# How to get Atheros AR9485 WiFi working?



## cookiemonster (Aug 25, 2013)

https://wiki.freebsd.org/dev/ath_hal(4)/HardwareSupport says the Atheros AR9485 is currently supported, but I just installed 9.2 and it's not detected? I already tried `kldload if_ath` & and `kldload if_ath_pci` but still no go. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!


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## tingo (Aug 25, 2013)

You need to show the relevant output from `pciconf -lv` in order for anyone to help you more. Note: relevant output is only the lines which describe the AR9485.


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## scottro (Aug 25, 2013)

The quick way: `pciconf -lv |grep -B3 network`

The B is for before, so it prints the three lines above.  This shows me (on a Zenbook UX31E, the earliest one, I think) that it sees the AR9485 card. A cursory google indicates that it's not yet in head, though some people have been playing with it.  I don't have the links immediately available, but I did glance at it today.  So, it sees the card, but (just playing around with a live image), wasn't able to use it.  (For anyone who comes across this, the 9.2-RC2 version does work out of the box with the included USB to Ethernet dongle that ships with the UX31E). 

Also, when answering @tingo's request, put in all the output from pciconf, showing the card, chip and revision (rev).  My machine is probably different than yours, but, as an example, my output included class, card, chip, rev, hdr, and all that may be useful.

EDIT:  
https://wiki.freebsd.org/dev/ath_hal(4)/AR9300 indicates that you might need to be using CURRENT.  Looking at the link that you posted, there's a link on the right, indicating that one should see the link that I have above.

[Further Edit]
Ok, I got curious and downloaded a USB image of CURRENT.  I ran it as a live CD and it detected the AR9485 wireless card without problem.


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## cookiemonster (Aug 25, 2013)

Thanks guys, pciconf shows the following:

```
none2@ pci 0:4:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x662811ad chip=0x0032168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
device = 'AR9485 Wireless Network adapter'
class = network
```

This is from the 9.2-RELEASE DVD (PC-BSD version which was apparently released on the 16th of this month).

So, only 10.0-CURRENT or later will work with this chip?


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## scottro (Aug 25, 2013)

That appears to be the case.  I only Googled for a few minutes on it, it appears that Adrian Chadd is doing the work, but so far, it's only in 10, not 9.x.


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## cookiemonster (Aug 26, 2013)

Will this method work to enable the newest driver in 9.2 to get the AR9485 working?


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## scottro (Aug 26, 2013)

Note that that seems to be for the 9285, not the 9485.  It might work though as he's said the code is in HEAD.    I would have to make room on the machine that has that drive, install it, and try.  You've gotten me curious now, and I'm probably going to give it a try later today.


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## scottro (Aug 26, 2013)

Well, I gave it a try, but after building the kernel (I had to comment out one additional line, not mentioned in the 2011 post, ath_pci), I couldn't get the downloaded ath modules to build.  No doubt my error, as I don't know enough about what's changed in it.


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## cookiemonster (Aug 26, 2013)

Did you also check out ath_hal?


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## scottro (Aug 26, 2013)

ath_hal is in /dev/ath.  Honestly, I'm not knowledgeable enough to follow up.


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## cookiemonster (Aug 26, 2013)

Thanks for all your help so far, @scottro


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## scottro (Aug 27, 2013)

A quick follow up on this. I tried again this morning, but still no luck. First, when I tried to do the compile it was looking for a /contrib/dev/ath directory. So, I checked that out as well, but failed, as did the last poster in the thread to which you linked with several lines containing a "has no member named" error, such as

```
...has no member named 'iv_node_ps'
```

So, for the moment at least, I'm giving up on my Zenbook, unless I either use the USB to Ethernet dongle, which works out of the box with 9.2, or run CURRENT on it.


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## paulfrottawa (Oct 10, 2013)

```
$ cd ~/ath/head/sys/modules/ath && env CFLAGS=-I~/ath/head/sys/ make
"/usr/home/paul/ath/head/sys/modules/ath/../../conf/kern.mk", line 37: Malformed conditional (${MK_FORMAT_EXTENSIONS} == "no")
"/usr/home/paul/ath/head/sys/modules/ath/../../conf/kern.mk", line 39: if-less else
"/usr/home/paul/ath/head/sys/modules/ath/../../conf/kern.mk", line 41: if-less endif
make: fatal errors encountered -- cannot continue
```

Also: Kernel wouldn't  compile without also hashing out (#) 

```
device         ath_pci         # Atheros pci/cardbus glue
```


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## Derek C Johnstone (Apr 21, 2018)

Just to add my experience to this thread.
I am convering an old Asus P5G41T-MLX machine to run FreeBSD 11.1
Initally it would not find the Atheros AR8131-BL1A device.
Updating the BIOS resolved the problem


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## rigoletto@ (Apr 21, 2018)

This is a 5 years old thread.


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## Phishfry (Apr 21, 2018)

Not only that the Atheros AR8131 is a wired ethernet chip.

Anyway, Welcome aboard Derek C Johnstone


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## Derek C Johnstone (May 7, 2018)

Yes I did appreciate the age and wired facts to my post, but anyone searching on AR8x might find this useful.

ttfn Derek


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