FC6 Actiontec Atmel USB Wireless Adapter Help Required

danielnash · 03-05-2007, 08:41 AM

Hi, I'm new to Linux and to this forum.

I have a PC with Fedora Core 6 installed and need to use an Actiontec 11mbs Wireless Adapter (model 802UAT1) with it. I can only connect this PC to the internet via wireless.

Initially I tried using the windows driver supplied with the device along with NDISWRAPPER (including adding a new kernel with a 16k stack) but to no avail.

According to many sites I found using google this device uses the Atmel AT76C50x chipset and does not have an intersil aerial and therefore I have tried reinstalling FC6 so my original kernel is used, and then following the process outlined in the wirelss networking wiki for this site (I can't provide a link to it as this is my first post). As per the instructions I downloaded the atmelwlandriver from sourceforge, extracted this and then ran # make world from the directory giving the following results:

Code:

[root@localhost atmelwlandriver]# make world
Building pcmf502r
Bootstraping target pcmf502r
        Debug
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug'
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686'
  LD      /home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug/card.o
In file included from /home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/src/includes/pcmcia/vnet.h:31,
                 from /home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug/card.c:23:
/home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/src/includes/pcmcia/vnet_linux.h:26:26: error: linux/config.h: No such file or directory
make[3]: *** [/home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug/card.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [_module_/home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dan/atmelwlandriver-3.4.1.0/atmelwlandriver/objs/pcmf502r/debug'
make: *** [pcmf502r] Error 2

If I try #make install in this I get the following:

Code:

[root@localhost atmelwlandriver]# make install
usb directory already exists
pci directory already exists
bin directory already exists
x11r6 bin directory already exists
grep: /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts: No such file or directory
Run #depmod -aeq after installation.
OK

and when I run # iwconfig I find no wireless devices:

Code:

[root@localhost atmelwlandriver]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

Can anyone help?? I've been through every forum thread to do with Atmel or Actiontec and have searched for days through other Linux websites but still can't get this to work!

Let me know if you need any more information and I will supply it.

Many thanks

Hangdog42 · 03-06-2007, 12:03 PM

Welcome to LQ!

I may be wrong about this, but it looks as if the driver has been migrated into the kernel, in which case a stock Fedora kernel might have the module available. Try running (as root) modprobe atmel and see what happens. You also might need to have firmware available, which you can find here.

danielnash · 03-06-2007, 01:25 PM

Thanks Hangdog

When I run modprobe atmel as root it just goes to a new prompt line.

Which firmware should I use? The 'atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch.rpm'?

Dan

danielnash · 03-06-2007, 01:49 PM

By the way lspci -n and lsusb give the following results:

Code:

[root@localhost ~]# lspci -n
00:00.0 0600: 8086:7122 (rev 03)
00:01.0 0300: 8086:7123 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 0604: 8086:2418 (rev 02)
00:1f.0 0601: 8086:2410 (rev 02)
00:1f.1 0101: 8086:2411 (rev 02)
00:1f.2 0c03: 8086:2412 (rev 02)
00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:2413 (rev 02)
01:08.0 0780: 14f1:1085 (rev 08)
01:09.0 0401: 13f6:0111 (rev 10)
01:0c.0 0200: 10b7:9200 (rev 78)
[root@localhost ~]# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1668:7605 Actiontec Electronics, Inc. [hex] 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04e8:0111 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd Connect3D Flash Drive
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

I don't know if this helps?

Hangdog42 · 03-06-2007, 01:51 PM

Quote:

When I run modprobe atmel as root it just goes to a new prompt line.

That is a good thing. Modprobe does that if the module loads correctly, otherwise it prints errors. Have a look at the output of lsmod and you should see atmel listed.

Quote:

Which firmware should I use? The 'atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch.rpm'?

That would be my guess. Unfortunately the README doesn't give a lot of guidance. The one thing that they do mention is that starting with FC3, the proper directory for the firmware moved from /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware to /lib/firmware, so once you've installed the RPM, make sure that the files are in /lib/firmware. I'm going to guess that since this is a fairly old card, the firmware hasn't changed in quite a bit so the FC3 rpm should work in FC6.

Once you've got firmware installed, reload the driver (modprobe -r atmel followed by modprobe atmel) and look at the output of iwconfig. Hopefully the card will be there.

danielnash · 03-07-2007, 12:59 PM

Thanks for this - when I try to install the RPM (by double clicking on it) I get to the Installing Packages window which states that the Atmel Firmware will be installed but when I hit Apply I get the following error message:

Quote:

Unable to retrieve software information
Unable to retrieve software information. This could be caused by not having a network connection available.

Do you know if there is any way around this? Unfortunately I don't have an easy way of connecting the PC with FC6 installed to the internet without using wireless.

Many thanks, Dan

Hangdog42 · 03-07-2007, 01:15 PM

Just a warning, since I'm not a Fedora user, I'm not sure that the following advice is good. It might bork your system.

