# Issues with wireless connection



## TroN-0074 (Oct 19, 2015)

Hi, hope everybody is enjoying a better day than I have so far. I recently installed FreeBSD 10.2 in a Toshiba Satellite C50-A.
After installation I wanted to get connected to the internet so I issued the command
`ifconfig`

then the output showed this

```
alc0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
                     options=c319a<TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING, VLAN_HWCSUM, TSO4,WOL_MCAST,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWTSO,LINKSTATE>
ether 00:8c:fa:a0:b1:41
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: Ethernet autoselect
```

I then edited /boot/loader.conf and added the line

```
if_alc_load="YES"
```

and I also edited /etc/rc.conf and added the line

```
wlans_alc="wlan0"
```

but I cant get connected to the internet. Can please somebody point out what I am doing wrong. Thank you I will appreciate it.


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## tobik@ (Oct 19, 2015)

TroN-0074 said:


> wlans_alc="wlan0"


should be wlans_alc0="wlan0"



TroN-0074 said:


> I then edited /boot/loader.conf and added the line


That's not necessary. The driver is compiled into the GENERIC kernel. That's also why you already saw alc0 in the `ifconfig` output before doing that. 

The handbook has a section about setting up your WLAN card: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-wireless.html. Make sure to replace ath0 with alc0 when copying from there.

EDIT: Ah sorry, scratch all that. alc(4) is not a wifi driver. Can you post the output of `pciconf -lv` so that we can determine the correct driver for you?


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## TroN-0074 (Oct 19, 2015)

Thank you I appreciate that. When I do `pciconf -lv` I get:

```
alc0@pci0:1:0:0:     class=0x020000 card=0xff1e1179 chip=0x10901969 rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
                                          vendor    = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
                                          device    = 'AR8162 Fast Ethernet'
                                          class      =  network
                                          subclass  = ethernet
none2@pci0:2:0:0:         class=0x02800  card=0x019110ec  chip=0x817910ec rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
                                       vendor ='Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.'
                                        class   = network
```


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## tobik@ (Oct 20, 2015)

Ok, according to this thread https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/2015-June/082619.html you have a RealTek 8179CE card. Unfortunately it does not seem to be supported by FreeBSD


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## TroN-0074 (Oct 20, 2015)

Thank you for checking. It is unfortunately, for now I will be able to get connected by using a USB wireless adapter. Although my problem is solved by using the adapter I hope FreeBSD includes native support in future releases for the actual wireless card in the laptop.

If somebody is wondering the USB adapter I bought is the TP-LINK TL-WN725N from Amazon and I used this instructions to make it work https://vzaigrin.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/how-to-setup-usb-wifi-on-raspberry-pi-with-freebsd/

Thank you.


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## fnoyanisi (Oct 20, 2015)

TroN-0074 said:


> Thank you for checking. It is unfortunately, for now I will be able to get connected by using a USB wireless adapter. Although my problem is solved by using the adapter I hope FreeBSD includes native support in future releases for the actual wireless card in the laptop.
> 
> If somebody is wondering the USB adapter I bought is the TP-LINK TL-WN725N from Amazon and I used this instructions to make it work https://vzaigrin.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/how-to-setup-usb-wifi-on-raspberry-pi-with-freebsd/
> Thank you.


Unfortunately, most wireless vendors are reluctant to disclose details of their products making it difficult for developers to write a proper driver for many cards


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## kpa (Oct 21, 2015)

fnoyanisi said:


> Unfortunately, most wireless vendors are reluctant to disclose details of their products making it difficult for developers to write a proper driver for many cards



That's because the vendors do not sell wireless chips to the customers but products that the customers can identify by make and model.


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