ALFA USB WiFi adapter (not working)

[blueAlien]

I purchased a shiny new Pineapple MK4 (v.3.0.0) at DefCon, along with the ALFA USB adapter and the high-gain antenna. I wanted to test this out at the con, but due to the problem I am about to explain (and a strong desire to not use the WiFi at the event) I was unable to get this working.

I think I might have a borked ALFA adapter, but I wanted to confirm that I am not being an idiot. I am Linux savy, but it is not my day-to-day computer. I mainly use a Mac (currently Mavericks). I did get a bad Pineapple Juice which Paul was nice enough to swap on the spot at the convention.

Scenario:

Enable Pineapple to operate independently (w/o a laptop) to deliver selective payloads and pass all other traffic to the Internet. Pineapple uses the antenna it came with, and the ALFA uses the high-gain antenna.

* Potentially use Pineapple Juice, if power requirements line up.

Setup:

1. Connect Pineapple to laptop via POE LAN ethernet & 12v power adapter.
   Note: Base 3.0 firmware. Only change was root password.
2. Login to web interface to verify USB is detected (LED on device is off).

   Attached USB devices:
   Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub 
   Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0cf3:9271 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR9271 802.11n

3. SSH into device.
4. ifconfig to verify wlan1 not listed, but wlan0 is.
5. ifconfig wlan1 up
   Blue light on devices turns on.
   ifconfig verifies wlan1 up.
6. iwlist wlan1 scan
   Blue light on device turns off.

   wlan1     Failed to read scan data : No such device

7. What now? Can't proceed with the other connection commands, because the radio shuts off. (iwconfig, dhclient)

I have previously tried using the network manager and wifi infusions with the same results (turn radio on give blue light, scanning turns off light). I read somewhere that flashing the the firmware might fix the problem, which is what has put me back to the base configuration. Also tried swapping antennas and using no antenna at all... It doesn't work on my Mac either, but that could just be an OS X thing.

I don't know what else to do, because it feels like I am going around in circles chasing this blue light.

Thanks in advanced for the help.

[blueAlien]

As an update, I've gotten the WiFi manager infusion installed again, but the most I can get that to do is make the blue light blink. Everytime I try a DHCP request, it shutdown again... Sometimes wlan1 will stick around, but then other times I will have to unplug the adapter to get it to work again.

Edit #1: There is also a bug in the WiFi manager. When trying to use wlan0 to connect to an AP, the "request dhcp" link does not appear until the second radio has been turned on. I can not get the built-in radio to connect to the AP either, so I am wondering if this infusion just does not work in 3.0.0. Has anyone else had these same problems with the new firmware? I have no comparison to older firmware versions since i just purchased this Pineapple a couple weeks back. Might try downgrading a bit later to test this theory.

Edit #2: Finally got the onboard wifi to associate with the AP, and decided to spool up a Win8 VM to test out the ALFA in a stable and closed environment. After installing the drivers, I checked the Device Manager to discover "The device cannot start (code 10). {Operation Failed} The request operation failed." I am going to assume I just received a bad unit and have e-mailed the HakShop. Guess I just have to wait for the new one to come in the mail...

Edited August 19, 2013 by blueAlien

[Cheeky Monkey]

Hi,

I'm having the exact same problem getting the WIFI Pineapple Mark IV to connect to my home WIFI using wlan1 and the Apha USB WiFi adapter.

Did you resolve this issue or did you have to return the unit because it was faulty ?

Thanks

[Foxtrot]

Can both of you guys paste your Dmesg into the spoiler tags please

Edited August 26, 2013 by Foxtrot

[blueAlien]

Did you resolve this issue or did you have to return the unit because it was faulty?

I e-mailed the HakShop, but have not gotten a response back, but once I tested the device in Windows 7 and saw it wasn't working there I stopped trying to work on it.

Can both of you guys paste your Dmesg into the spoiler tags please

Sure, as I still have it. Here is everything from booup until I plug in the adapter.

