Wireless ath0 configuration on 8.0-RELEASE

[Mark Bennett]

Hi,

I've been beating my brains out off and on for several days trying to 
get a wireless card with an Atheros chip to work on 8.0.  Maybe somebody 
can help, but the on-line documentation seems to be stuck on version 7.2 
and I've Googled till I'm blue in the face trying to find just one 
simple, straight-forward how-to for this version.

I'm not wanting anything fancy.  I just want this laptop with an Atheros 
card to associate to my access point with WPA2.  I've tried two 
different cards, same results.


Here are pertinent facts about my configuration:
====================================
Output of uname -v

FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE #0: Sat Nov 21 15:48:17 UTC 2009     
root at almeida.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386
------------------------------------
Entire content of /boot/loader.conf

if_ath_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"

------------------------------------
Edited content of /etc/rc.conf

pccard_enable="YES"
vaps_ath0="wlan0"
# wlans_ath0="wlan0"
# ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"
defaultrouter="192.168.5.100"

------------------------------------
Edited content of /etc/rc.conf

network={
    ssid="CLARITY"
    psk="MYWPAKEY"
}
======================================

When I issue the command:
ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0

It echoes the following:
wlan0: Ethernet address: 00:20:e0:37:8a:ca

At this point, everything seems to be OK.

When I issue the command:
wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -dd -s -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

It echoes the following:
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=7):
    43 4c 41 52 49 54 59      CLARITY
PSK (ASCII passphrase) - hexdump_ascii(len=63): [REMOVED]
PSK (from passphrase) - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]

It hangs at this point, with the power/activity lights on the NIC 
alternately flashing.  Breaking this command echoes this:

^Cioctl[SIOCS80211, op 26, arg 0x0]: Operation not supported
Feb 2 19:28:38 pierce wpa_supplicant[1274]: Failed to disable WPA in the 
driver.
ioctl[SIOCS80211, op 26, arg 0x0]: Operation not supported
ELOOP: remaining socket: sock=5 eloop_data=0x28406140 
user_data=0x2840d040 handler=0x8069f40

==========================================

ifconfig for both ath0 and wlan0 show "status: no carrier"

The issue seems to be the "Failed to disable WPA in the driver" error, 
but I don't know at what point this failure happens, or what to do 
differently to fix it.

Any and all help is appreciated.


-- 
++
Mark Bennett
Clarity Software Systems
(417) 864-4404

The perfect name for a band: "Fruitless Googling"
I want credit for this.