I'm confused and angry

I'm confused and angry

[Laurence Darby]

Is there an obvious list of consumer products (NOT chipsets) that
hostapd supports that I'm missing? 

I want to make a wireless Access Point, using either a USB dongle, PCI
card, or PCIE x1 card.  I have already got a DHCP server and NAT in
both my desktop PC and router, I don't want to pay for an expensive
external wireless router which would be a 3rd DHCP and NAT.

None of the consumer devices' websites say which chipset they use, and none
the chipset manufactures' sites say what consumer products use their
chipset, so I can't just search for devices that support this.

I've foolishly just bought a Netgear WNA1100, because it was "close
enough" to a Netgear WNA1000, which possibly supports AP mode, but that
wasn't available.

I thought it got away with it, because this page:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k_htc says that driver
supports AP mode.

I've upgraded to Linux 3.0 and installed the htc_9271.fw firmware, and
the device shows up in /proc/net/dev, but now hostapd is giving me the
errors:

rfkill: Cannot open RFKILL control device
Hardware does not support configured mode
wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory

Does this device and driver support AP mode or not?  If the driver
doesn't, then the web page is wrong.  

If the driver does but the device doesn't, then the website should make
that clear.

I'm not bothered at all if the WNA1100 was a waste of money, it's the
amount of time I've wasted on this so far.

Please CC me on any responses, I'm not subscribed.

Thanks,
Laurence

Re: I'm confused and angry

[Laurence Darby]

Larry Finger wrote:

> 
> I'm pissed off about the attitude.
> 
> A lot of people spend a lot of time making things work. You
> misconfigure your damned system, and then you go off like this!!!!!
> 
> Read the fucking error message. You have not enabled RFKILL.


I have now enabled rfkill.  The hostapd error message is now:

Hardware does not support configured mode
wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory

Now what?

Re: I'm confused and angry

[Larry Finger]

On 07/30/2011 01:14 PM, Laurence Darby wrote:
>
> I have now enabled rfkill.  The hostapd error message is now:
>
> Hardware does not support configured mode
> wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
> Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
> wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
> rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory

Please post your hostapd.conf. I don't have any ath9k hardware and cannot check 
that it works with, but other wireless devices work with

interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
hw_mode=g
channel=1
ssid=test2
#wpa=2
#wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
#wpa_pairwise=CCMP
#wpa_passphrase="deleted"

Larry

Re: I'm confused and angry

[Sedat Dilek]

Hi,

On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 7:14 PM, Laurence Darby <ldarby@tuffmail.com> wrote:
>
> Is there an obvious list of consumer products (NOT chipsets) that
> hostapd supports that I'm missing?
>
> I want to make a wireless Access Point, using either a USB dongle, PCI
> card, or PCIE x1 card.  I have already got a DHCP server and NAT in
> both my desktop PC and router, I don't want to pay for an expensive
> external wireless router which would be a 3rd DHCP and NAT.
>
> None of the consumer devices' websites say which chipset they use, and none
> the chipset manufactures' sites say what consumer products use their
> chipset, so I can't just search for devices that support this.
>
> I've foolishly just bought a Netgear WNA1100, because it was "close
> enough" to a Netgear WNA1000, which possibly supports AP mode, but that
> wasn't available.
>

A different hardware-revision can mean that vendor has changed wifi-chip :-).
So, better ask before you buy new hardware.

> I thought it got away with it, because this page:
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k_htc says that driver
> supports AP mode.
>

AFAICS, people on #linux-wireless dont recommend USB-devices as the
interface can be a bottleneck.

> I've upgraded to Linux 3.0 and installed the htc_9271.fw firmware, and
> the device shows up in /proc/net/dev, but now hostapd is giving me the
> errors:
>
> rfkill: Cannot open RFKILL control device
> Hardware does not support configured mode
> wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
> Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
> wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
> rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory
>

Please, send full dmesg, lspci/lsusb outputs, etc.
What software do you use to connect to AP from client?
Personally, I have no HostAP(d) in use, but interested people might
want to see its config files, the same for the kernel.

> Does this device and driver support AP mode or not?  If the driver
> doesn't, then the web page is wrong.
>
> If the driver does but the device doesn't, then the website should make
> that clear.
>

And of course, docs could be enhanced.
It's a wiki, feel free to join and correct.

> I'm not bothered at all if the WNA1100 was a waste of money, it's the
> amount of time I've wasted on this so far.
>

Maybe a business solution with an anual or longterm contract can help
(if money does not count).

> Please CC me on any responses, I'm not subscribed.
>

You can try to ask on IRC, try joining #linux-wireless (freenode) and
ask there (note, it's sometimes a very silent channel).
But please, be nice and polite :-).

- Sedat -

> Thanks,
> Laurence
> --
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> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>

Re: I'm no longer confused and angry

[Laurence Darby]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2231 bytes --]

Larry Finger wrote:

> On 07/30/2011 01:14 PM, Laurence Darby wrote:
> >
> > I have now enabled rfkill.  The hostapd error message is now:
> >
> > Hardware does not support configured mode
> > wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
> > Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
> > wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
> > rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory
> 
> Please post your hostapd.conf. I don't have any ath9k hardware and
> cannot check that it works with, but other wireless devices work with
> 
> interface=wlan0
> driver=nl80211
> hw_mode=g
> channel=1
> ssid=test2
> #wpa=2
> #wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> #wpa_pairwise=CCMP
> #wpa_passphrase="deleted"
> 
> Larry

Ah, thanks, that does work and my other devices can see it now!