[ 0.000000] Linux version 3.3.8 (pineapple@nimbus) (gcc version 4.6.3 20120201 (prerelease) (Linaro GCC 4.6-2012.02) ) #32 Fri Aug 2 02:20:15 BST 2013

[ 0.000000] MyLoader: sysp=20821001, boardp=84f24003, parts=20100a40

[ 0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled

[ 0.000000] CPU revision is: 00019374 (MIPS 24Kc)

[ 0.000000] SoC: Atheros AR9330 rev 1

[ 0.000000] Clocks: CPU:400.000MHz, DDR:400.000MHz, AHB:200.000MHz, Ref:25.000MHz

[ 0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:

[ 0.000000] memory: 02000000 @ 00000000 (usable)

[ 0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd

[ 0.000000] Zone PFN ranges:

[ 0.000000] Normal 0x00000000 -> 0x00002000

[ 0.000000] Movable zone start PFN for each node

[ 0.000000] Early memory PFN ranges

[ 0.000000] 0: 0x00000000 -> 0x00002000

[ 0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 8192

[ 0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat 802d2410, node_mem_map 81000000

[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 64 pages used for memmap

[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 0 pages reserved

[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 8128 pages, LIFO batch:0

[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768

[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0

[ 0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on. Total pages: 8128

[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: board=HORNET-UB console=ttyATH0,115200 mtdparts=spi0.0:256k(u-boot)ro,64k(u-boot-env)ro,6144k(rootfs),1600k(kernel),64k(nvram),64k(art)ro,7744k@0x50000(firmware) rootfstype=squashfs,jffs2 noinitrd

[ 0.000000] PID hash table entries: 128 (order: -3, 512 bytes)

[ 0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)

[ 0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)

[ 0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.

[ 0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes

[ 0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000

[ 0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000

[ 0.000000] Memory: 29132k/32768k available (2102k kernel code, 3636k reserved, 404k data, 208k init, 0k highmem)

[ 0.000000] SLUB: Genslabs=9, HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1

[ 0.000000] NR_IRQS:51

[ 0.000000] Calibrating delay loop... 265.42 BogoMIPS (lpj=1327104)

[ 0.080000] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301

[ 0.080000] Mount-cache hash table entries: 512

[ 0.090000] NET: Registered protocol family 16

[ 0.090000] gpiochip_add: registered GPIOs 0 to 29 on device: ath79

[ 0.100000] MIPS: machine is ALFA NETWORKS Hornet-UB

[ 0.550000] bio: create slab at 0

[ 0.560000] Switching to clocksource MIPS

[ 0.560000] NET: Registered protocol family 2

[ 0.570000] IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)

[ 0.570000] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)

[ 0.570000] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)

[ 0.580000] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)

[ 0.590000] TCP reno registered

[ 0.590000] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)

[ 0.600000] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)

[ 0.600000] NET: Registered protocol family 1

[ 0.610000] PCI: CLS 0 bytes, default 32

[ 0.630000] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher

[ 0.630000] JFFS2 version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) © 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.

[ 0.640000] msgmni has been set to 56

[ 0.640000] io scheduler noop registered

[ 0.650000] io scheduler deadline registered (default)

[ 0.650000] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 1 ports, IRQ sharing disabled

[ 0.660000] ar933x-uart: ttyATH0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 11) is a AR933X UART

[ 0.660000] console [ttyATH0] enabled, bootconsole disabled

[ 0.680000] m25p80 spi0.0: found mx25l6405d, expected m25p80

[ 0.680000] m25p80 spi0.0: mx25l6405d (8192 Kbytes)

[ 0.690000] 7 cmdlinepart partitions found on MTD device spi0.0

[ 0.690000] Creating 7 MTD partitions on "spi0.0":

[ 0.700000] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"

[ 0.710000] 0x000000040000-0x000000050000 : "u-boot-env"

[ 0.710000] 0x000000050000-0x000000650000 : "rootfs"

[ 0.720000] mtd: partition "rootfs" set to be root filesystem

[ 0.720000] mtd: partition "rootfs_data" created automatically, ofs=590000, len=C0000

[ 0.730000] 0x000000590000-0x000000650000 : "rootfs_data"

[ 0.740000] 0x000000650000-0x0000007e0000 : "kernel"

[ 0.740000] 0x0000007e0000-0x0000007f0000 : "nvram"

[ 0.750000] 0x0000007f0000-0x000000800000 : "art"

[ 0.750000] 0x000000050000-0x0000007e0000 : "firmware"

[ 0.780000] ag71xx_mdio: probed

[ 0.780000] eth0: Atheros AG71xx at 0xba000000, irq 5

[ 1.330000] eth0: Found an AR7240/AR9330 built-in switch

[ 2.370000] eth1: Atheros AG71xx at 0xb9000000, irq 4

[ 2.920000] ag71xx ag71xx.0: eth1: connected to PHY at ag71xx-mdio.1:04 [uid=004dd041, driver=Generic PHY]

[ 2.930000] TCP cubic registered

[ 2.930000] NET: Registered protocol family 17

[ 2.940000] Bridge firewalling registered

[ 2.940000] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8

[ 2.950000] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 31:2.

