Trying to set up Access Point with RaLink rt61pci
Friday, 21. August 2009, 17:35:00
As you may know, I've previously tried to make my desktop Wi-Fi card to work as an Access Point. [1] [2] [3] [4] After all those tries, I had given up and set up the ad-hoc mode. However, I still want to set it up as an access point, and yesterday I tried again.
Unfortunately, it didn't work...
Looking for info...
I must say it is very difficult to find correct and up-to-date information. Whenever I find something that might be useful, I don't know if that info is still valid or it is too old. Maybe less people would be asking questions if there was simple, quick and up-to-date page explaining what works and what doesn't, and how to make it work.
Anyway, these are my main references:
According to lspci -v, this is my card:
01:04.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Subsystem: RaLink EW-7108PCg
Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18
Memory at fcff8000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: rt61pci
Kernel modules: rt61pci
Both Linux Wireless Drivers page and Linux Wireless PCI Devices page show that my card supports master mode. Too bad that Linux Wireless rt61pci page has no useful info. Also, that page links to an outdated hardware list page.
I've also found the following articles and forum posts:
-
Master mode is enabled in rt2x00, you will need Johannes Berg's patches for mac80211 to add support for master mode to mac80211.
(2008-02-05, outdated) - yet another rt61 master mode adventure (2008-06-22)
- Ubuntu Forums - Ralink RT2561/RT61 to work in master mode (2008-07-01, quite old)
-
As described in countless topics on this forum: You _must_ use rt2x00.git. You _must_ use hostapd.gi
t (2008-07-07) -
Master mode is only available in rt2x00.git or wireless-testing.git, and it must be combined using hostapd (latest version)
(2008-11-23) -
Use Ad-hoc mode [or] Buy an AP and use managed mode
(2008-12-07) - rt61pci master mode problems (2009-01-30, quite recent, but no solution)
- PCI chip Master Mode success story (2009-05-18)
- Gentoo Wiki Archives - Wireless/libnl_Access_Point (outdated, but at least has a useful small /etc/conf.d/net snippet)
Unfortunately, the rt2x00 forum search does not work well. It always says that I haven't used enough words, or that the words I used were too common.
Configuring everything...
Here are the steps I've done:
cd /usr/src
# The following downloaded about 356 MiB
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ivd/rt2x00.git linux-git-rt2x00
# The following downloaded about 3 MiB
git clone git://w1.fi/srv/git/hostap.git hostap-git
ln -snf linux-git-rt2x00 linux
cd linux-git-rt2x00
cp /boot/config-2.6.29.4 .config
make oldconfig
make menuconfig
make
make modules_install
cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.31-rc6-wl
cp .config /boot/config-2.6.31-rc6-wl
cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.6.31-rc6-wl
vim /boot/grub/grub.conf
# Install x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-185.18.29
# because 180.60 and 185.18.14 don't compile with this kernel
vim /etc/portage/package.keywords
emerge -a1v nvidia-drivers nvidia-settings
cd ../hostap-git
cd hostapd
cp defconfig .config
# Just uncomment this line: CONFIG_DRIVER_NL80211=y
vim .config
make
reboot
Most of the hostapd.conf file was kept at its default values. Here are its full contents (comments removed):
interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
logger_syslog=-1
logger_syslog_level=2
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=2
dump_file=/tmp/hostapd.dump
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ctrl_interface_group=0
ssid=denilson
country_code=BR
hw_mode=g
channel=3
beacon_int=100
dtim_period=2
max_num_sta=8
rts_threshold=2347
fragm_threshold=2346
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=3
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wmm_enabled=1
wmm_ac_bk_cwmin=4
wmm_ac_bk_cwmax=10
wmm_ac_bk_aifs=7
wmm_ac_bk_txop_limit=0
wmm_ac_bk_acm=0
wmm_ac_be_aifs=3
wmm_ac_be_cwmin=4
wmm_ac_be_cwmax=10
wmm_ac_be_txop_limit=0
wmm_ac_be_acm=0
wmm_ac_vi_aifs=2
wmm_ac_vi_cwmin=3
wmm_ac_vi_cwmax=4
wmm_ac_vi_txop_limit=94
wmm_ac_vi_acm=0
wmm_ac_vo_aifs=2
wmm_ac_vo_cwmin=2
wmm_ac_vo_cwmax=3
wmm_ac_vo_txop_limit=47
wmm_ac_vo_acm=0
eapol_key_index_workaround=0
eap_server=0
own_ip_addr=10.0.1.1
Trying it out
cd /usr/src/hostap-git/hostapd
ifconfig wlan0 down
./hostapd -dd hostapd.conf
And here is the output:
Configuration file: hostapd.conf
ctrl_interface_group=0
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 7
nl80211: Add own interface ifindex 8
BSS count 1, BSSID mask 00:00:00:00:00:00 (0 bits)
nl80211: Added 802.11b mode based on 802.11g information
