Wireless connection hangs using FreeBSD as AP

[Yuri Lukin]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:55:23 -0500, Michael C. Cambria wrote
> I have quite a few Soekris machines as wireless AP's using the 
> PCMCIA NL-2511 CD EXT card (wi0 in hostap mode) found at Netgate.  I 
> also have a desktop with a similar setup, to debug prior to flashing 
> for Soekris.   All run FreeBSD 4.10-Stable.
> 
> I'm suddenly seeing a problem where wireless connections just hang. 
> However, the only time this happens is with clients that use non NL-
> 2511 wireless cards .  All my gear is NL-2511, all from Netgate.
> 
> The problem is, just recently, friends and family come by with newer 
> laptops, they associate just fine, but connections just hang.  In 
> all cases, the clients are XP (home or Pro), using newer laptops 
> that have Intel based 802.11a/b/g type cards.  All work just fine to 
> off the shelf AP's around the globe.  Only to my FreeBSD AP is there 
> an issue.
> 
> Netgate suggested it was the wi driver, so another desktop was setup 
> to test as an AP.  This uses FreeBSD 7 (just prior to any RC).  The 
> result seems to be the same.
> 
> The prism firmware for all prism cards is 1.4.9.
> 
> Has anyone else seen this?  Since all my personal gear is the same 
> family, I never experienced a problem until now.
> 
> I do plan on moving to 802.11g, and migrating existing gear to 
> FreeBSD 
> 6.3/7.0 in the very near future.  However, I'd like to get to the 
> bottom of this if possible.
> 
> Thanks,
> MikeC
>
>I too have noticed a similar problem with my Soekris boxes and Intel 3945abg
>clients, even with latest RELENG_7. And I use ath-based MiniPCI cards on the
>Soekris and ath seems to be the best choice for wireless in FreeBSD, all
>thanks to great work by Sam. I should mention that it's nearly impossible to
>troubleshoot this without additional information (athdebug, athstats, >etc...).
>Sadly I have not had time to debug my setup either...

In your case, if you stick with wi, you'd probably want wlanstats and wlandebug.