[ 2.960000] Freeing unused kernel memory: 208k freed

[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:lan

[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:usb

[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:wan

[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:wlan

[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:wps

[ 7.090000] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)

[ 9.850000] JFFS2 notice: (452) jffs2_build_xattr_subsystem: complete building xattr subsystem, 7 of xdatum (2 unchecked, 5 orphan) and 47 of xref (0 dead, 32 orphan) found.

[ 10.890000] SCSI subsystem initialized

[ 11.200000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs

[ 11.200000] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub

[ 11.210000] usbcore: registered new device driver usb

[ 11.810000] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver

[ 11.810000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: Generic Platform EHCI Controller

[ 11.820000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1

[ 11.860000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: irq 3, io mem 0x1b000000

[ 11.880000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00

[ 11.880000] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found

[ 11.880000] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected

[ 12.010000] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver

[ 12.130000] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver

[ 12.250000] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...

[ 12.250000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage

[ 12.260000] USB Mass Storage support registered.

[ 32.660000] eth0: link down

[ 33.610000] Compat-drivers backport release: compat-drivers-2013-01-21-1

[ 33.620000] Backport based on wireless-testing.git master-2013-02-22

[ 33.620000] compat.git: wireless-testing.git

[ 33.740000] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain

[ 33.740000] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:

[ 33.750000] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)

[ 33.750000] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

[ 33.760000] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

[ 33.770000] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

[ 33.780000] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

[ 33.780000] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

[ 35.250000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt73usb

[ 35.390000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8187

[ 35.430000] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a

[ 35.430000] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code

[ 35.430000] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search

[ 35.430000] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37

[ 35.430000] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB

[ 35.430000] ath: Regpair used: 0x37

[ 35.430000] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'

[ 35.440000] Registered led device: ath9k-phy0

[ 35.440000] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9330 Rev:1 mem=0xb8100000, irq=2

[ 35.460000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2800usb

[ 35.520000] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: GB

[ 35.520000] cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: GB

[ 35.530000] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)

[ 35.540000] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)

[ 35.540000] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)

[ 35.550000] cfg80211: (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)

[ 35.560000] cfg80211: (5490000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2700 mBm)

[ 35.590000] Button Hotplug driver version 0.4.1

[ 35.850000] RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.

[ 35.860000] RPC: Registered udp transport module.

[ 35.860000] RPC: Registered tcp transport module.

[ 35.860000] RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.

[ 36.220000] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2

[ 36.360000] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6

[ 36.370000] tun: © 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky

[ 36.620000] ip_tables: © 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team

[ 36.850000] NET: Registered protocol family 24

[ 36.990000] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (458 buckets, 1832 max)

[ 37.690000] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000

[ 38.180000] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc

[ 38.410000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial

[ 38.410000] USB Serial support registered for generic

[ 38.420000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic

[ 38.420000] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core

[ 38.470000] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether

[ 38.590000] Error: Driver 'gpio-keys-polled' is already registered, aborting...

[ 38.700000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_host

[ 43.140000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial_generic

[ 43.140000] USB Serial deregistering driver generic

[ 43.150000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial

[ 43.190000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial

[ 43.190000] USB Serial support registered for generic

[ 43.200000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic

[ 43.200000] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core

[ 45.010000] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)

[ 45.110000] eth0: link down

[ 46.150000] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode

[ 46.760000] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)

[ 46.760000] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state

[ 46.770000] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state

[ 48.770000] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state

[ 52.630000] device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode

[ 52.680000] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state

[ 52.690000] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state

[ 54.690000] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state

[ 523.280000] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-platform

[ 523.450000] usb 1-1: ath9k_htc: Firmware htc_9271.fw requested

[ 523.870000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial_generic

[ 523.870000] USB Serial deregistering driver generic

[ 523.880000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial

[ 523.910000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial

[ 523.920000] USB Serial support registered for generic

[ 523.920000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic

[ 523.930000] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core

[ 523.990000] usb 1-1: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51272

[ 524.230000] ath9k_htc 1-1:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits

[ 524.430000] ath9k_htc 1-1:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.3

[ 524.440000] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a

[ 524.440000] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code

[ 524.440000] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search

[ 524.440000] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37

[ 524.440000] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB

[ 524.440000] ath: Regpair used: 0x37

[ 524.440000] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9271 Rev:1

[ 524.450000] Registered led device: ath9k_htc-phy1@qualcomm.com>

@qualcomm.com>

[Cheeky Monkey]

Thanks a lot for helping me out with this.

