# ath WPA - Connecting



## SocialHaze (Oct 3, 2011)

Hi,

I'm having hell trying to connect.

I've configured wpa_supplicant and it looks for the network on boot.  All the wlan modules are loaded and the interface seems fine.

*ifconfig wlan0 list scan* (someone explained that an active scan makes the driver hang indefinitely) only shows one result, the most powerful AP in range.  I would expect to see about 20.

*ifconfig* shows both interfaces up without a carrier.

I'm sure some of you have managed to connect before, but this seems to be a nebulous area and there isn't a lot of clear documentation.

I would be grateful for any light you may be able to shed on this.  I'd like to get connected and start installing packages and I need to get going ASAP.


Thanks.


----------



## wblock@ (Oct 4, 2011)

The model number of the card is really important.  Some are better supported than others.  Use
`% pciconf -lv`
for a start.


----------



## SocialHaze (Oct 4, 2011)

It's an AR9285.


----------



## wblock@ (Oct 4, 2011)

What version of FreeBSD?


----------



## SocialHaze (Oct 4, 2011)

8.2-RELEASE-amd_64.


----------



## zeissoctopus (Oct 4, 2011)

Your router operates in mode 11n or 11g?

FreeBSD 8.x ath driver only supports well in mode 11b/g.
May be your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf has some mistakes.


----------



## wblock@ (Oct 4, 2011)

A bunch of work has been done on ath(4), but most of it is in FreeBSD-9.  I'd suggest at least updating to 8-STABLE, or 9.0-BETA3 if you have a fresh install.


----------



## SocialHaze (Oct 5, 2011)

zeissoctopus: I don't know about the router, it's not mine.  wpa_supplicant.conf is the default file with a SSID and PSK in the 'catch-all' example.

wblock: I don't really want to, can't I just download the driver and load it into the kernel?

This is a lot of trouble, especially considering I can't update from the OS (because I can't connect) and I don't have a secure internet connection.

Edit: Downloading 9.0-BETA3 right now.  It's obviously something with the driver, when wpa_supplicant is configured to let the driver scan (ap_scan=0) and trying to reassociate with a network, it literally says 
	
	



```
Association request to the driver failed.
```

I'll go around town to verify the SHA256 sums later today or tomorrow and post an update when the OS is updated.

Mind you I'm actually a QAA (and an EN-FR translator), but this OS is my own show and I was really hoping to not have to do that kind of work on it.

I'm fresh from OS X, I loved it.  POSIX-compliant, awesome front end, made of pure light and win.  OS X was everything I ever dreamt Linux would've been when I was a teenager.  Unfortunately Apple dropped their server products and some of their filesystem integrity features were getting in the way.  Their hardware was too expensive, their OS required me to edit code and recompile certain components anyway, and like I said... it's my own show.  FreeBSD was a perfect choice for the license, the spirit and the community.  This is the first big problem I'm encountering with it.  I still love it, I find myself actually thinking how great and scaleable FreeBSD is, from small appliances to probably blade servers.

But this really pisses me off.  I guess my efforts can now serve the community as well.


----------



## zeissoctopus (Oct 5, 2011)

Sceak said:
			
		

> I don't really want to, can't I just download the driver and load it into the kernel?



Yes, you can compile FreeBSD 9.0-BETA ath driver as a FreeBSD 8.2 kernel module and then load it at system startup.
Please read this thread http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=23594 and follow adrian@'s instruction.

P.S. adrian@ is the maintainer of FreeBSD ath driver. Please follow adrian@ blog http://adrianchadd.blogspot.com/


----------



## SocialHaze (Oct 8, 2011)

OK, so I downloaded and installed FreeBSD-9.0BETA3.

Same issue.  The card is detected, configured, however only scans the one most powerful network and stops.

I'm back to 8.2-RELEASE, a lot of time and previously expended effort was lost, and I'm back to a bit behind where I was when I posted this.

Does anyone have any idea why there is only *one* scan result?


----------



## wblock@ (Oct 8, 2011)

Post on freebsd-wireless.  The wireless developers are there.


----------

