Discussion:
Can't seem to use 5GHz APs with Intel wireless
(too old to reply)
Dhananjay Balan
2018-06-01 09:10:31 UTC
Permalink
Hi,

(Apologies if this is the wrong list, please point me at the right one if you know)

I run 12-CURRENT (r334442) on a Thinkpad X230. This machine has an Intel
Centrino Advanced N 6205. But freebsd only uses in in 11g mode. When I
try to scan, it won't even display 5GHz aps.


wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether a4:4e:31:02:70:3c
inet 192.168.1.108 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 192.168.255.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
status: associated
ssid SSID channel 7 (2442 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid bc:8a:e8:0b:a9:3f
regdomain FCC4 country DE authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 10 scanvalid 60
protmode CTS ampdulimit 32k ampdudensity 16 -amsdutx amsdurx shortgi
-stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
groups: wlan



From reading man pages, I can see that iwn(4) supports 11n. Is it
really supprted? What can I do to enable 11n?


Here are my configs

/etc/rc.conf
wlans_iwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="ssid SSID WPA SYNCDHCP"


/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=2
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

network={
ssid="SSID"
scan_ssid=0
psk="PSK"
priority=5
}


/boot/loader.conf
# wifi
if_iwn_load="YES"
iwn1000fw_load="YES"
iwn100fw_load="YES"
iwn105fw_load="YES"
iwn135fw_load="YES"
iwn2000fw_load="YES"
iwn2030fw_load="YES"
iwn4965fw_load="YES"
iwn5000fw_load="YES"
iwn5150fw_load="YES"
iwn6000fw_load="YES"
iwn6000g2afw_load="YES"
iwn6000g2bfw_load="YES"
iwn6050fw_load="YES"
Kevin Oberman
2018-06-01 19:40:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dhananjay Balan
Hi,
(Apologies if this is the wrong list, please point me at the right one if you know)
I run 12-CURRENT (r334442) on a Thinkpad X230. This machine has an Intel
Centrino Advanced N 6205. But freebsd only uses in in 11g mode. When I
try to scan, it won't even display 5GHz aps.
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether a4:4e:31:02:70:3c
inet 192.168.1.108 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 192.168.255.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
status: associated
ssid SSID channel 7 (2442 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid bc:8a:e8:0b:a9:3f
regdomain FCC4 country DE authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 10 scanvalid 60
protmode CTS ampdulimit 32k ampdudensity 16 -amsdutx amsdurx shortgi
-stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
groups: wlan
From reading man pages, I can see that iwn(4) supports 11n. Is it
really supprted? What can I do to enable 11n?
Here are my configs
/etc/rc.conf
wlans_iwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="ssid SSID WPA SYNCDHCP"
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=2
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
network={
ssid="SSID"
scan_ssid=0
psk="PSK"
priority=5
}
/boot/loader.conf
# wifi
if_iwn_load="YES"
iwn1000fw_load="YES"
iwn100fw_load="YES"
iwn105fw_load="YES"
iwn135fw_load="YES"
iwn2000fw_load="YES"
iwn2030fw_load="YES"
iwn4965fw_load="YES"
iwn5000fw_load="YES"
iwn5150fw_load="YES"
iwn6000fw_load="YES"
iwn6000g2afw_load="YES"
iwn6000g2bfw_load="YES"
iwn6050fw_load="YES"
___________________
First, if you are using GENERIC, the driver and firmware are either in the
kernel (driver) or auto-loaded. Yo should not have anything about this in
your loader.conf.

As far as other configuration goes, rc.local should not need (or want) the
SSID. That is why it is in wpa_supplicant.conf. All global wpa_supplicant
global definition is not needed except for eapol_version=2 as 1 is default.
Normally teh default works, but some APs insist on V2. Still, it should not
hurt to define everything.