My Dmesg log is as follows :-

[ 0.000000] Linux version 3.3.8 (pineapple@nimbus) (gcc version 4.6.3 20120201 (prerelease) (Linaro GCC 4.6-2012.02) ) #31 Tue Jul 30 04:26:43 BST 2013
[ 0.000000] MyLoader: sysp=00000010, boardp=20230541, parts=0018410d
[ 0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[ 0.000000] CPU revision is: 00019374 (MIPS 24Kc)
[ 0.000000] SoC: Atheros AR9330 rev 1
[ 0.000000] Clocks: CPU:400.000MHz, DDR:400.000MHz, AHB:200.000MHz, Ref:25.000MHz
[ 0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[ 0.000000] memory: 02000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[ 0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[ 0.000000] Zone PFN ranges:
[ 0.000000] Normal 0x00000000 -> 0x00002000
[ 0.000000] Movable zone start PFN for each node
[ 0.000000] Early memory PFN ranges
[ 0.000000] 0: 0x00000000 -> 0x00002000
[ 0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 8192
[ 0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat 802d2410, node_mem_map 81000000
[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 64 pages used for memmap
[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 0 pages reserved
[ 0.000000] Normal zone: 8128 pages, LIFO batch:0
[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768
[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0
[ 0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on. Total pages: 8128
[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: board=HORNET-UB console=ttyATH0,115200 mtdparts=spi0.0:256k(u-boot)ro,64k(u-boot-env)ro,6144k(rootfs),1600k(kernel),64k(nvram),64k(art)ro,7744k@0x50000(firmware) rootfstype=squashfs,jffs2 noinitrd
[ 0.000000] PID hash table entries: 128 (order: -3, 512 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[ 0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[ 0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[ 0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000
[ 0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000
[ 0.000000] Memory: 29132k/32768k available (2102k kernel code, 3636k reserved, 404k data, 208k init, 0k highmem)
[ 0.000000] SLUB: Genslabs=9, HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[ 0.000000] NR_IRQS:51
[ 0.000000] Calibrating delay loop... 265.42 BogoMIPS (lpj=1327104)
[ 0.080000] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[ 0.080000] Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
[ 0.090000] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[ 0.090000] gpiochip_add: registered GPIOs 0 to 29 on device: ath79
[ 0.100000] MIPS: machine is ALFA NETWORKS Hornet-UB
[ 0.550000] bio: create slab at 0
[ 0.560000] Switching to clocksource MIPS
[ 0.560000] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[ 0.570000] IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.570000] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[ 0.570000] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.580000] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[ 0.590000] TCP reno registered
[ 0.590000] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.600000] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.600000] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[ 0.610000] PCI: CLS 0 bytes, default 32
[ 0.630000] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[ 0.630000] JFFS2 version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) © 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[ 0.640000] msgmni has been set to 56
[ 0.640000] io scheduler noop registered
[ 0.650000] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[ 0.650000] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 1 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
[ 0.660000] ar933x-uart: ttyATH0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 11) is a AR933X UART
[ 0.660000] console [ttyATH0] enabled, bootconsole disabled
[ 0.680000] m25p80 spi0.0: found mx25l6405d, expected m25p80
[ 0.680000] m25p80 spi0.0: mx25l6405d (8192 Kbytes)
[ 0.690000] 7 cmdlinepart partitions found on MTD device spi0.0
[ 0.690000] Creating 7 MTD partitions on "spi0.0":
[ 0.700000] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"
[ 0.710000] 0x000000040000-0x000000050000 : "u-boot-env"
[ 0.710000] 0x000000050000-0x000000650000 : "rootfs"
[ 0.720000] mtd: partition "rootfs" set to be root filesystem
[ 0.720000] mtd: partition "rootfs_data" created automatically, ofs=590000, len=C0000
[ 0.730000] 0x000000590000-0x000000650000 : "rootfs_data"
[ 0.740000] 0x000000650000-0x0000007e0000 : "kernel"
[ 0.740000] 0x0000007e0000-0x0000007f0000 : "nvram"
[ 0.750000] 0x0000007f0000-0x000000800000 : "art"
[ 0.750000] 0x000000050000-0x0000007e0000 : "firmware"
[ 0.780000] ag71xx_mdio: probed
[ 0.780000] eth0: Atheros AG71xx at 0xba000000, irq 5
[ 1.330000] eth0: Found an AR7240/AR9330 built-in switch
[ 2.370000] eth1: Atheros AG71xx at 0xb9000000, irq 4
[ 2.920000] ag71xx ag71xx.0: eth1: connected to PHY at ag71xx-mdio.1:04 [uid=004dd041, driver=Generic PHY]
[ 2.930000] TCP cubic registered
[ 2.930000] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[ 2.940000] Bridge firewalling registered
[ 2.940000] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[ 2.950000] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 31:2.
[ 2.960000] Freeing unused kernel memory: 208k freed
[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:lan
[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:usb
[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:wan
[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:wlan
[ 6.520000] Registered led device: alfa:blue:wps
[ 9.840000] JFFS2 notice: (451) jffs2_build_xattr_subsystem: complete building xattr subsystem, 7 of xdatum (2 unchecked, 5 orphan) and 49 of xref (0 dead, 34 orphan) found.
[ 10.880000] SCSI subsystem initialized
[ 11.190000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 11.190000] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 11.200000] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 11.790000] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[ 11.800000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: Generic Platform EHCI Controller
[ 11.800000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[ 11.840000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: irq 3, io mem 0x1b000000
