Hi,
I have an old Gateway 5300 laptop 750 Mhz. Pentium III with 256 Mb RAM and decided to install OpenSuse 10.2 (uname -a reads 'Linux linux-36li 2.6.18.8-0.9-default #1 SMP Sun Feb 10 22:48:05 UTC 2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux').

The problem I'm having is that I can't get my NetGear WN511T wireless card to work. I've downloaded and installed 'ndiswrapper 1.48-6.1 i586' from the OpenSuse page and the newest Windows XP drivers from the NetGear site.

I used 'ndiswrapper -i' with no errors
.
I run 'ndiswrapper -l' and it shows:
netmw14x : driver installed
device (11AB:2A02) present.

I run 'ndiswrapper -m' and it loads in the mod list ('lsmod').

But when I run 'modprobe ndiswrapper' my system freezes. Only a hard reset will get it running again.

I have noticed that when I run 'lsmod' again, 'ndiswrapper' doesn't show up in the list. I'm a newbie by the way. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Perhaps this will help. Before you try to modprobe ndiswrapper, do
lsmod | grep "netmw"

with no spaces inside the quotes. this will give you the name of the
kernel module that the kernel is currently using to run your network card.

when you get the module name, type

modprobe -r (driver/kernel module name)

and then

modprobe ndiswrapper

this ought to help, bc I think that ndiswrapper doesn't like the other driver module being loaded. Please let me know how that goes!

When I type (lsmod | grep "netmw"), I get nothing.

Now let me back up. Sorry about not posting well. I was sure that ndiswrapper was loaded in the 'lsmod' list but I can't seem to find it now.

Typing 'ndiswrapper -m' gives the line:
'module configuration already contains alias directive'

Typing 'modprobe ndiswrapper' with the network card in, freezes the system. But if the card is out, it loads fine and then shows in the 'lsmod' list. If I plug in the card with the module loaded, it immediately freezes the system as well.

One other thing I'll post.
Typing 'ndiswrapper -v' gives this:

utils version: '1.9', utils version needed by module: '1.9'
module details:
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.18.8-0.9-default/weak-updates/ndiswrapper.ko
version: 1.48
vermagic: 2.6.18.2-34-default SMP mod_unload 586 REGPARM gcc-4.1

Well this is quite strange. Do you know what chipset the card is based on? I think it's an atheros deal but I'm not sure. It seems to me like there is a conflict between two drivers, namely ndiswrapper and whatever else is trying to run the card. You did try to get the card to work with native linux drivers first before you began ndiswrapper installation right? If not then maybe you should try keeping ndiswrapper off of the compy before you use your card.

Another thing, have you tried one of the newer (or older) versions of ndiswrapper?

When I run NetworkManager, the only card that comes up is the wired Intel card. I tried to add the wireless card manually but it didn't seem to work for me. That was when I started looking at ndiswrapper.

The Netgear WN511T card that I have has a Marvell chipset. 11ab:2a02. As I mentioned, I downloaded the latest drivers from the Netgear site.

I first tried the ndiswrapper that came with Suse 10.2 (Version 1.25****). That didn't work so I downloaded the latest version that was on the Suse update pages. (Version 1.48****) I guess I could download the latest from the ndiswrapper wiki page. But I would hardly think it would help.

Is there anyway to figure out if I have two different devices trying to access the card? I know that I have only one driver installed in ndiswrapper.

From what I understand, Marvell doesn't allow Linux drivers for their chipsets yet.

Any other clue as to why 'modprobe ndiswrapper' would lock up my system? I've basically followed intructions that I've found on various different sites as to how to set up ndiswrapper. But nobody else seems to have this problem.

Still hoping!

