Solved Intel 8265 / 8275 driver

S

Sparrowhawk

Hail daemons of the internetz,

I have just gotten a new Lenovo X270 and decided to try out FreeBSD on it; I come from the GNU/Linux world and had installed FreeBSD on my home music server and found it a great experience. Therefore I decided to install on my new laptop as well.

This was successful: # freebsd-release -k
11.1-STABLE

My problem is now that my wifi card, described by pciconf -lv as a "Wireless 8265 / 8275" from "Intel Corporation" is not supported by iwm yet. I found this: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D10597#change-zxTHxBhhCpCm, but am not sure of the « correct » way of applying this. Noticeably, this requires another patch to be applied, who also depends on another patch and so on.

Therefore my question is: is my best option finding out whatever patches out there I need to arrive at the state at which I can apply the linked patch, recompile, and have a *-STABLE system, with only that added, or is there another smarter way that I do not know of to do this?

Thank you,

-- Sparrowhawk
 
Sparrowhawk ,

Did you succeed installing this patch ? I'm in the same situation.

My case is however a little bit different, cause my laptop is a Xiaomi Notebook Pro, with absoluetly no RJ-45 port. So... My only network card is a Wi-Fi card. If I patch it, I've got to prepare everything on another PC, and bring the "patch" with a USB Key or something.

PS : Sorry to re-open an ~old topic.
 
Hi Deckard,

Considering the patch was still open and considered unstable at the time and the fact that I needed my laptop to work ASAP for my studies, I went back to GNU/Linux, at least until this summer when I can survive with an old laptop instead. Hopefully by then the patch will be more stable.

Keep us posted if you manage to use it though, as I'd be interested to hear how it works out for you.
 
Sparrowhawk Sure, I've installed FreeBSD 11.1 CURRENT on my laptop, as I expected the Wi-Fi card is detected, when I do a "pciconf -lv", but the problem is the same as yours. It doesn't work by default. And like you, I don't really know how to patch it. I'll continue my investigations and I'll keep you informed right here.
 
Patches like this are always tested on -CURRENT first. If the patch is good and issues have been ironed out, the patch will be MFC'ed (Merge From Current) to the -STABLE versions. From the -STABLE versions new -RELEASE versions will be made. I'm not sure if this has already been MFC'ed to 11-STABLE yet. If/When it is added to 11-STABLE it will be on time and included in the next 11.2-RELEASE.
 
Okay, so I'll have to reinstall my FreeBSD, cause I can't update it, I've got no network interface now. Thanks for the answer. I'm gonna check if there is a calendar of updates etc.

Thanks buddy.
 
In response to people who could think it works on FreeBSD 12.0, it doesn't really. I tried to install TrueOS, which uses 12.0 kernel, the Wi-Fi driver is built in apparently, but it's clearly unstable. I had to restart so many times the network interfaces to be able to reach a Wi-Fi connection. And it was unstable... So, still a little bit of work on this. I got back to Ubuntu, waiting for a proper driver.
 
Thanks to both of you for the information. It will help folks planning to buy laptops, I think.
Sometimes, the easiest solution might be to buy a cheap USB to wireless adapter. The Edimax one I link here definitely works with FreeBSD and realtek driver. You might have to put some entries in /boot/loader.conf

https://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-150Mbps-Raspberry-Supports/dp/B003MTTJOY (I cover the loader.conf entries on a page of mine about the yoga2, http://srobb.net/yoga2.html, but after 11.x the card my yoga had was working with FreeBSD).
 
Scott,

I just linked to your drm-next guide on Reddit (I'm using X1 Carbon 6th gen and had no success):
Can you respond to that?

As for the Edimax suggestion, I already use it but hate it. Very weak signal. It works but I'd much rather have the superior Intel 8265 working.
 
Agreed on the Edimax. There are other, better USB to wireless adapters around, but that's the one that I've successfully tested with Free and OpenBSD. I did answer your question about the problem on reddit, but I'm not sure how helpful it will be. I only ran into that problem when using the package, and rebuilt from ports. For what it's worth, I just repeated the steps yesterday on a fresh 11.2-BETA2 and it worked for me.
 
Guys, I now have Wi-Fi. I just installed it on the 11.2 RELEASE of yesterday, it works perfectly.

Sparrowhawk

you must use kldload to charge the /boot/kernel/if_iwm.ko

here are my configuration files :

/boot/loader.conf
if_iwm_load="YES"
iwm8265fw_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"

/etc/rc.conf
background_dhclient="YES"
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP powersave"

/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
network={
ssid="<yourssid>"
psk="<youpassword>"
}

Then you create your interface :

ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev iwm0

Reboot and it must be OK.
 