I was using the unmodified hostapd.conf, which has hw_mode=a, but
this device only supports modes b,g & n.  That is what the error is
talking about, not the Master/Ad-Hoc mode which I thought it was trying
to configure (which it is as well, actually).  Would be good if the
error message included the mode it's trying to configure, instead of
"(2)", that would definitely have stopped me getting confused here.

Some more reasons I didn't think this supported AP mode:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers has 'no' for AP support for
the ath9k_htc, that conflicts with the driver page, and

 # iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed

works, while

 # iwconfig wlan0 mode Master
always gives:
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

With hostapd running, iwconfig says:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  Mode:Master  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Tx-Power=20
dBm Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          
and reverts to Mode:Managed if I stop hostapd, so I'm not sure why
iwconfig can't change it...

Ok, http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Documentation/hostapd does say
that hw_mode needs to be set correctly, but it wasn't obvious enough
that's what the problem was.  The error and solution could be added to
where ./hostapd gets started.  Also, it refers to a
hostapd-minimal.conf, I couldn't see that anywhere, that's why I used
the default hostapd.conf.

Laurence

[-- Attachment #2: hostapd.conf --]
[-- Type: application/octet-stream, Size: 62 bytes --]

interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
hw_mode=b
channel=1
ssid=test2

Re: I'm no longer confused and angry

[Gábor Stefanik]

On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 9:59 PM, Laurence Darby <ldarby@tuffmail.com> wrote:
> Larry Finger wrote:
>
>> On 07/30/2011 01:14 PM, Laurence Darby wrote:
>> >
>> > I have now enabled rfkill.  The hostapd error message is now:
>> >
>> > Hardware does not support configured mode
>> > wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
>> > Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
>> > wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
>> > rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory
>>
>> Please post your hostapd.conf. I don't have any ath9k hardware and
>> cannot check that it works with, but other wireless devices work with
>>
>> interface=wlan0
>> driver=nl80211
>> hw_mode=g
>> channel=1
>> ssid=test2
>> #wpa=2
>> #wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
>> #wpa_pairwise=CCMP
>> #wpa_passphrase="deleted"
>>
>> Larry
>
> Ah, thanks, that does work and my other devices can see it now!
>
> I was using the unmodified hostapd.conf, which has hw_mode=a, but
> this device only supports modes b,g & n.  That is what the error is
> talking about, not the Master/Ad-Hoc mode which I thought it was trying
> to configure (which it is as well, actually).  Would be good if the
> error message included the mode it's trying to configure, instead of
> "(2)", that would definitely have stopped me getting confused here.
>
> Some more reasons I didn't think this supported AP mode:
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers has 'no' for AP support for
> the ath9k_htc, that conflicts with the driver page, and
>
>  # iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
>
> works, while
>
>  # iwconfig wlan0 mode Master
> always gives:
> Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
>    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
>
> With hostapd running, iwconfig says:
>
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  Mode:Master  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Tx-Power=20
> dBm Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>          Power Management:off
>
> and reverts to Mode:Managed if I stop hostapd, so I'm not sure why
> iwconfig can't change it...
>
> Ok, http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Documentation/hostapd does say
> that hw_mode needs to be set correctly, but it wasn't obvious enough
> that's what the problem was.  The error and solution could be added to
> where ./hostapd gets started.  Also, it refers to a
> hostapd-minimal.conf, I couldn't see that anywhere, that's why I used
> the default hostapd.conf.
>
> Laurence
>

"iwconfig wlan0 mode master" means "Set wlan0 to use the in-kernel
master mode implementation." Since mac80211 has no in-kernel support
for master mode (that's why you need hostapd - master mode is
supported from userspace), it will always fail.

Also, iwconfig uses Wireless Extensions (AKA wext) to configure the
wireless card - access to AP mode through wext is intentionally
blocked, to help the migration of userspace utilities to nl80211.

-- 
Vista: [V]iruses, [I]ntruders, [S]pyware, [T]rojans and [A]dware. :-)

Re: I'm confused and angry

[Mohammed Shafi]

On Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 12:08 AM, Larry Finger
<Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net> wrote:
> On 07/30/2011 01:14 PM, Laurence Darby wrote:
>>
>> I have now enabled rfkill.  The hostapd error message is now:
>>
>> Hardware does not support configured mode
>> wlan0: IEEE 802.11 Hardware does not support configured mode (2)
>> Could not select hw_mode and channel. (-2)
>> wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
>> rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory

i think you may be trying in 'a' mode while the card supports only 'g'
mode. please post your hostapd.conf.
ath9k_htc does supports AP mode.

>
> Please post your hostapd.conf. I don't have any ath9k hardware and cannot
> check that it works with, but other wireless devices work with
>
> interface=wlan0
> driver=nl80211
> hw_mode=g
> channel=1
> ssid=test2
> #wpa=2
> #wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> #wpa_pairwise=CCMP
> #wpa_passphrase="deleted"
>
> Larry
> --
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>



-- 
shafi