Here's the latest that I've been able to do (sorry for the long post):

I unistalled my driver in ndiswrapper:

linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -l
netmw14x : driver installed
device (11AB:2A02) present
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -r netmw14x
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -l
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -m
module configuration already contains alias directive

I checked the module list and ndiswrapper isn't running on a fresh boot:

linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # lsmod
Module Size Used by
xt_pkttype 6016 3
ipt_LOG 10624 8
xt_limit 6912 8
af_packet 29320 0
snd_pcm_oss 53376 0
snd_mixer_oss 21248 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq 60272 0
snd_seq_device 12812 1 snd_seq
button 10896 0
battery 14468 0
ac 9476 0
ip6t_REJECT 9344 3
xt_tcpudp 7296 3
ipt_REJECT 9472 3
xt_state 6272 12
iptable_mangle 7040 0
iptable_nat 11524 0
ip_nat 21804 1 iptable_nat
iptable_filter 7168 1
ip6table_mangle 6528 0
ip_conntrack 52960 3 xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_nat
nfnetlink 11032 2 ip_nat,ip_conntrack
ip_tables 17604 3 iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter
ip6table_filter 7040 1
ip6_tables 18756 2 ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter
x_tables 18180 10 xt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,ip6t_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables,ip6_tabl es
ipv6 264480 15 ip6t_REJECT
apparmor 55828 0
aamatch_pcre 18304 1 apparmor
loop 20488 0
dm_mod 60184 0
pcmcia 40892 0
firmware_class 14080 1 pcmcia
ide_cd 42272 0
cdrom 38432 1 ide_cd
e100 39688 0
mii 9600 1 e100
uhci_hcd 26892 0
usbcore 128004 2 uhci_hcd
snd_maestro3 29828 1
snd_ac97_codec 95648 1 snd_maestro3
snd_ac97_bus 6400 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 86916 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_maestro3,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 27908 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
yenta_socket 30348 3
snd 61188 10 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_maestro3,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
rsrc_nonstatic 17024 1 yenta_socket
shpchp 40224 0
soundcore 13792 1 snd
pcmcia_core 43412 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
snd_page_alloc 14984 1 snd_pcm
i2c_piix4 12428 0
intel_agp 27804 1
pci_hotplug 35136 1 shpchp
i2c_core 25216 1 i2c_piix4
agpgart 35528 1 intel_agp
parport_pc 42084 1
lp 15652 0
parport 39752 2 parport_pc,lp
ext3 141192 2
mbcache 12804 1 ext3
jbd 70324 1 ext3
edd 13892 0
fan 8964 0
piix 14084 0 [permanent]
thermal 18568 0
processor 34664 1 thermal
ide_disk 20480 4
ide_core 130248 3 ide_cd,piix,ide_disk

Then I ran modprobe ndiswrapper without a driver installed and it loaded fine:

linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # modprobe ndiswrapper
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # lsmod
Module Size Used by
ndiswrapper 195344 0
xt_pkttype 6016 3
......................
ide_core 130248 3 ide_cd,piix,ide_disk

Then I installed the driver again and ran 'dmesg':

linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -l
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -i NetMW14x.inf
installing netmw14x ...
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # ndiswrapper -l
netmw14x : driver installed
device (11AB:2A02) present

It didn't freeze on me! Here's an edited copy of 'dmesg' immediately after this. I think I have the relevant parts here.

linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # dmesg
Linux version 2.6.18.8-0.9-default (geeko@buildhost) (gcc version 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (SUSE Linux)) #1 SMP Sun Feb 10 22:48:05 UTC 2008
.........................
piix4_smbus 0000:00:07.3: Found 0000:00:07.3 device
shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
Yenta: CardBus bridge found at 0000:00:08.0 [107b:5300]
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x0838, PCI irq 10
Socket status: 30000006
Yenta: CardBus bridge found at 0000:00:08.1 [107b:5300]
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x0838, PCI irq 10
Socket status: 30000006
PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:0c.0 (0000 -> 0003)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] enabled at IRQ 11
PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0c.0[A] -> Link [LNKC] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
...............................
e100: Intel(R) PRO/100 Network Driver, 3.5.10-k2-NAPI
e100: Copyright(c) 1999-2005 Intel Corporation
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0d.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
e100: eth0: e100_probe: addr 0xe8020000, irq 10, MAC addr 00:10:A4:83:C9:4E
.........................
NET: Registered protocol family 10
lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.
ip_conntrack version 2.4 (2047 buckets, 16376 max) - 228 bytes per conntrack
.....................
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
NET: Registered protocol family 17
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=78 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=58
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=78 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=58
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=78 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=58
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
JBD: barrier-based sync failed on hda3 - disabling barriers
SFW2-INext-DROP-DEFLT IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=169.254.11.228 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=113 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=255 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=5353 DPT=5353 LEN=93
pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 1
ndiswrapper version 1.48 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
usbcore: registered new driver ndiswrapper
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T #

