FreeBSD: Atheros AR8131 / AR8132 Driver

FreeBSD: Atheros AR8131 / AR8132 Gigabit Fast Ethernet Driver Configuration

by VIVEK GITE on JULY 22, 2010 · 

Ihave installed FreeBSD 8.x on my Laptop with Windows 7 in dual boot mode. But I'm unable to connect to the LAN or Internet using Atheros AR8132 card. How do I configure this card under FreeBSD?

The alc device driver comes with FreeBSD 8.x and above provides support for Atheros AR8131 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controllers and Atheros AR8132 PCI Express Fast Ethernet LAN cards. To configure the card edit /boot/loader.conf, enter:

# vi /boot/loader.conf

Append the following entry to load driver:

if_alc_load="YES"

Save and close the file. You can now reboot the system or type the following command to load it for the current session:

# kldload alc

Run ifconfig to verify that you can see alc0 interface. If not than you need to compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

device miibus
device alc

See how to compile more info.

Network Configuration

Now, you can use your GUI tools or ifconfig command to assign IP address:

# ifconfig
# ifconfig alc0 inet YOUR-IP-HERE netmask YOUR-NETMASK-HERE
# ifconfig alc0 inet 192.168.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.0
# route add default 192.168.1.1
# ifconfig
# ping 192.168.1.1

You need to add config to /etc/rc.conf:

ifconfig_alc0="inet 192.168.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.0"
defaultrouter="192.168.1.1"

Finally, edit /etc/resolv.conf and add your DNS name servers:

# vi /etc/resolv.conf

Edit as follows:

nameserver 192.168.1.1
nameserver 202.54.1.2

Save and close the file. Reboot to make sure that everything is working for you.