[ 11.860000] ehci-platform ehci-platform: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[ 11.860000] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 11.860000] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[ 11.990000] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
[ 12.110000] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
[ 12.230000] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[ 12.230000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[ 12.240000] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[ 33.600000] Compat-drivers backport release: compat-drivers-2013-01-21-1
[ 33.610000] Backport based on wireless-testing.git master-2013-02-22
[ 33.610000] compat.git: wireless-testing.git
[ 33.730000] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 33.730000] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[ 33.740000] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[ 33.740000] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 33.750000] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 33.760000] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 33.770000] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 33.770000] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 35.240000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt73usb
[ 35.390000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8187
[ 35.420000] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a
[ 35.420000] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[ 35.420000] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[ 35.420000] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37
[ 35.420000] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB
[ 35.420000] ath: Regpair used: 0x37
[ 35.430000] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[ 35.440000] Registered led device: ath9k-phy0
[ 35.440000] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9330 Rev:1 mem=0xb8100000, irq=2
[ 35.460000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2800usb
[ 35.530000] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: GB
[ 35.540000] cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: GB
[ 35.540000] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[ 35.550000] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
[ 35.560000] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
[ 35.560000] cfg80211: (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
[ 35.570000] cfg80211: (5490000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2700 mBm)
[ 35.590000] Button Hotplug driver version 0.4.1
[ 35.850000] RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.
[ 35.850000] RPC: Registered udp transport module.
[ 35.860000] RPC: Registered tcp transport module.
[ 35.860000] RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.
[ 36.220000] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[ 36.360000] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6
[ 36.360000] tun: © 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky
[ 36.620000] ip_tables: © 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[ 36.850000] NET: Registered protocol family 24
[ 36.990000] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (458 buckets, 1832 max)
[ 37.680000] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000
[ 38.180000] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc
[ 38.410000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 38.410000] USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 38.420000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 38.420000] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[ 38.470000] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 38.580000] Error: Driver 'gpio-keys-polled' is already registered, aborting...
[ 38.700000] usbcore: registered new interface driver rndis_host
[ 43.250000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 43.260000] USB Serial deregistering driver generic
[ 43.260000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial
[ 43.310000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 43.310000] USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 43.320000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 43.330000] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[ 46.050000] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[ 52.630000] device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
[ 52.680000] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state
[ 52.690000] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state
[ 54.690000] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state
[ 156.170000] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
[ 156.170000] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
[ 156.170000] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
[ 158.170000] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
[ 205.180000] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-platform
[ 205.350000] usb 1-1: ath9k_htc: Firmware htc_9271.fw requested
[ 205.810000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 205.810000] USB Serial deregistering driver generic
[ 205.820000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver usbserial
[ 205.850000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 205.860000] USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 205.860000] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 205.870000] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[ 205.930000] usb 1-1: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51272
[ 206.170000] ath9k_htc 1-1:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[ 206.370000] ath9k_htc 1-1:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.3
[ 206.370000] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x833a
[ 206.370000] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a country code
[ 206.370000] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[ 206.370000] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x37
[ 206.370000] ath: Country alpha2 being used: GB
[ 206.370000] ath: Regpair used: 0x37
[ 206.370000] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9271 Rev:1
[ 206.380000] Registered led device: ath9k_htc-phy1

