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debian + ndiswrapper = hair loss!

I used the netinst ISO to install Debian Sarge/Testing (2.4 kernel) onto my Dell D600 Latitude laptop, which has an Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG. I need to get wireless working so I opted for ndiswrapper instead of ipw2200 because I've been told the Linux drivers are still in beta and have minimal functionality (whatever that means). Anyway, though I've been using Debian for a while, I've never built my own kernel before, and I may be doing something wrong (this is what I've picked up from Googling/IRC):

Code:

# add the ndiswrapper repository

echo 'deb ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net ./' >> sources.list

apt-get update



# get some important stuff first

apt-get install build-essentials bin86 kernel-package module-init-tools libncurses-dev debhelper



# this is for its config file

apt-get install kernel-image-2.6.7-1-686



apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.8 ndiswrapper-source



cd /usr/src

tar xjf kernel*bz2

tar xzf ndis*gz



# get a normal config

cd kernel-source-2.6.8

cp -a /boot/config*2.6.8* .config



# <no idea what i'm doing>

make oldconfig

make-kpkg kernel_image modules_image

cd ..

mv /lib/modules/2.6.8 /lib/modules/2.6.8.old

# </no idea what i'm doing>



dpkg -i kernel-image*deb

# now i see a vmlinuz-2.6.8... in my /boot and I can select it from GRUB



# now for ndiswrapper

cd modules

dpkg -i ndis*deb

The last command is where I get stuck. It says I need a dependency called ndiswrapper-utils-0.10-1:

Code:

Selecting previously deselected package ndiswrapper-modules.

(Reading database ... 18724 files and directories currently installed.)

Unpacking ndiswrapper-modules (from ndiswrapper-modules_0.10-1-2.6.8_i386.deb) ...

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ndiswrapper-modules:

 ndiswrapper-modules depends on ndiswrapper-utils-0.10-1; however:

  Package ndiswrapper-utils-0.10-1 is not installed.

dpkg: error processing ndiswrapper-modules (--install):

 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured

Errors were encountered while processing:

 ndiswrapper-modules

I couldn't find any ndiswrapper-utils packages in apt-cache. Now, surely I'm not the first person who has tried to use Debian + ndiswrapper on a laptop. But I don't find anything when I Google for 'ndiswrapper-modules depends on ndiswrapper-utils-0.10-1'. Other query attempts return unrelated info.

Furthermore, if I try to boot into my new 2.6.8 kernel, I get a kernel panic (starting with 'VFS:') about being unable to mount the root file system. I don't know if this is related at all.

Please help, don't force me down the Windows path! Thanks!

Nooo! dont go the win path. I found getting certain devices to work (especially wireless cards for desktops) to be a huge pain. Ndiswrapper is a pain, best bet is to try to find an compliant device or recompile the kern.

I have just about given up on that front, actually. I'm now trying to do it using the tgz files straight from ndiswrapper.sf.net, and I ran make and make install. That has only opened up more questions:

How do I get the INF file from the setup.exe on the cards list? Or do I just feed ndiswrapper the whole .exe? I extracted as much as I could from the .exe but I found no .inf file in there, only a .msi file, and I don't know how to extract that. I also tried giving ndiswrapper the .exe. I highly doubt that worked. ndiswrapper doesn't complain about bad INF files (I gave it some garbage), and ndiswrapper -l says "hardware NOT present".

By the way, I am also trying ipw2200.sf.net drivers. Anything to get wireless going!!

I have downloaded the ipw2200 drivers and firmware and followed the instructions in INSTALL (all I did was install wireless-tools, make, make install, and copied the firmware files into the hotplug directory). Now when I type 'iwconfig' I can see various details for eth1, and I can also choose a WLAN using iwlist.

Now I just be able to use eth1 somehow. I tried "ifup eth1" but that just gave me "Ignoring unknown interface eth1=eth1". Do I need to change something in /etc/network/interfaces? I'm not sure how, I couldn't find anything on this.

But I was also able to see eth1 show up in ifconfig once (reporting the correct mac address)...I have no idea what I did, and I didn't realize its significance until now, since I've never been able to get it back.

Can anybody help? Thanks!

PS: Someone pointed out to me that the kernel panic is caused by a missing initrd, which was the case (I had to recompile the kernel with 'make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image').

The IPW2200 drivers seem to be working with random success now, after adding 'iface eth1 inet dhcp' to /etc/network/interfaces. However, there are lots of problems, so I'm probably doing somethin wrong. (I know that the IPW2200 drivers are labeled as 'beta' but the devs claim that the basic functionality should work.)

The first time I tried, I was able to get online (I used 'iwlist eth1 scan' to find all the WLANs and 'iwconfig eth1 essid MyWLAN key MyKey' to connect to it and 'ifup eth1' to bring up eth1), but I was put on a different subnet than my LAN (192.168.1.* instead of 192.168.2.*....this doesn't happen in Windows).

The second time, I ran the exact same commands but it didn't work. I checked 'iwconfig' which reported stuff like 'Access Point: 00:00:00...'

The third time, I ran 'iwconfig eth0' but that failed miserably. I got about two screenfuls of error messages:

Code:

$ iwconfig eth1 essid MyWLAN key MyKey

ipw2200: Start IPW Error Log Dump:

ipw2200: ERROR_SYSASSERT 55944422 0x0001c0e8  0x0000be3c  0x000002f4  0x00fd0a54  0x0000038b

ipw2200: ERROR_DMA_STATUS 55944426 0x000...

ipw2200: ERROR_DMA_STATUS 55944430 0x000...

...

(snip)

...

ipw2200: Fatal error

ipw2200: Start IPW Error Log Dump:

...

(snip)

...

ipw2200: failed to send ASSOCIATE command

eth1: Setting MAC to 00:0e:...

ipw2200: Calibration

Does anybody have the slightest idea what's going on? I'm so close! Yet so far....