0: flags=8810<POINTTOPOINT, SIMPLEX, MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
 > nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
 > lo0: flags=8049<UP, LOOPBACK, RUNNING, MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
 > 
 > I added an entry with the correct details to /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
 > 
 > > network={
 > > 	ssid="myssid"
 > > 	psk="mypsk"
 > > }
 > 
 > and added these details to /etc/rc.conf
 > 
 > >
 > > wlans_ath0="wlan0"
 > > ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
 > 
 > 
 > Reboot, no wireless connection.

Does the T42 have a hard wireless en/disable switch?  Just a thought.

 > Then I followed the next chapter,
 > 
 > 31.3.3. Basic Setup
 > 31.3.3.1. Kernel Configuration
 > 
 > and added the following lines to /boot/loader.conf
 > 
 > > if_ath_load="YES"
 > > if_wi_load="YES"
 >
 > (/boot/loader.conf was previously empty but did exist)
 > 
 > 
 > Reboot, no connection.

ath for Atheros chips, and wi for ancient WaveLAN cards (I have one :)

 > ifconfig gives entries for em0, ipw0, plip0, and lo0
 > 
 > The one for ipw0 reads:
 > 
 > ipw0: flags=8802<POINTTOPOINT, SIMPLEX, MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 2290
 > ether 00:0c:f1:5e:4c:58
 > nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
 > media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (autoselect)
 > status: no carrier
 > 
 > (Do you need the output for em0, ipw0, and plip0 as well?)

No, but full information on your ipw0 from 'devinfo -v' and 'pciconf 
-lvce' would better identify the particular card, if it's not just that:

'kldstat -v' output on 9.3 includes pci/ipw and most other wireless 
drivers already included, so you shouldn't need to load anything apart 
from legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 in loader.conf as detailed in ipw(4)
and the (up to) three firmware modules needed, as detailed in ipwfw(4)

 > I have read everything on that page all the way down to
 > 
 > > 31.3.8. Troubleshooting
 > 
 > but am scratching my head and can't decide what else to do.
 > 
 > I will check the forums but I thought I should mention that I did not 
 > find an answer in the handbook to this probably frequently occurring 
 > setup problem.
 > 
 > Thank you very much,
 > 
 > Anthony

I don't know the present status of ipw(4) at all, but if it works on 
anyone's T42 it should work on yours.  Seems ipw doesn't do AP mode.

If that's no help I'd suggest posting to freebsd-wireless at freebsd.org 
where wireless-cogniscenti will get to see it.  Adrian will encourage 
you to run 11.0-CURRENT :) but others may be able to assist with 9.3

cheers, Ian