Jump to top
AutoSSH
AutoSSH: Disconnected. | Connect
Pineapple Bar
This will show infusions waiting to be updated.
Configuration
DNSSpoof Disabled. | Start
Cron Enabled. | Disable
Info

Firmware Version: 3.0.0

Pine Number: 5394-6723-83fd-a401-950e-a47d-ff92-75a7
Karma
MK4 Karma Disabled. | Start
Autostart Disabled. | Enable
Logs
To follow a custom log, open the large tile.
Network
Refresh
Wifi Enabled. | Disable

Internet IP: asdError Connecting
POE / LAN: 172.16.42.1
WAN / LAN: N/A
WAN / Mobile: N/A
Resources
Refresh

total used free shared buffers
Mem: 29340 28368 972 0 3480
-/+ buffers: 24888 4452
Swap: 0 0 0

tcpdump
tcpdump not installed

WiFi Manager
[Refresh]

Physical Interfaces
radio0 wlan0 enabled [00:c0:ca:67:e7:a2] [Random Mac]
radio1 wlan1 enabled [00:c0:ca:72:6b:af] [Random Mac]

Logical Interfaces
wlan0 enabled [Disable] [start Monitor]
wlan1 enabled [Disable] [start Monitor]

Monitor Interfaces

Interfaces IP
wlan0 enabled
wlan1 enabled [DHCP Request]
sslstrip
[Refresh]

sslstrip not installed

Status
[Refresh]

CPU
Load Average
32%
0.57, 0.38, 0.16

Memory
Total Available
28.65 MB
Free
8%
2.28 MB
Used
92%
26.77 MB

Swap
Total Available
No Swap

Storage
[/]
51%
392.00 KB/768.00 KB
[/rom]
100%
5.25 MB/5.25 MB
[/tmp]
1%
100.00 KB/14.33 MB
[/dev]
0%
0.00 KB/512.00 KB
[/overlay]
51%
392.00 KB/768.00 KB
[/]
51%
392.00 KB/768.00 KB
urlsnarf
[Refresh]

urlsnarf disabled | Start

Edited August 27, 2013 by Cheeky Monkey

[Foxtrot]

Hmmm, I can't spot anything wrong... try a reflash.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Thanks Foxtrot.

Did you mean factory reset by holding the reset button on boot etc or did you mean all the fun and games opening the device and using some kind of electronics board to do a reflash ? Do you have a link to the instructions please ?

Thanks a lot.

[Foxtrot]

Firstly, try SSH in to the pineapple and do a sysupgrade to a firmware, for example at the end of the first post here, if that doesn't work, I myself would try a clean flash over serial, but thats because I have the equipment. You can find the cleanflashoverserial guide in the wiki, in my signature.

[Cheeky Monkey]

I'll try that.

Thanks a lot Foxtrot.

[koevet]

Hello,

I stumbled on this thread as I was having exactly the same issue with the Pineapple MK4 and the ALFA USB Adapter.

I have fixed the problem by using a different USB cables. The one that comes with the adapter is somehow broken. I used some random USB cable I had lying around in my house, no idea why this particular one made the trick.

Cheers

Luciano

[blueAlien]

Here is an update to my situation. For some reason, it just started working (although it won't keep a DHCP lease for more than about 15 minutes). Maybe I am doing something different than before, although I highly doubt it. I am using the same USB cable, and I have not re-flashed since I first posted to this thread (but I did re-flash after it initially did not work at DefCon). I still think something is wrong with my ALFA, due to short connection periods and not always getting a connection to a stable AP, so I am going to keeping working on mine.

Here are the steps I have taken to get an active wifi connection that can ping a web server.

Note: you must have the wifimanager infusion installed for this to work, unless you want to do everything on the command line in ssh.