But if I try (lsmod | grep "netmw") at any point in the game (I tried at a few different places), it doesn't show me anything.

linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T # lsmod | grep "netmw"
linux-36li:~/Desktop/WN511T #

Is there any info here that would help figure it out?

I'm giving the latest version of ndiswrapper a shot. I tried to compile it, and I came up with this error.

linux-36li:~/Desktop/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.52 # make distclean
make -C driver clean
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver'
Makefile:35: *** Cannot find kernel version in /usr/src/linux-2.6.18.8-0.9-obj/i386/default, is it configured?. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.52/driver'
make: *** [clean] Error 2
linux-36li:~/Desktop/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.52 #

What have I done wrong? How do I fix it?

That looks like you don't have your kernel source code installed. There is almost certainly a package for it either on your install disks or on a Suse repository.

Right. I had to install that as well as gcc to get ndiswrapper to install. After I had that installed, I used the commands 'make distclean' then 'make' then 'make install'. All seemed to go well, but it doesn't show up as installed in YaST. Is that normal? Will it still work OK?

If there were no errors, then things are heading in the right direction. What you need to do now is follow the installation instructions and install your Windows driver (ndiswrapper -i). Once that is done, you can load the module (modprobe ndiswrapper) and then see if your card shows up in the output of iwconfig. If it does, you can configure it and request an IP address.

I've got the same scenario as before. When I 'modprobe ndiswrapper' with the network card inserted, my laptop freezes. I can modprobe and it loads fine with the card out. If I insert it, everything's a dead freeze.

I've now tried something else. I removed my driver from ndiswrapper and took out the network card. I ran 'modprobe ndiswrapper' and it loaded fine. Then I inserted the card and reinstalled the driver. Doing 'ndiswrapper -l' shows that the driver is loaded and 'lsmod' shows that ndiswrapper is running. But I get no connection even after configuring with YaST.

Why this and what next?

I'm starting to think that your Windows driver might not be compatible with ndiswrapper. I would visit the ndiswrapper wiki site and see if anyone has posted a link to a driver for your card. Hopefully that will take care of the issue. The other thing is to look in your log files (/var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages, and the output of dmesg) and see if there are any clue from ndiswrapper.

My apologies for not suggesting this before, but since you have a Marvel chipset, there is a native Linux driver. Apparently the OLPC project used the Marvel chipset, and the driver has been in the Linux kernel since 2.6.22. According to your first post, you have an older kernel, so you might try upgrading to 2.6.22 or later.

OK, I'll try the kernel upgrade. I found a site that showed how to back up the previous kernel and everything seemed to go well. And looking at this post about upgrading the kernel seems hopeful. Would it be what I need to do? I'll download a new kernel from kernel.org.

You've really got two options when you upgrade a kernel. The easier approach is to look in a Suse repository for a pre-compiled kernel and install that as you would any other RPM. If you go to kernel.org, you'll be taking a second approach, which would be to configure and compile your own kernel. If you go this direction, you'll want to do your homework on how that is done. I've got some basic instructions on my help site and there are literally dozens of other help sites just a google away. If you compile your own kernel, the biggest thing is to have a backup kernel available before you begin so that when the new kernel gets screwed up (and it will get screwed up, believe me) you still have a way to boot into your computer and fix things. I've lost count of how many times I've screwed up my kernel configuration, but the first time was the only time that I didn't have a good kernel in place in case of trouble. I ended up doing an OS reinstall that time.