How can i use atheros AR5213 in the openbsd 4.3-release?

[johnzlly]

Hello,everyone.This is my first post.
I have a atheros AR5213 card.In the windows xp,i can search the default network and connect to the network with dhcp.But in the openbsd 4.3-release,by default mediaopt,i can't find the network in the same place.

#ifconfig ath0

It shows STATUS:no network.
I input

#ifconfig ath0 media autoselect mediaopt ibss nwid default

It shows STATUS:active.
But,i input

#ifconfig ath0

It looks like:

# ifconfig ath0
ath0: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        lladdr 00:0b:6b:37:a4:20
        groups: wlan
        media: IEEE802.11 autoselect (DS1)
        status: active
        ieee80211: nwid default chan 6 bssid 00:0b:6b:37:a4:20 17%
        inet6 fe80::20b:6bff:fe37:a420%ath0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1

It can't catch ip address.I use the dhclient utility.It fails too.
So i can't surf the internet.
Do you have some ideas?

[jggimi]

According to ifconfig(8), you are setting your wireless NIC to an ESSID of "default" -- if you don't have an Access Point configured to broadcast ESSID "default" your NIC will not connect to your network.

If you want your NIC to find the nearest Access Point, do net set your nwid at all, or set it to "".

If you actually do have a WiFi network called "default" then you are configuring your connection correctly. If so:

1. ath(4) discusses the AR5210-AR5212, not the AR5213.
2. Please post your dmesg. You can obtain it either via dmesg(8) or from the contents of the /var/run/dmesg.boot file.
3. Please post the output of /etc/hostname.ath0 as well.

[johnzlly]

Yes,i did set the ESSID.Because there are a WiFi network called "default" actually.
Here is my dmesg.

#dmesg | grep ath
ath0 at pci2 dev 2 function 0 "Atheros AR5212 (IBM MiniPCI)" rev 0x01: irq 11
ath0: AR5213 5.6 phy 4.1 rf5111 1.7 rf2111 2.3, MKK1A, address 00:05:4e:4f:f2:c7

And

#cat /etc/hostname.ath0
dhcp NONE NONE NONE

[jggimi]

Searching for "ar5213" in the misc@ mailing list archives, it looks like this chipset may work with 802.11b (up to 11Mbit/s) WiFi networks, but not 802.11g (up to 54Mbit/s). See the mode option in the ifconfig(8) man page to force the NIC to use 802.11b ("mode 11b") -- of course, your Access Point must have 802.11b capability configured.

[jggimi]

There were additional changes to the ath(4) driver developed and tested in July and early August, which will be included in 4.4-release scheduled to be available November 1.

[johnzlly]

Originally Posted by jggimi

Searching for "ar5213" in the misc@ mailing list archives, it looks like this chipset may work with 802.11b (up to 11Mbit/s) WiFi networks, but not 802.11g (up to 54Mbit/s). See the mode option in the ifconfig(8) man page to force the NIC to use 802.11b ("mode 11b")

I'll try it again.

of course, your Access Point must have 802.11b capability configured.

How can i confirm it ?

which will be included in 4.4-release scheduled to be available November 1.

I hope that it's fully supported in the 4.4-release.
And thanks for your reply,jggimi.

[jggimi]

Originally Posted by johnzlly

How can i confirm it ?

Read your AP's owner's manual, specification sheet, configuration GUI .. most 11g-capable products should be able to support 11b, but that doesn't mean all do.

I hope that it's fully supported in the 4.4-release.

I don't think so, no. The man page I've referred to above is -current, and does not refer to the ar5213. Your NIC is able to emulate an ar5212, with some limitations. The changes between 4.3 and 4.4 repair PCI and PCI-E connectivity generally, and a bus isssue on the Sparc64. See the log of changes in http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvswe...i/if_ath_pci.c if you're interested.

[johnzlly]

Thanks so much.
Your replys are so helpful and patient!
Can I give you a THANKS?

[jggimi]

Only if your NIC is now working.

[johnzlly]

That's right!Today i try it again,then it works.
I use the option like:

#ifconfig ath0 media DS1 mode 11b

[jggimi]

Great news!!

[zeleni_obad]

The following cards always lock a box completely after trying a "nwkey" option, and occasionally with just an "up" option, regardless of code (I've been trying from time to time to make those work with almost every snapshot and cvs-ed code of i386 CURRENT, or 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3 RELEASE, since August):

DrFooDo # uname -mrs ; dmesg | grep ^ath
OpenBSD 4.3 i386
ath0 at pci0 dev 13 function 0 "Atheros AR5212" rev 0x01: irq 10
ath0: AR5213 7.9 phy 4.5 rf2112a 5.6, FCC2A*, address 00:1d:0f:xx:xx:xx
ath1 at pci2 dev 10 function 0 "Atheros AR2413" rev 0x01: irq 11
ath1: AR2413 7.8 phy 4.5 rf 5.6, FCC2A*, address 00:1d:0f:xx:xx:xx
ath2 at pci2 dev 11 function 0 "Atheros AR5212" rev 0x01: irq 11
ath2: AR5213 7.9 phy 4.5 rf2112a 5.6, FCC2A*, address 00:1d:0f:xx:xx:xx

Those are found on TP-Link TL-WN650G/TLWN651G and TP-Link TL-WN550 PCI cards

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by zeleni_obad

The following cards always lock a box...

It is important to remember that the people answering questions at this site are hobbists, professionals, & others interested in OpenBSD, but are not in a position to influence policy or develop code for the project. If you are having problems with particular chipsets, you may want to contact the official developers either directly or through problem reports. Information on submitting reports can be found at the following:

http://openbsd.org/report.html

[zeleni_obad]

Originally Posted by ocicat

...you may want to contact the official developers either directly or through problem reports...

Reyk@ works on the issue: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=121740270720039&w=2

What I want is to publish the description of the parts that do not work properly at the moment, so users would get a chance to read about a problem with a particular device, before they purchase it [the AR5212's are stated as supported, yet, those are "the newish ones", in the above-mentioned post]