Thanks for all the replies! > I might be wrong, and the code might disprove me, but I don't believe > that in hostap mode it can work without explicitly defining a channel, > which is the issue you are having. I used to have a ralink 2500 in > hostap mode, and it wouldn't work until I defined the channel. You > should do a site survey and see the least busy channel in your area and > set it on your hostname.if. > > -- > Giancarlo Razzolini > GPG: 4096R/77B981BC
I ran another test booting with the channel set in hostname.athn0 on the Acer Aspire One D250 and it was possible to associate with it without having to change the channel. On the Alix.2D13, that was not the case. I could see the Alix from the Mac but the connection would time out. The Windows machine couldn't see the nwid. After changing the channel I was able to associate. In other words the same result as before. This is what I put in hostname.athn0: inet 192.168.2.1 255.255.255.0 nwid 1234567890 wpakey keykeykey chan 3 mediaopt hostap up I also tested with chan 7 in hostname.athn0 with the same results. So, I had success with setting the channel in hostname.athn0 for the Acer, but no such luck for the Alix. > > > > $ ifconfig athn0 > > > > athn0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> > > > > mtu > > > > > > > > 1500 lladdr: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx > > > > > > > > priority: 4 > > > > groups: wlan > > > > media: IEEE802.11 autoselect (autoselect hostap) > > > > status: active > > > > > > > > ieee80211: nwid 1234567890 chan 3 bssi xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:x: > It is working on channel 3 = 2422MHz > Sorry - I overlooked this. > > Is channel 3 in the range of your client machines? Depending on the > area it may not be. If your setup works fine with channel 7 then why > not leaving it at that? I did the tests with the AP's sitting beside the Mac and Windows machines. I also tested with the channel set to 3 and 7 in hostname.athn0 on the Acer and Alix and still had the same results. > > > WinXP machine might not work with 5GHz? > > > > > > Are the antennas suitable for 5GHz? What about signal strength? > > > On the MAC it might be useful to install a WiFi scanner which will > > > tell you all about signal strength. > > > There is a free program called "Wifi Scanner" in the AppleStore. > > > It is very useful. > Please do install this program unless you want to go on "fishing in > the dark". It is very useful to see which channels are less crowded > and thus being more likely to allow good reception. > On my Android phone I installed "Wifi Analyzer" which is excellent to > always being able to see what's going on in the area where you want to > use wifi. The "Wifi Scanner" appears to be non-free now. It's price is $1.99 in the apple store. I haven't seen something comparable that is free. > > > > The antennas I used were from PCEngines - listed as antsma on their > > website. antsma - Antenna for 2.4 GHz band, 5 dBi nominal gain. > > Reverse SMA connector. > > > > They do have another antenna, antsmadb, that is dual band which I > > don't have. antsmadb - Antenna for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band, 5 dBi > > peak gain in 2.4 GHz band. Reverse SMA connector. > This antenna is definitely needed if the 5GHz band is used. > PCengines is fine but their shipping flunked with the antenna question > before. They delivered the wrong antennas to me at least ... > Field strength is -79dBm or worse right next to the transmitter using > the wrong antenna. That is barely above the noise. > But this is moot now. > > From their website: > "antsma = light colored coax cable inside (look near hinge), > antsmadb = black coax cable." > > > > > I don't think signal strength was an issue because I tested with > > each AP next to the Mac and Windows machines and still had the same > > result. > A 2.4GHz antenna used on the 5GHz band is nothing but an energy sink > also called a dummy load. Also the transmitter will reduce its output > power greatly because the reflected wave might damage its final stage. > > I don't think that this problem is anything special to do with OpenBSD > but I may be wrong. > > For the time being I'd just make the channel 7 permanent in > /etc/rc.local and live with it, unless the 2.4GHz band is really > crowded at your site. > 5GHz is from channel 36 up. Apparently the Acer is only capable of 2.4GHz. The channels listed by ifconfig athn0 chan are 1 - 14. The Alix, though, is capable of 2.4 and 5. I've run my previous tests on the Alix setting its channel to 36 and above and connection to it works only after changing the channel. > > I wish you success > Eike Just a wild guess, but if athn_switch_chan is called from /src/sys/dev/ic/athn.c by ifconfig, could disabling and re-enabling interrupts have some good effects on attemps to connect?