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=1 freq=2412 MHz max_tx_power=8 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=2 freq=2417 MHz max_tx_power=7 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=3 freq=2422 MHz max_tx_power=6 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=4 freq=2427 MHz max_tx_power=5 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=5 freq=2432 MHz max_tx_power=4 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=6 freq=2437 MHz max_tx_power=3 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=7 freq=2442 MHz max_tx_power=2 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=8 freq=2447 MHz max_tx_power=2 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=9 freq=2452 MHz max_tx_power=1 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=10 freq=2457 MHz max_tx_power=1 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=1 chan=11 freq=2462 MHz max_tx_power=1 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=1 freq=2412 MHz max_tx_power=8 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=2 freq=2417 MHz max_tx_power=7 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=3 freq=2422 MHz max_tx_power=6 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=4 freq=2427 MHz max_tx_power=5 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=5 freq=2432 MHz max_tx_power=4 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=6 freq=2437 MHz max_tx_power=3 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=7 freq=2442 MHz max_tx_power=2 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=8 freq=2447 MHz max_tx_power=2 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=9 freq=2452 MHz max_tx_power=1 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=10 freq=2457 MHz max_tx_power=1 dBm
Allowed channel: mode=0 chan=11 freq=2462 MHz max_tx_power=1 dBm
RATE[0] rate=10 flags=0x2
RATE[1] rate=20 flags=0x6
RATE[2] rate=55 flags=0x6
RATE[3] rate=110 flags=0x6
RATE[4] rate=60 flags=0x0
RATE[5] rate=90 flags=0x0
RATE[6] rate=120 flags=0x0
RATE[7] rate=180 flags=0x0
RATE[8] rate=240 flags=0x0
RATE[9] rate=360 flags=0x0
RATE[10] rate=480 flags=0x0
RATE[11] rate=540 flags=0x0
Completing interface initialization
Mode: IEEE 802.11g Channel: 3 Frequency: 2422 MHz
Flushing old station entries
Deauthenticate all stations
nl_set_encr: ifindex=7 alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=0 set_tx=1 seq_len=0 key_len=0
nl_set_encr: ifindex=7 alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
nl_set_encr: ifindex=7 alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
nl_set_encr: ifindex=7 alg=0 addr=(nil) key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
Using interface wlan0 with hwaddr 00:0e:e8:ec:6a:33 and ssid 'denilson'
nl80211: Set beacon (beacon_set=0)
wlan0: Setup of interface done.
MGMT (TX callback) ACK
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1c:bf:bb:e1:8c sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
STA 00:1a:2a:c3:54:ae sent probe request for broadcast SSID
MGMT (TX callback) fail
mgmt::proberesp cb
And my laptop keep trying, but can't connect to this access point.
I've tested hostapd.conf with channel set to 9, 3 and 1, but neither of them worked.
So, overall the master mode is not working for me. I don't know if that's a bug in hostapd or in rt2x00 rt61pci driver.
I've posted my experience at rt2x00 forum. Let's just hope I (or someone else) can find a solution.
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 23. September 2009, 19:19
hi,
you might want to try again with the 2.6.30-bpo.1 kernel.
This is what I did under lenny + bpo:
- install wireless-tools, firmware-ralink, hostapd
- aptitude build-dep hostapd
- got hpstapd 0.7 sources from git, cp defconfig .config, vi .config
- make, make install (to /usr/local/bin)
- edited /etc/init.d/hostapd to use /usr/local/bin/hostapd
- edited /etc/default/hostapd to enable daemon
- edited /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf: ssid, country, channel, hw_mode=g, wpa=2, wpa_passphrase=yoursecret
- edited /etc/network/interfaces: static address, mask, network, broadcast
- edited /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf: added subnet for wlan
- /etc/init.d/hostapd start
- connected with Thinkpad w/ XP: voila! :)
Anonymous # 27. September 2009, 14:34
Hello,
I'm currently running debian Squeeze and I managed to get rt61pci card to work with precompiled 2.6.30 kernel.
However I had to use 0.7.0 hostapd.
Also similar messages would still appear if I tried to connect to unencrypted server with encryption set (to wpa2). Be sure you check that.
Denilson Figueiredo de Sá # 29. September 2009, 21:41
If you could get it working, please post the kernel and hostapd versions, and also the place from where you got them (vanilla kernel? ubuntu kernel? rt2x00.git kernel?).