Having problems setting up a FreeBSD WAP

[yussef]

I have a netgear ma401 wireless pcmcia card for my laptop [dual boots
freebsd 4.8-stable and win2k]. This card seems to work fine as a client
in both systems. I recently bought a netgear ma311 wireless pci card for
my server [freebsd 4.8-release], to act as a WAP. Both cards are
reported using the Prism 2.5 chipset. Both cards have been updated to
the 1.4.9 firmware. I have followed the handbook instructions on
settings up a wap. ive compiled options BRIDGE into the kernel, i set
the three sysctl values:
# sysctl net.link.ether.bridge=1
# sysctl net.link.ether.bridge_cfg="wi0 rl1"
# sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 [this value is already set, i assume
 because of ipfilter]
there is also the value: net.link.ether.bridge_ipf which im not sure if
id need to set, because the server is running ipfilter.

the server is my firewall:
rl0=external 
rl1=internal
wi0=wireless

i then go on to use the ifconfig line, as stated in the handbook:
# ifconfig wi0 ssid my_net channel 11 media DS/11Mbps mediaopt hostap up
stationname "FreeBSD AP"

After which i set up the laptop using:
# ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.1.5 netmask 255.255.255.0 ssid my_net

my laptop also have a sis0 ethernet interface, which i assign a
different IP to.

After all this, wicontrol -l on the server will show 1 station
connected. ifconfig will report both machines as 'associated'. However,
i cant get pings or any other data thru.

part of my problem is my lack of understanding of how bridge works
and what exactly it does. Ive read thry'man bridge' as well as the
bridge subsection in the handbook, but either its too ambiguous, or im
not grasping something.
googling ive found other ppl with this same problem, however no working
solution yet.

Ive noticed that wicontrol reports the port type value as 6 [1 being BSS
and 3 ad-hoc] when its in 6 they systems are associated, when i change
it to any other value [i would think it should be 1 on teh wap]
everything drops off, and theres no carrier. Create IBSS is also
reported as OFF by wicontrol. changing this value either way doesnt seem
to affect the systems. 
Ive found that if i do assign an ip to wi0 on the wap, then i can get
pings thru between teh wireless devices. However, according to the the
handbook, this isnt part of the setup. To reduce the number of
variables, Ive set up a test system running 4.8-release, as the wap. but
ive had no better luck.

laptop wicontrol output:
NIC serial number:                      [ 99SA01000000 ]
Station name:                           [ FreeBSD WaveLAN/IEEE node ]
SSID for IBSS creation:                 [ my_net ]
Current netname (SSID):                 [ my_net ]
Desired netname (SSID):                 [ my_net ]
Current BSSID:                          [ 00:09:5b:40:81:93 ]
Channel list:                           [ 2047 ]
IBSS channel:                           [ 3 ]
Current channel:                        [ 3 ]
Comms quality/signal/noise:             [ 92 154 5 ]
Promiscuous mode:                       [ Off ]
Process 802.11b Frame:                  [ Off ]
Intersil-Prism2 based card:             [ 1 ]
Port type (1=BSS, 3=ad-hoc):            [ 1 ]
MAC address:                            [ 00:09:5b:4a:bf:fc ]
TX rate (selection):                    [ 3 ]
TX rate (actual speed):                 [ 2 ]
RTS/CTS handshake threshold:            [ 2347 ]
Create IBSS:                            [ Off ]
Access point density:                   [ 1 ]
Power Mgmt (1=on, 0=off):               [ 0 ]
Max sleep time:                         [ 100 ]
WEP encryption:                         [ Off ]
TX encryption key:                      [ 1 ]
Encryption keys:                        [  ][  ][  ][  ]

# ifconfig wi0
wi0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.3 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        ether 00:09:5b:4a:bf:fc
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (DS/2Mbps)
        status: associated
        ssid my_net 1:my_net
        stationname "FreeBSD WaveLAN/IEEE node"
        channel 3 authmode OPEN powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100
        wepmode OFF weptxkey 1

server wicontrol output:
NIC serial number:                      [ 99SA01000000 ]
Station name:                           [ FreeBSD WaveLAN/IEEE node ]
SSID for IBSS creation:                 [ my_net ]
Current netname (SSID):                 [ my_net ]
Desired netname (SSID):                 [ my_net ]
Current BSSID:                          [ 00:09:5b:40:81:93 ]
Channel list:                           [ 2047 ]
IBSS channel:                           [ 3 ]
Current channel:                        [ 3 ]
Comms quality/signal/noise:             [ 0 81 27 ]
Promiscuous mode:                       [ Off ]
Process 802.11b Frame:                  [ Off ]
Intersil-Prism2 based card:             [ 1 ]
Port type (1=BSS, 3=ad-hoc):            [ 6 ]
MAC address:                            [ 00:09:5b:40:81:93 ]
TX rate (selection):                    [ 11 ]
TX rate (actual speed):                 [ 2 ]
RTS/CTS handshake threshold:            [ 2347 ]
Create IBSS:                            [ On ]
Access point density:                   [ 1 ]
Power Mgmt (1=on, 0=off):               [ 0 ]
Max sleep time:                         [ 100 ]
WEP encryption:                         [ Off ]
TX encryption key:                      [ 1 ]
Encryption keys:                        [  ][  ][  ][  ]

server ifconfig wi0:
wi0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        inet6 fe80::209:5bff:fe40:8193%wi0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 
        ether 00:09:5b:40:81:93
        media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet DS/11Mbps <hostap>
        status: associated
        ssid my_net 1:my_net
        stationname "FreeBSD WaveLAN/IEEE node"
        channel 3 authmode OPEN powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100
        wepmode OFF weptxkey 1

Sorry for the long email, and thank you for your help.

yussef