I do find the iwn driver to be pretty poor and sometimes a bit unstable,
but it does work. I have 11n and 54 MHz working. what do you see with
'ifconfig wlan0 list aps'? If 54M is available, it should show up.
--
Kevin Oberman, Part time kid herder and retired Network Engineer
E-mail: ***@gmail.com
PGP Fingerprint: D03FB98AFA78E3B78C1694B318AB39EF1B055683
Christoph Moench-Tegeder
2018-06-01 22:37:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dhananjay Balan
From reading man pages, I can see that iwn(4) supports 11n. Is it
really supprted? What can I do to enable 11n?
The wlan system will auto-select 11n (wide channels, MIMO) as supported
by interface and network. See "ht" flag in ifconfig(8).
Post by Dhananjay Balan
wlans_iwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="ssid SSID WPA SYNCDHCP"
Did you try adding "mode 11a" to select 5GHz band? (This might be
out-of-date, as my WiFi stuff is all on 11) (currently I'm also
using 2.4GHz only, for compatibility with some devices and the fact
that I have quite some trouble running 2.4GHz and 5GHz from the same
interface at the same time).

Regards,
Christoph
--
Spare Space
Dhananjay Balan
2018-06-03 14:53:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Did you try adding "mode 11a" to select 5GHz band? (This might be
out-of-date, as my WiFi stuff is all on 11) (currently I'm also
using 2.4GHz only, for compatibility with some devices and the fact
that I have quite some trouble running 2.4GHz and 5GHz from the same
interface at the same time).
I did a bit more testing, I have to admit that I am not well versed in wifi internals.

1. ifconfig wlan0 list aps shows my aps having rate 54M (Im not entirely sure what this means).
But however when I connect to it, it shows up as 11g

wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether a4:4e:31:02:70:3c
inet 192.168.23.111 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.23.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
status: associated
ssid LA03 channel 6 (2437 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid 52:d9:e7:47:c0:c2
regdomain FCC4 country DE authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 10 scanvalid 60
protmode CTS ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8 -amsdutx amsdurx shortgi
-stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
groups: wlan

2. Adding mode 11a to rc.conf didn't change anything. Still connects to 2.4Ghz band.

3. ifconfing wlan0 scan still doesn't show my 5Ghz only APs (at least some I tested)

Also, what does 11a mean? shouldn't it be 11n?
-
dbalan
Adam
2018-06-03 16:06:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dhananjay Balan
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Did you try adding "mode 11a" to select 5GHz band? (This might be
out-of-date, as my WiFi stuff is all on 11) (currently I'm also
using 2.4GHz only, for compatibility with some devices and the fact
that I have quite some trouble running 2.4GHz and 5GHz from the same
interface at the same time).
I did a bit more testing, I have to admit that I am not well versed in wifi internals.
1. ifconfig wlan0 list aps shows my aps having rate 54M (Im not entirely
sure what this means).
But however when I connect to it, it shows up as 11g
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether a4:4e:31:02:70:3c
inet 192.168.23.111 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.23.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
status: associated
ssid LA03 channel 6 (2437 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid 52:d9:e7:47:c0:c2
regdomain FCC4 country DE authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit txpower 30 bmiss 10 scanvalid 60
protmode CTS ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8 -amsdutx amsdurx shortgi
-stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
groups: wlan
I do not believe the response you are replying to actually addressed 5gz
which is different than mode. You may be able to achieve better speeds
using channel parameters. man ifconfig.

A simple test is to have your AP present SSID of 2.4 and 5 as different
names. If the 5 doesn't show in the above command, 5 isn't working.
Post by Dhananjay Balan
2. Adding mode 11a to rc.conf didn't change anything. Still connects to 2.4Ghz band.
Yup
Post by Dhananjay Balan
3. ifconfing wlan0 scan still doesn't show my 5Ghz only APs (at least some I tested)
I don't believe the iwn driver is capable of 5gz. At least mine doesn't
work on CURRENT.
Post by Dhananjay Balan
Also, what does 11a mean? shouldn't it be 11n?
-
dbalan
_______________________________________________
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current
--
Adam
Christoph Moench-Tegeder
2018-06-03 17:44:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Adam
Post by Dhananjay Balan
3. ifconfing wlan0 scan still doesn't show my 5Ghz only APs (at least some I tested)
I don't believe the iwn driver is capable of 5gz. At least mine doesn't
work on CURRENT.
The iwn driver has code for 5GHz (I've no idea if that's complete).
But looking at that reminded me: there are many "iwn" devices, including
some having "BGN" appended to their names - I'd guess those devices
don't support 5GHz aka 11a mode.

