3Com Office Connect (3CRWE154G72)

Hangdog42 · 03-04-2006, 07:01 AM

No offense intended, but you've got some strange problems here. If you've properly installed a kernel and configured slackware, it shouldn't matter if it is in /boot or /boot-test. However, a default install of Slack usually only uses /boot. That suggests to me that you've got some odd configuration happening. How are you telling Slack to boot from /boot-test as opposed to /boot? Personally, I keep all my kernels in /boot and it hasn't caused any trouble.

As for the card only working when you start Firefox or other services, I'm going to guess (and this is really a guess) that starting one of those is causeing an DHCP request to happen. Once you load ndiswrapper, what do you do to configure the card and get an IP address?

jbond3007 · 06-04-2006, 10:41 AM

Hi there Hangdog

You sound like the most knowledgable person on this issue yet, as far as helping KevKiwi with his 3Com card anyways. I was in his boat exactly until he got to his post on the top of page 2 (removing prism54 module). I've already blacklisted it and tried the modprobe -r, but I still see eth0 in iwconfig and not wlan0

Code:

eth0      IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Channel=1  Access Point: Invalid   
          Sensitivity=0/200  
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

(Plus lo and sit0 say no wireless extensions)

I believe the reason it's listed as 'Managed' is that I'm using Network Manager as other forums have suggested this will help.

Also ndiswrapper is not in the /proc/interrupts list

Code:

           CPU0       
  0:    1010311          XT-PIC  timer
  1:        491          XT-PIC  i8042
  2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade
  5:        751          XT-PIC  uhci_hcd:usb1, ltserial, VIA686A
  7:          0          XT-PIC  parport0
  8:          3          XT-PIC  rtc
  9:         71          XT-PIC  acpi
 10:        920          XT-PIC  yenta, yenta, eth0
 12:       5506          XT-PIC  i8042
 14:       5845          XT-PIC  ide0
 15:      16422          XT-PIC  ide1
NMI:          0 
LOC:          0 
ERR:          0
MIS:          0

Here's ifconfig for reference

Code:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:12:A9:D1:91:94  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:10 Memory:d01b4000-d01b6000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:272 (272.0 b)  TX bytes:272 (272.0 b)

I haven't seen the word RUNNING next to eth0 at any stage.

And there's some sections of syslog that may be relevant

Code:

...
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294671.875000] PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294671.875000] PCI: Routing PCI interrupts for all devices because "pci=routeirq" specified
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294671.875000] **** SET: Misaligned resource pointer: cf7be0c2 Type 07 Len 0
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294671.875000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 5
...
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294701.986000] ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294701.991000] ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.7
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294701.991000] ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294702.085000] Loaded islsm_pci driver, version 0
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294702.086000] PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294702.086000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
Jun  4 16:06:08 localhost kernel: [4294703.046000] lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).
...
Jun  4 16:06:21 localhost dhcdbd: Started up.
Jun  4 16:06:22 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Istarting... 
Jun  4 16:06:22 localhost NetworkManager: <WARNING>^I main (): nm_data_new: Setting up dbus filter 
Jun  4 16:06:23 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Ieth0: Device is fully-supported using driver 'islsm_pci'. 
Jun  4 16:06:23 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Inm_device_init(): waiting for device's worker thread to start 
Jun  4 16:06:23 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Inm_device_init(): device's worker thread started, continuing. 
Jun  4 16:06:23 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^INow managing wireless (802.11) device 'eth0'.
...
Jun  4 16:06:37 localhost kernel: [4294740.050000] NET: Registered protocol family 10
Jun  4 16:06:37 localhost kernel: [4294740.050000] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
Jun  4 16:06:37 localhost kernel: [4294740.050000] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Jun  4 16:06:37 localhost kernel: [4294740.051000] IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling driver
...
Jun  4 16:06:46 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^IUpdating allowed wireless network lists. 
Jun  4 16:06:46 localhost NetworkManager: <WARNING>^I nm_dbus_get_networks_cb (): nm-dbus-nmi.c:522 (nm_dbus_get_networks_cb): error received: org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerInfo.NoNetworks - There are no wireless networks stored.. 
Jun  4 16:06:46 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Imatch 
Jun  4 16:06:46 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Imatch 
...

Hopefully you can shed some light on this
Thanks in advance!

Hangdog42 · 06-04-2006, 11:09 AM

Quote:

I've already blacklisted it and tried the modprobe -r, but I still see eth0 in iwconfig and not wlan0

A couple of things to look at:

1) check the output of lsmod and see if ndiswrapper is there or if it is still the prism driver (which I believe is called islsm_pci).

2)If you ran ndiswrapper -m, your /etc/modprobe.conf file should have been modified to include a line like alias wlan0 ndiswrapper. If that isn't there, either run ndiswrapper -m or add it by hand.

By the way, I'm assuming that even though you can see eth0, and it has wireless capability, you can't configure it with iwconfig. Is that correct?

jbond3007 · 06-04-2006, 12:33 PM

Ah you're right! islsm is part of the prism driver (I had tried getting an improved prism driver early on in the piece and had wrongly remembered islsm as being part of ndiswrapper).

