Re: iwlwifi 11n/11ac testing - and update

Hey Bjoern,

I tested it but the AX210 wasn't able to connect to either of my networks (2.4 ghz / 5 ghz). I was able to successfully transition to fwget based firmware, and I did see that the sysctl transitioned automatically before/after reboot post fwget install.

Before:

compat.linuxkpi.80211.hw_crypto: 0
compat.linuxkpi.iwlwifi_11n_disable: 1
compat.linuxkpi.iwlwifi_disable_11ac: 1

After:

compat.linuxkpi.80211.hw_crypto: 0
compat.linuxkpi.iwlwifi_11n_disable: 1
compat.linuxkpi.iwlwifi_disable_11ac: 1

You can take a look at a few dmesg / ifconfig wlan0 here:
https://xyinn.org/freebsd/files/iwlwifi-results-1.txt

the ifconfig -v wlan0 scan command didn't return anything. Let me know if I should try anything else.

Jonathan Vasquez
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Jonathan Vasquez
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On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 at 17:26, Bjoern A. Zeeb <bz@FreeBSD.org> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> 
> a few things will come up soon and I figured I'll send an update about
> iwlwifi and 11n/11ac testing. As it goes with FreeBSD we often only
> hear about when things don't work but we'd also sometimes love to hear
> if things do start working. That's especially more important with the
> 14.3-RELEASE cycle starting this month.
> 
> In short: run fwget(8) and you may get 11n and 11ac support on for
> iwlwifi AX200 and newer out of the box. Please report back either way!
> 
> 
> In Long:
> 
> It's been 6-ish weeks since I sent out the initial request(s) for
> testing hw_crypto [1] and iwlwifi 11n/11ac [2].
> 
> As also announced [3] and now imminent pending review [4] firmware will
> be removed from main and stable/14 src.git the next days and everyone
> should run fwget(8) (or switch to ports based firmware if you build
> yourself) to get the firmware for their specfic chipset installed.
> If you ran fwget(8) in the past, pkg upgrade will give you the latest
> versions for you kernel at all times. You should only need to re-run
> fwget(8) if you change your hardware. 20240513.<FreeBSD_version>_2
> 
> should be the current set (which also works for iwx(4)).
> 
> If you do switch to package based firmware with fwget(8) you will now
> (on main and stable/14) get HW_CRYPTO (crypto acceleration offloading),
> HT (11n), and VHT (11ac) enabled automatically if your chipset is
> expected to be supported. Those would be the 22000, AX210 and BE200
> chipset generations (roughly AX200 and newer).
> 
> If things do not work, please see [5] or below on how to disable
> features so you can use 11a/b/g with basic rates still. The tunables
> (sysctls to check for the current status) to enable (=1)/disable (=0)
> the features are:
> compat.linuxkpi.80211.hw_crypto=0
> compat.linuxkpi.iwlwifi_11n_disable=0
> compat.linuxkpi.iwlwifi_disable_11ac=0
> You will need to set these in /boot/loader.conf.local (create the file
> if needed).
> Again, you should only need to manually do anything about those in case
> something does not work and in that case you should definitively let us
> know.
> 
> 
> Some things don't work as expected yet for some people:
> - AX101 seems to have issues (pending me getting hardware to debug)
> - The "BT Coex" crash [6] is reported more often (I am working on that
> currently)
> - A panic on reboot due to inconsistent net80211 locking [7]
> - There's a firmware crash reported presumably when switching bands
> - WEP, TKIP are not working yet and came as a surprise but I am half
> way through the code (also preparing for other new cipher suit
> support) so should come soon too (famouse last words).
> - Ht/VHT support for older iwlwifi chipsets and rtw88 and rtw89 are also
> still TBD/to be finished.
> - For a full list of LinuxKPI based driver problems please see [8]. You
> can always search bugzilla before reporting a new problem but don't
> stop reporting!
> 
> As I said, we know what doesn't work. Here's some more that I'd love to
> hear more about if it happens to you:
> 
> - Vague rumors said some people failed to get onto 11a[c] but 11[bgn]
> worked fine. Please sned an email to the list if that happens to
> you. Please include the output of ifconfig -v wlan0 (or equivalent)
> and ifconfig -v wlan0 list scan as a first step.
> 
> On the other hand if things do work please also have a look at:
> 
> - When you are associated:
> sysctl compat.linuxkpi.80211.wlan0
> it will report rx_beacon_signal_avg, rxrate, and txrate as seen by the
> firmware (and the values may change depending on how you are using wifi).
> This information will likely not match ifconfig output. That's a fun
> project for someone one day.
> 
> 
> I am running out of things and likely forgot some, but most importantly:
> thanks to everyone who has already given it a try, is patiently waiting
> for me to fix some of the above, and the FreeBSD Foundation. See their
> Laptop Project [9] for more interesting things, and check updates here
> and on the desktop mailing list.
> 
> Looking forward to hear from you, I'll go back to code,
> Bjoern
> 
> PS: anyone wants to test a new version of the driver(s) please stay tuned!
> 
> [1] https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-wireless/2025-February/002895.html
> [2] https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-wireless/2025-February/002964.html
> [3] https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-wireless/2025-March/003062.html
> [4] https://reviews.freebsd.org/D49713
> [5] https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=285765#c1
> [6] https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=280546
> [7] https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=285729
> [8] https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/showdependencytree.cgi?id=273622&hide_resolved=1
> [9] https://github.com/FreeBSDFoundation/proj-laptop
> 
> --
> Bjoern A. Zeeb r15:7