(DWA-556) Atheros AR5008/Master mode

**sanemanmad** · January 29th, 2009

Hello All,

Thank you for viewing this post. I am in need of some help with setting up my Linux Access Point using the D-Link DWA-556 PCIe 802.11b/g/n card.

Here is some relevant information:

lspci|grep "Network controller"

Code:

04:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

lsmod|grep "ath"

Code:

ath9k                 296248  0
mac80211              253440  1 ath9k

iwconfig

Code:

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=27 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Code:

wlanconfig wifi0 create wlandev wlan1 wlanmode ap
wlanconfig: ioctl: Operation not supported

As you can see I do already have the Ath9k drivers installed and I can confirm connection to my existing AP. My problem here is setting this device to "Master"/"AP" mode.

I was had tried current setup with Kernel-2.6.27-7-server, right now I am running most current Kernel-2.6.27-11-generic

----------------------------------

From the driver vendor themselves:

Working
Modes of operation
*
Station Mode
*
AP Mode
*
IBSS Mode
*
AHB and PCI bus

DWA-556 Xtreme N PCIe Desktop Adapter

ath9k (Atheros devices)

yes --> AP
yes --> Ad-Hoc
no --> Mesh
yes --> Full-Monitor
A/B/G/N --> Modes this drivers supports

**sanemanmad** · January 31st, 2009

I know these drivers should support this card in AP mode however there has got to be something i am overlooking.

*BUMP*

**sanemanmad** · February 1st, 2009

Hmm... Where is the support

I suppose this has stumped the community also? I have been back and forth to madwifi-project and it confirms these drivers can operate in Master mode (Act as an access point) I could care less for the N speeds, I would like to scratch my existing wifi ap for internal one.

**viggeh** · February 8th, 2009

I'm having the same problems, can't get AP mode working on my DWA-556 card. I've tried using madwifi (trunk, v0.9.4), but the NIC won't send out any packets after a client computer connects to it.

According to a page at Linux Wireless hostapd is required for AP mode, but hostapd gives me the following errors when run:

Code:

# hostapd -dd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
ctrl_interface_group=0
ioctl[PRISM2_IOCTL_PRISM2_PARAM]: Operation not supported
Could not enable hostapd mode for interface wlan0
hostap driver initialization failed.
wlan0: Unable to setup interface.
Flushing old station entries
Deauthenticate all stations

hostapd.conf:

Code:

bridge=br0 # eth0 and wlan0 are bridged
interface=wlan0
driver=hostap

ssid="somerouter"

hw_mode=g
channel=7

wpa=3
wpa_psk=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP

logger_syslog=-1
logger_syslog_level=2
logger_stdout=--1
logger_stdout_level=2
debug=0

ctrl_interface_group=0
macaddr_acl=0
deny_mac_file=/etc/hostapd/hostapd.deny
auth_algs=3
eapol_key_index_workaround=0
eap_server=0
dump_file=/tmp/hostap

I'm hoping someone can shed some light regarding this, thanks in advance!

**beighto** · February 10th, 2009

I am having the same problem with an Atheros AR5008 Dlink DWA-552. I am beginning to think the ath9k driver does not support master mode. I have used this card in master mode before in g mode with ath_pci so I know it is capable.

**sanemanmad** · February 10th, 2009

Originally Posted by viggeh

According to a page at Linux Wireless hostapd is required for AP mode

Ya, I tried using this driver and adapter with hostap and was unsuccessful, So now I am only attempting to get the adapter to function as an AP, I do not need WPA or Radius auth.