Stefan Sperling writes:
> On Sun, Mar 06, 2016 at 10:22:17PM +0200, cho...@jtan.com wrote:
> > >Synopsis: athn PCI card (AR9281) AP not found by scan on some devices
> > >Category: wifi driver?
> > >Environment:
> > System : OpenBSD 5.8
> > Details : OpenBSD 5.8 (GENERIC) #1170: Sun Aug 16 02:26:00 MDT 2015
> > dera...@amd64.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/comp
> ile/GENERIC
> >
> > Architecture: OpenBSD.amd64
> > Machine : amd64
> > >Description:
> > /etc/hostname.athn0 contains:
> > inet 192.168.42.1 255.255.255.0
> > mediaopt hostap chan 56
>
> I'd recommend sticking to 11a "indoor channels" 36, 38, 40, 42, 44,
> and 48, unless you have a good reason to do otherwise.
>
> In most countries, channel 50 and above ("outdoor channels") require DFS
> support for proper operation, which OpenBSD doesn't provide.
> Many client devices won't support any of the "outdoor" channels.
I didn't even choose one until I found out that it didn't work. I'm
right in the middle of nowhere so I've not paid attention to the
regulatory settings yet. Choosing the right settings would have happened
right after I'd verified basic functionality on.
> > The hardware seems to not be a problem - it's brand new and The
> > Other OS running hostapd could be found by all 4 devices.
>
> Which channel does the other os use?
I ripped off a hostapd.conf that I found somewhere online. It sets the
country code to US and channel to 2.
I've been poking at it (and little more than poking in ignorance) and a
few more symptoms have cropped up:
* If I include any chan setting in hostname.athn0 and reboot, I can't
set the chan at runtime to anything between 1 and 11 though can to
(some) values >11: ifconfig: SIOCS80211CHANNEL: Invalid argument
Some values result in my 'good' laptop being able to find the AP and
some don't. Booting with anything <= 11 can't be seen; 36, 56 and 44
can.
* If I remove the chan option from hostname.athn0 ifconfig shows that
chan 1 was selected but nothing (not even my 'good' laptop) finds the
network. However I can now change the chan at runtime, and doing so
allows (all) the other devices to find the AP, even after switching
back to chan 1.
I don't know what either of these things means, but they're odd.
I would rather perform more rigorous tests but I don't know which tests
would be meaningful and which would be a massive waste of time so all
I'm doing now is playing with it.
Matthew