Regards,
Christoph

--
Christoph Moench-Tegeder
2018-06-03 17:33:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dhananjay Balan
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Did you try adding "mode 11a" to select 5GHz band? (This might be
out-of-date, as my WiFi stuff is all on 11) (currently I'm also
using 2.4GHz only, for compatibility with some devices and the fact
that I have quite some trouble running 2.4GHz and 5GHz from the same
interface at the same time).
I did a bit more testing, I have to admit that I am not well versed in wifi internals.
Here's the non-technical overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11
(The real details can be really gory, but this should be good enough).
Post by Dhananjay Balan
1. ifconfig wlan0 list aps shows my aps having rate 54M (Im not entirely
sure what this means).
But however when I connect to it, it shows up as 11g
A data rate of 54 MBit/s would be perfectly in sync with 11g - 20MHz
Post by Dhananjay Balan
ssid LA03 channel 6 (2437 MHz 11g ht/20) bssid 52:d9:e7:47:c0:c2
And this shows that even MIMO ("Multiple Input, Multiple Output" has
Post by Dhananjay Balan
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11ng
The 5GHz part of 802.11 is 802.11a (and related, like ac), there's no
5GHz band in 11g.
Post by Dhananjay Balan
regdomain FCC4 country DE authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
Is the regdomain/country setting correct for your area and matches your
AP? Especially in the 5GHz band there are some "gaps" - not all channels
may be used in all countries (because of possible interference with
radar equipment and other stuff). See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5_GHz_(802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax)

Regards,
Christoph
--
Spare Space.
Dhananjay Balan
2018-06-04 02:50:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Is the regdomain/country setting correct for your area and matches your
AP? Especially in the 5GHz band there are some "gaps" - not all channels
may be used in all countries (because of possible interference with
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5_GHz_(802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax)
Thanks for taking time to explain.

Turns out PEBKAC. I had this offending line burried in rc.conf

create_args_wlan0="country DE regdomain FCC4"

According to regdomain(5) <!-- FCC4 is 2.4GHz FCC w/ Public Safety Band (PSB) -->

So I was forcing my card to do 2.4Ghz it seems, removed it - everything worked like charm. I can see and connect to 5GHz 11a aps.

wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether xxxx
inet 192.168.1.13 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11na
status: associated
ssid xxxx channel 36 (5180 MHz 11a ht/40+) bssid xxxxxxxx
regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 2:128-bit txpower 17 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6
mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60 ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 4 -amsdutx amsdurx
shortgi -stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL


-
dbalan
Adam
2018-06-04 14:15:11 UTC
Permalink
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Is the regdomain/country setting correct for your area and matches your
AP? Especially in the 5GHz band there are some "gaps" - not all channels
may be used in all countries (because of possible interference with
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5_GHz_(
802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax)
Thanks for taking time to explain.
Turns out PEBKAC. I had this offending line burried in rc.conf
create_args_wlan0="country DE regdomain FCC4"
According to regdomain(5) <!-- FCC4 is 2.4GHz FCC w/ Public Safety Band (PSB) -->
So I was forcing my card to do 2.4Ghz it seems, removed it - everything
worked like charm. I can see and connect to 5GHz 11a aps.
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether xxxx
inet 192.168.1.13 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11na
status: associated
ssid xxxx channel 36 (5180 MHz 11a ht/40+) bssid xxxxxxxx
regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 2:128-bit txpower 17 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6
mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60 ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 4 -amsdutx amsdurx
shortgi -stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
Thanks for the posting. It appears I made some errors in my previous
response. I'm using an iwm, not iwn. And after your pointer I changed my
country to NO which then allows me to see, but not associate to 5gz.

Good yours is working.
--
Adam
Adrian Chadd
2018-06-13 15:29:06 UTC
Permalink
hm. Which country are you in? india?