Setup

• Plug in ALFA to Pineapple via USB
• Plug in Pineapple to laptop [Apple Mac] via POE/Ethernet (with IP correctly configured)
• Plug in 12v wall power adapter (not on battery, or USB)

EDIT: This is a picture of my setup...

Process

1. Connect to Pineapple via web console.
2. Verify adapter has been seen by looking at the USB Info under Resources
3. Open the WiFi Manager infusion (full page, not mini-panel).
4. Enable wlan1 if it is disabled, then click 'Available AP' under the wlan1 interface.
5. Change the interface to wlan1 and click the refresh link.
   Note: the pop-up screen may require you to scroll to the top of the page, depending on the screen resolution.
6. Select the SSID you want to connect to and take note of the channel associated to it.
7. Verify these the rest of the settings under wlan1 look like this:
   Network: WLAN
   Mode: Client
   SSIS: should match what you just clicked on
   Channel: should be what you just noted
   Broadcast SSID: disabled
   Security Mode: disabled (unless connecting to a secure AP, although I have not tested that yet)
8. Scroll to top and click the 'save' link, then wait for 'Loading...' to change to 'saved'.
9. Click the 'commit' link that is next to the save link, and wait for the 'Loading...' to finish again.
   Note: I have noticed that this will not always finish, but you can confirm in ssh console with "iwconfig wlan1" to see if your AP has associated.
10. Once the commit is complete, you should see a 'DHCP Request' link next to the wlan1 interface. Click it.
    If you successfully get assigned an IP, it will replace the 'DHCP Request' link.
11. Lastly, make sure to save the correct settings under the ICS tab:
    Enable at boot: checked
    Share Internet from: wlan1
    to: br-lan

You can test to make sure you have an external connection by going back to the main page and clicking the 'show' link next to the Internet IP under the Network panel. You can also use the ping feature of the Network Tools infusion, or ping from an ssh console.

Edited September 4, 2013 by blueAlien

[commdogg]

Hello guys,

I seem to have gotten my AWUS036NHA card working properly with the pineapple. Please validate this if you can.

I was having the same symptoms as blueAlien. The Alfa card would power on and the pineapple would see it in Wifi Manager, but anytime I attempted to change a config setting or associate it to an AP it would frag.

Eventually I grabbed a cheapo Belkin powered USB hub I had laying around and placed it inline between the Alfa card and the USB port for the pineapple. The card seems to work fine as long as the power draw for the card comes off the hub. One of the USB to power plugs in the dinky little apater kit that came with the pineapple (i think included to charge the pineapple battery) actually fit the power plug for the hub and it powers fine off one of the other USB ports on my laptop. The battery for the pineapple actually works on the hub too, but I only have one of them.

Maybe the solution here would be to include a powered hub with a battery to power the card as well.

It seems to hang on to its DHCP lease fine.

I was also able to authenticate to my WPA2 PSK AP with the card powering off the hub.

The only issue I'm having now is when I SSH in and change the MAC for the alfa card, if I start it back up in wifi manager it reverts back to its real hardware ID. So right now I'd be unable to deploy it against any AP's doing MAC filtering.

Anyone know a way around this?

[blueAlien]

I was actually playing around with this earlier today, and got everything working 100%!

The solution:

*** Downgrade to firmware 2.8.1 ***

This allowed me to establish a connection to the AP without a problem AND keep the DHCP lease for as long as I was testing. I was even able to capture several series of packets (although my tcpdump fu is not very strong yet). I was able to accomplish this using uci on the command line and separately with the wireless manager infusion.

I was having the same symptoms as blueAlien. The Alfa card would power on and the pineapple would see it in Wifi Manager, but anytime I attempted to change a config setting or associate it to an AP it would frag.

Eventually I grabbed a cheapo Belkin powered USB hub I had laying around and placed it inline between the Alfa card and the USB port for the pineapple. The card seems to work fine as long as the power draw for the card comes off the hub. One of the USB to power plugs in the dinky little apater kit that came with the pineapple (i think included to charge the pineapple battery) actually fit the power plug for the hub and it powers fine off one of the other USB ports on my laptop. The battery for the pineapple actually works on the hub too, but I only have one of them.