Deckard said:
My case is however a little bit different, cause my laptop is a Xiaomi Notebook Pro, with absoluetly no RJ-45 port. So... My only network card is a Wi-Fi card. If I patch it, I've got to prepare everything on another PC, and bring the "patch" with a USB Key or something.

PS : Sorry to re-open an ~old topic.
Click to expand...
One option: Attach data cable to Android phone (plug it into computer too), enable phone's WiFi, find hotspot settings and enable "USB-modem" in your Android phone. FreeBSD is going to see and treat it as plain USB Ethernet device. Just make sure you have appropriate kernel module loaded in FreeBSD. It works and is far more handy than trying to find compatible USB WiFi dongle.
 
I did this following the example in the 31.3.2 Quick Start for Wireless Networking:

# sysctl net.wlan.devices (Gives empty value for response.)

# kldload /boot/kernel/if_iwn.ko. (As described by Deckard.)

Repeat sysctl command returned now showing: iwm0.

Proceed to create/etc/rc.conf file:

network={
ssid="myssid"
psk="mypsk"
}


Add entries to /etc/rc.conf:

wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"

Then,

# service netif restart

Appears to make a connection although there wan't any name resolution: telnet to site.org 5000 would not work, but telnet 121.122.123.124 5000 did.

However, assuming no connection would be found after shut down and reboot, and where sysctl returns empty value once more thus requiring repeat kldload, but trying returns complaint:

interface iwn.1 already present in the KLD 'kernel'!
linker_load_file: Unsupported file type

Then tells me to check dmesg for more details, but repeats same complaint as above.

Using kldunload also did not work returning message can't find file /boot/kernel/if_iwn.ko.

So, now there is no connection, and no apparent way of unloading/loading the .ko

Looking now to see how to return to state where can use kldload once more as in the start, and then trying what Deckard has posted.
 
Hi, I didn't use sysctl net.wlan.devices, and I heard it causes some issues.
However, what's the first message you get when you use kldload to charge the driver ?
Also, did you give an IP address to your network interface ?
background_dhclient="YES"
this line in your /etc/rc.conf to configure it automatically in DHCP.

Are you on IRC ?
 
Deckard said:
Guys, I now have Wi-Fi. I just installed it on the 11.2 RELEASE of yesterday, it works perfectly.

Sparrowhawk

you must use kldload to charge the /boot/kernel/if_iwm.ko

here are my configuration files :

/boot/loader.conf
if_iwm_load="YES"
iwm8265fw_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"

/etc/rc.conf
background_dhclient="YES"
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP powersave"

/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
network={
ssid="<yourssid>"
psk="<youpassword>"
}

Then you create your interface :

ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev iwm0

Reboot and it must be OK.
Click to expand...

Hello,

I am new on this forum, excuse me if i make mistake.

I configure my new Thinkpad X280 as you describe, but my wlan0 interface is not reboot persistent. I need to replay the ifconfig command each time I reboot.

How can I make it persistent? In /etc/rc.conf file?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Jacques
 
jfoucry said:
I am new on this forum, excuse me if i make mistake.
Click to expand...
Welcome. And don't worry about making mistakes, it's an integral part of learning new things.

I configure my new Thinkpad X280 as you describe, but my wlan0 interface is not reboot persistent. I need to replay the ifconfig command each time I reboot.

How can I make it persistent? In /etc/rc.conf file?
Click to expand...
Correct.

You'll need these:
Code: 
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
Replace the iwm0 with the correct interface for your system. I'm assuming /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf is already set up correctly.
 
SirDice said:
Welcome. And don't worry about making mistakes, it's an integral part of learning new things.


Correct.

You'll need these:
Code: 
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
Replace the iwm0 with the correct interface for your system. I'm assuming /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf is already set up correctly.
Click to expand...

How stupid I am. I forgot the 's' in wlanS_iwm0.
Thanks for pointing me.

Jacques
 
Deckard said:
Guys, I now have Wi-Fi. I just installed it on the 11.2 RELEASE of yesterday, it works perfectly.

Sparrowhawk

you must use kldload to charge the /boot/kernel/if_iwm.ko

here are my configuration files :

/boot/loader.conf
if_iwm_load="YES"
iwm8265fw_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"

/etc/rc.conf
background_dhclient="YES"
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP powersave"

/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
network={
ssid="<yourssid>"
psk="<youpassword>"
}

Then you create your interface :

ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev iwm0

Reboot and it must be OK.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your configs! I have a Xiaomi Notebook Pro also!
I cannot create an interface though! Any ideas?

ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev iwm0
ifconfig: wlandev: bad value
root@ghoul:/usr/home/anarcho #
 
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