It seems to think you're in the FCC4 regdomain and DE country, which
if I read it right won't give you 5G. So somehow it determined you're
in the "wrong" country?



-adrian
Post by Adam
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Is the regdomain/country setting correct for your area and matches your
AP? Especially in the 5GHz band there are some "gaps" - not all channels
may be used in all countries (because of possible interference with
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5_GHz_(
802.11a/h/j/n/ac/ax)
Thanks for taking time to explain.
Turns out PEBKAC. I had this offending line burried in rc.conf
create_args_wlan0="country DE regdomain FCC4"
According to regdomain(5) <!-- FCC4 is 2.4GHz FCC w/ Public Safety Band (PSB) -->
So I was forcing my card to do 2.4Ghz it seems, removed it - everything
worked like charm. I can see and connect to 5GHz 11a aps.
wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
ether xxxx
inet 192.168.1.13 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11na
status: associated
ssid xxxx channel 36 (5180 MHz 11a ht/40+) bssid xxxxxxxx
regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF TKIP 2:128-bit txpower 17 bmiss 10 mcastrate 6
mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 60 ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 4 -amsdutx amsdurx
shortgi -stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
Thanks for the posting. It appears I made some errors in my previous
response. I'm using an iwm, not iwn. And after your pointer I changed my
country to NO which then allows me to see, but not associate to 5gz.
Good yours is working.
--
Adam
_______________________________________________
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current
Dhananjay Balan
2018-06-14 21:44:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by Adrian Chadd
hm. Which country are you in? india?
It seems to think you're in the FCC4 regdomain and DE country, which
if I read it right won't give you 5G. So somehow it determined you're
in the "wrong" country?
No it was entirely my fault. I had "country DE regdomain FCC4" set in
my rc.conf. I don't remmeber why I set regulatory domain or why I
explicitly chose FCC4. :-(

I was travelling around a bit when this thread was active, thats why
my replies had different country code in them.

-
dbalan

Cy Schubert
2018-06-03 18:08:50 UTC
Permalink
In message <***@squirrel.exwg.net>,
Christoph Moenc
Post by Christoph Moench-Tegeder
Post by Adam
Post by Dhananjay Balan
3. ifconfing wlan0 scan still doesn't show my 5Ghz only APs (at least som
e
Post by Adam
Post by Dhananjay Balan
I tested)
I don't believe the iwn driver is capable of 5gz. At least mine doesn't
work on CURRENT.
The iwn driver has code for 5GHz (I've no idea if that's complete).
But looking at that reminded me: there are many "iwn" devices, including
some having "BGN" appended to their names - I'd guess those devices
don't support 5GHz aka 11a mode.
My iwn device (iwn0: <Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205>) supports 5 GHz.
I just disabled my 2.4 GHz APs and reassociated:

wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu
1500
ether <MY_ETHER>
nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet MCS mode 11na
status: associated
ssid XXXXXXXX-5G channel 153 (5765 MHz 11a ht/40-) bssid <MY_BSSID>
regdomain FCC country US authmode WPA2/802.11i privacy ON
deftxkey UNDEF AES-CCM 2:128-bit txpower 23 bmiss 120 mcastrate 6
mgmtrate 6 scanvalid 16959 ampdulimit 64k ampdudensity 8
-amsdutx amsdurx shortgi -stbc -ldpc wme roaming MANUAL
groups: wlan

Some devices do and others don't. For example, I have an ath card for
this same laptop (I swapped out my iwn card for an ath card for a short
while) that supports station mode (BTW iwn firmware doesn't),
discovering my ath device firmware does not support 5 GHz. I suspect
that some iwn devices may be similarly "crippled", though the driver
supports 5 GHz the firmware does not. My point is it's not a binary
issue. You may need to Google your particular card to determine if the
manufacturer has implemented the feature or not. I did for my ath card
discovering not all implementations are equal. I wouldn't be surprised
this might be true of iwn as well.
--
Cheers,
Cy Schubert <***@cschubert.com>
FreeBSD UNIX: <***@FreeBSD.org> Web: http://www.FreeBSD.org

The need of the many outweighs the greed of the few.
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