@commdogg - I was not having any power issues as I was always using the 12v power brick that plugs into a 110w outlet. The usb-to-barrel adapter does not supply enough power to also power something off the Pineapple's usb port (something that has been discussed in other parts of the forum). It could potentially be possible, but I have never had any luck getting enough power off my MacBook. The battery pack that comes with the Pineapple definitely does not supply enough power for this to work. This is why your powered hub makes it work, because it is able to supply a full 12v to the ALFA.

@Everyone - It is my strong opinion that there are some serious bugs related to the ALFA surrounding the 3.0 firmware. If you are planning on using your Pineapple for production, use a stable firmware build (2.8.1). You should only be using the 3.0 firmware if you want to develop infusions for that specific firmware

[blueAlien]

Also, thanks for everyone's help in getting this sorted out. I hope my answer helps someone else...

[commdogg]

Cool,

I'm going to reflash it anyway so I'll try out the 2.8.1 firmware. I tried installing another infusion and it kept erroring and freezing.

[commdogg]

I'm still having the original issue with 2.8.1 firmware. The "fix" still seems to put that powered hub in the way. Since enabled on boot has been checked the card wakes up if the pineapple is reset, the light blinks blinks, then dies. If booted with the hub providing power it wakes up and associates. I don't see any difference with wall power or USB power as far as the pineapple is concerned. The card dorked regardless of the power source.

[blueAlien]

I'm still having the original issue with 2.8.1 firmware. The "fix" still seems to put that powered hub in the way. Since enabled on boot has been checked the card wakes up if the pineapple is reset, the light blinks blinks, then dies. If booted with the hub providing power it wakes up and associates. I don't see any difference with wall power or USB power as far as the pineapple is concerned. The card dorked regardless of the power source.

Have you tried a different USB cable? I've seen where people simply switched the USB cable and fixed this issue. Also, it would be smart to continue testing with only the wall adapter just for consistency. One last thing to keep in mind is that the card will shutdown if you enter in the wrong settings for the access point. I can post some command line stuff if you would like to test the actual association of the AP.

[commdogg]

The USB cable is fine. I have actually had the card for a few months and it works fine directly into my laptop. As far as troubleshooting, I think perhaps playing with different power configurations is pertinent because, I have gotten the card and pineapple to play nice and the ONLY difference between the card not working and the card working I have seen is where the card pulls its power draw. The powered hub got it up and running on different firmware versions, and also with different power sources for the pineapple, be it wall, battery, or USB.

No matter what firmware/power config I put the pineapple in, if the power draw for the card comes off of it, the card fails.

I even dropped the TXPower down incrementally, and no change.

Maybe I have a slightly different board or chipset in mine.

[blueAlien]

You might be correct to assume that this could be a power issue, but if you're not getting the enough power from the wall socket, then the battery pack that comes with the Pineapple definitely will not supply enough. Some laptops (depending on model) also may be able to supply enough, but you would probably need to have the laptop plugged in to the wall as well...

TXPower is not going to affect how much the card will pull from the USB connection. Regardless of how much you are transmitting, the card should always pull a steady 12v.

When did you get your Pineapple and ALFA? I think the pineapples would only have different chipsets between marks (i.e. Mark 3 vs Mark 4).
Have you tried using the command line to connect to an access point? It could be easier to debug that way, since you have a little more control.
Have you tried a reboot of the Pineapple between committing settings and trying to connect? I have found this often fixes the problem between settings changes.

Command line

Note: assumes ALFA card is wlan1, if different change wifi-iface[#] and radio# to the correct number.

Also, this is for an open network only. I can supply the commands for encrypted, but would need to know which encryption (WEP, WPA, etc.)

More info here: http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/uci/wireless

uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].ssid="SSID_TO_CONNECT" # change this to the SSID you are connecting to, in quotes.

uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].mode="sta" # client mode

uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].network="lan"

uci set wireless.@wifi-iface[1].hidden=1

uci set wireless.radio1.channel=SSID_CHANNEL # change this to the channel broadcating, not in quotes.

uci set wireless.radio1.disabled=0

uci commit wireless

wifi

iwconfig wlan1 # check to see if the card associated with the AP, if it did not something is wrong...

udhcpc -u wlan1 # get a DHCP address from the router.

ping -c4 google.com # make sure one last time...

Edited September 15, 2013 by blueAlien

[Gitshell]

I was having the exact same issue where it seemed power was flakey over USB. I tried all solutions listed in this thread and found that a USB hub turned out to be my only solution. Any USB hub should do and it does not need an external power source. Hope this saves someone a day of research