I'm trying to get my wireless network working...
Could you please help me?

ndiswrapper consists of two parts. The first is the command-line utility needed to get the driver installed. The second is a kernel module that is loaded by modprobe and is the file /lib/modules/xxx/misc/ndiswrapper.ko, where xxx is the result of 'uname -r'. The symptoms suggest that debian sarge does not include this module. If it does not exist, you will have to download and build ndiswrapper. I am an ndiswrapper user, but do not use debian. Each time the kernel is changed, a new version of ndiswrapper must be built.

Once you get the module and driver loaded, it will work for WEP encryption. If you want to use WPA encryption, you will need the software package known as wpa_supplicant.

Larry

I have the ndiswrapper.ko module in my /lib/modules/2.6.8-2-386 however I get the same error. Any suggestions?

The module ndiswrapper.ko belongs in /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc, not in /lib/modules/`uname -r`.

Where did you obtain that copy of ndiswrapper.ko? It must be built for your kernel. When I upgrade to a new kernel, say from 2.6.13-rc6 to 2.6.13-rc7, I have to boot the new kernel without my wifi card, and build the correct version of ndiswrapper.ko after the new version is running.

Larry

it is in /lib/modules/ 'uname -r' /misc I just forgot to put that originaly. I run Debian so I used apt-get to get my version. So I have to get the source for ndiswrapper and compile it myself. With options for my kernel? How do I go about doing that. Thanks.

You can get the ndiswrapper source from http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndiswrapper/, but I'm a little confused. I would have expected apt-get to have loaded the correct version of ndiswrapper, and it seems to be in the right place.

To build ndiswrapper, you must have the source for your kernel. Download and unpack the ndiswrapper source, cd to its directory and type 'make'. No configuration is required. It gets all the necessary info from the kernel source, which are located through the links 'build' and 'source' in /lib/modules/`uname -r`. Once it is built, as root do a 'make install'. That is all that is required.

Larry

So does it matter what folder the files are unzipped too. And do I have to delete the old ndiswrapper?

Log in as a normal user and downoad the ndiswrapper-1.2.gz file to your home directory. You can then run the 'tar zxvf ndiswrapper-1.2.gz' command, which will unpack it into a new folder ndiswrapper-1.2.

You will not have to delete the old one as it should be overwritten. The only thing to watch is that the ndiswrapper command is written into the same place as the old one. You can determine that by a 'which ndiswrapper' command.

Larry

Right. I have gotten that part I don't understand is when you say it gets all of its info from the kernel source. What kernel source is that. Do you mean the actual source code for the linux kernel. And I don't have a build or source directory in my /lib/modules/ 'uname -r' directory. So what happened is I extracted the stuff from ndiswrapper-1.3rc1 to a folder in my home folder. then cd'ed into it, all I did was get an error. It said "Cant find kernel sources in /lib/modules/ 'uname-r' (2.4.27-2-386)/build which isn't surprising because i don't have that folder. So my question is what kernel are you talking about. That is where I am little confused. And what do I need to get and where do I need to put it. Thanks so much for everything I think I am really close.

OK. Scratch that last question I got it all set. Everything made and installed. At least I think I did it right. When I went to modprobe it. I did modprobe ndiswrapper and then nothing happened no error or anything. It just gave me another prompt. Did I do it right If so how do I select what wireless network I want to use and good stuff like that? Thanks.

If the modprobe didn't give an error, it worked OK. You can check that ndiswrapper is loaded by typing 'lsmod'.

One way is to use iwconfig to set up the wireless parameters. I'm not familiar with Debian, but if there are any tools to configure wireless connections, they would be better. In SuSE, YaST lets you do the configuration and force the loading of ndiswrapper at boot time.

Larry

OK. So I got the wireless going no errors. Kwifimanager and iwconfig both say that I am connected fine. However When I unplugged the LAN cord to give it a go, The Internet wasn't working, Any suggestions. Also the light that usually means the wireless is on isn't lighted up. I am not sure if that really matters though.

Does your wireless card have an IP number? Check the output of ifconfig. If not, you need to assign an IP address to the card. Is the routing set up correctly? Type 'route' and check for a line that starts with "default" and has your wireless interface in the "Iface" column. If that is not there, do a 'man route' to learn the proper syntax. I never remember it.

Once the above items are OK, try a ping to your gateway. If that works, you actually have connectivity over your wireless link. Next try 'ping 64.233.167.99', which is one of Google's computers. If that works, but 'ping www.google.com' fails, the problem is with your nameserver setup.

Larry

I had to shut down the computer. When I turned it on again It wasn't working so I checked lsmod. It wasnt there so i reloaded, doing modprobe ndiswrapper. but now kwifimanager says nothing and iwconfig says the right stuff but I don't believe cause the wireless stuff didn't show up when I did route. And Even if the wireless isn't working and the ethernet isn't plugged in. I still see my IP in ifconfig. When I tried it in wlassistant, it gave me a whoel bunch of errors about dhcp and dhcpclient, and dhc stuff. I can tell you exactly what it said if it would help.

I finnaly got it all working. Thank you so much for all of your help.