Here's lsmod | grep islsm

Code:

islsm_pci              22280  0 
islsm_device           12040  1 islsm_pci
islsm                  37644  2 islsm_pci,islsm_device
ieee80211softmac       29696  1 islsm
ieee80211              37064  2 islsm,ieee80211softmac
crc_ccitt               2304  1 islsm

How can I really kill the beggar?

While there's no /etc/modprobe.conf there does exist /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, containing only:

Quote:

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

like you mentioned. (Maybe different file structure because I'm running ubuntu?)

I've now removed Network Manager so that I can directly configure things such as shown by the output of iwconfig.

Code:

eth0      IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"squirrelwire"  
          Mode:Auto  Channel=1  Access Point: Invalid   
          Sensitivity=0/200  
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

I managed to set the essid and the channel, but when attempting

Code:

root@FunBox:/home/# iwconfig eth0 key s:mdka9696521c7
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
    SET failed on device eth0 ; Unknown error 524.
root@FunBox:/home/# iwconfig eth0 key on
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2B) :
    GET failed on device eth0 ; Unknown error 524.

Don't I need to set that to be able to access my WEP-protected router?

Thanks for your quick reply!

jbond3007 · 06-04-2006, 12:52 PM

To clarify...

Quote:

If you ran ndiswrapper -m, your /etc/modprobe.conf file should have been modified to include a line like alias wlan0 ndiswrapper.

Code:

# ndiswrapper -m
modprobe config already contains alias directive

Hangdog42 · 06-04-2006, 01:04 PM

Quote:

How can I really kill the beggar?

Well, modprobe -r islsm_pci should do the trick and you can always blacklist it as well.

Quote:

While there's no /etc/modprobe.conf there does exist /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, containing only:
Quote:
alias wlan0 ndiswrapper
like you mentioned. (Maybe different file structure because I'm running ubuntu?)

I would bet you're right about ubuntu keeping it in a different location that Slackware. Since the alias line is there, it probably is in the right place.

Quote:

Don't I need to set that to be able to access my WEP-protected router?

Yes, you do need to be able to set that. In fact, Network Manager is probably just a GUI front end for iwconfig.

Quote:

root@FunBox:/home/# iwconfig eth0 key s:mdka9696521c7

Just as a test, you could try setting the hex value of the key rather than the ascii value (if you know the hex value).

Usually having two drivers competing for the same card is a bad thing, so if you remove the islsm_pci module, hopefully that will allow ndiswrapper to load and function.

Of course one test you could make since you can set the SSID on the islsm_pci driver is to temporarily turn off WEP encryption on your AP and see if you can connect. If you can, it might be worth chasing down the errors when you try and set the WEP key. The most sane explanation I've seen for the "Set Encode" errors you're getting is that the firmware doesn't support WEP for some reason. If you want to use the prism54 driver, you might want to check that you have the latest firmware.

jbond3007 · 06-04-2006, 01:25 PM

Fantastic! modprobe -r islsm_pci did the trick and got rid of islsm from lsmod, and after rmmod ndiswrapper then modprobe ndiswrapper I have ndiswrapper in lsmod. My card's light is flashing now too, whereas before it was always on.

I've disabled encryption on my network, but still can't seem to find it. I should be able to ping my router, right?

Thanks so much for your help

Hangdog42 · 06-04-2006, 02:12 PM

Quote:

I've disabled encryption on my network, but still can't seem to find it. I should be able to ping my router, right?

Maybe not. If you haven't associated with the access point and gotten an IP address via DHCP (or configured a static IP), your card may not be able to communicate to send the ping. What you should be able to do (if your router is set to broadcast the SSID) is see it with iwlist wlan0 scan.

If you've disabled WEP, then setting the SSID should allow you to associate with the router (you'll see the MAC address appear in the iwconfig output if the association has happened). If you've associated with the router, you can then go ahead and request an IP address. I think Ubuntu uses ifup, so try this:

ifup wlan0

If that doesn't get you an IP address, you might try dhclient wlan0. If there is still no joy, you can always try to set a static IP address. You do three things:

1) ifconfig wlan0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx replacing the xxx with the IP you want to use
2) route add default gw yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy replacing yyy with the IP address of your router
3) Edit your /etc/resolv.conf to contain your ISP's DNS IP addresses. For each DNS, you add a line like this:

nameserver xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx only using the IP address of the server.

jbond3007 · 06-04-2006, 04:00 PM

Hangdog you're a genius!

I actually just got back from watching a football game and the computer had hung with the main and processor fans not going! Ahhh! I think that was my fault using a random command.

But the long and short of it is that once I got it safely going again, and reinserted the network card, it's all go! The network came straight up and I didn't actually need to do anything from your last post.

Once again, big thanks, and have a great day!
Brad

Hangdog42 · 06-04-2006, 04:06 PM

Congrats and Happy Surfing!

jbond3007 · 06-04-2006, 04:51 PM

Just for completeness of the thread, could not connect to my access point (ap; ie router) as it was using a text 'key'. Changing the router's settings to use a hex key worked.