You can force a rpm file to install with the --force flag. I'm guessing that Fedora is looking for dependencies and needs a network connection to do that. So I think if you run something like this from the command line:

rpm -ivv --force atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch.rpm

it might install it wihtout a network connection. Of course you could always first run rpm -ivv atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch.rpm and see if any errors pop up before forcing the install.

danielnash · 03-07-2007, 01:39 PM

I tried -ivv first and get the following:

Code:

[root@localhost dan]# rpm -ivv atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch.rpm
D: ============== atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch.rpm
D: Expected size:       462813 = lead(96)+sigs(160)+pad(0)+data(462557)
D:   Actual size:       462813
D:      added binary package [0]
D: found 0 source and 1 binary packages
D: opening  db environment /var/lib/rpm/Packages joinenv
D: opening  db index       /var/lib/rpm/Packages rdonly mode=0x0
D: locked   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Packages
D: ========== +++ atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3 noarch/linux 0x0
D: opening  db index       /var/lib/rpm/Depends create mode=0x0
D: opening  db index       /var/lib/rpm/Providename rdonly mode=0x0
D:  Requires: hotplug                                       NO  
D: package atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch has unsatisfied Requires: hotplug
D: opening  db index       /var/lib/rpm/Basenames rdonly mode=0x0
D: opening  db index       /var/lib/rpm/Pubkeys rdonly mode=0x0
D:  read h#     110 Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2
D:  Requires: /bin/sh                                       YES (db files)
D:  Requires: rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1       YES (rpmlib provides)
D:  Requires: rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1        YES (rpmlib provides)
D:  read h#      45 Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2
D:  Requires: /usr/bin/perl                                 YES (db files)
D:  read h#      45 Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2
D:  Requires: perl(File::Basename)                          YES (db provides)
D:  read h#      45 Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2
D:  Requires: perl(Socket)                                  YES (db provides)
D:  read h#      45 Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2
D:  Requires: perl(bytes)                                   YES (db provides)
D:  read h#      45 Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 4f2a6fd2
D:  Requires: perl(constant)                                YES (db provides)
D: opening  db index       /var/lib/rpm/Conflictname rdonly mode=0x0
D: closed   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Pubkeys
D: closed   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Depends
D: closed   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Conflictname
D: closed   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Providename
D: closed   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Basenames
D: closed   db index       /var/lib/rpm/Packages
D: closed   db environment /var/lib/rpm/Packages
error: Failed dependencies:
        hotplug is needed by atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch
D: ========== recording tsort relations
D: ========== tsorting packages (order, #predecessors, #succesors, tree, depth, breadth)
D:     0    0    0    0    1    0   +atmel-firmware-1.3-1fc3.noarch
D: May free Score board((nil))

It looks like I am missing hotplug - do you know where I get this from? I thought this was part of Fedora Core - but I'm guessing you wo't be able to answer that.

Thanks, Dan

Hangdog42 · 03-07-2007, 04:11 PM

You might want to ask about hotplug in the Fedora forum. I think it is gradually being phased out in favor of udev and maybe FC6 has already done that. If you've got FC6 install disks, you might check there, otherwise an online repository might work.

<EDIT>

OK, I'm being an idiot. Instead of messing with the RPM, you could always get the .tar.gz, unpack it and run the install script. Hopefully that will put things in the right place.
</EDIT>

danielnash · 03-09-2007, 02:51 PM

I raised another thread about this under Fedora (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=535961) and had it suggested that Hotplug is no longer required in FC6 and therefore I could just copy the firmware files from the Images and Images.usb folders in the unzipped firmware folder into Lib/Firmware/ which I have done and then as per your comments above I have reloaded the atmel driver - however when I run iwconfig I stgill get the same output as before - i.e. No Wireless Extensions anywhere - also when I check the system logs I still get:

Code:

Mar  9 19:00:05 localhost kernel: usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
Mar  9 19:00:06 localhost kernel: usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

Do you recommend I run the install script for the firmware rather then just copying the files in the folders? If so how do I do this? Sorry - still very new to Linux and too used to Windows!

Thanks, Dan

Hangdog42 · 03-09-2007, 03:54 PM

You certainly could run the install script. I had a look at that script and it seems to do a touch more than just copy the files. I'm still surprised that the atmel driver isn't leaving any traces in the log files when it gets loaded. Just out of curiosity, are you loading the driver after you have the card plugged in?

danielnash · 03-09-2007, 04:45 PM

Yes - but I think I may have also tried it before it was plugged in. Should it be plugged in when I load the driver?

Hangdog42 · 03-10-2007, 07:02 AM

I think that having it plugged in before you load the driver is a good thing. Since the card requires firmware to be loaded, if you plug it in after you load the driver, it might not get loaded (I'm actually not real sure about this so I reserve the right to be wrong). At any rate, if the card is plugged in and then you load the driver, the firmware will definitely be loaded, and if it fails, will hopefully leave some clues in the system logs.

Right now we're kind of stuck in a "it doesn't work" phase. We know it isn't working, but we have no idea why it isn't working, and to do more than just guess at solutions, we're going to need some more information to work with.

danielnash · 03-10-2007, 03:41 PM

I've tried re-loading the driver while the device is plugged in - but get the same results as before.

When I installed the firmware using the install script I originally go an error message:

Code:

[root@localhost atmel-firmware-1.3]# sh install.sh
/etc/hotplug/firmware.agent does not exist:
please install an up-to-date hotplug package and re-try.

I then created an etc/hotplug folder with a blank firmware.agent file and re-ran and got the following (apparently) successfull messages:

Code:

[root@localhost atmel-firmware-1.3]# sh install.sh
Installing new firmware files in /lib/firmware
Installing firmware loader in /usr/sbin/atmel_fwl
Saving atmelwlandriver-derived atmel.conf as atmel.wlandriver
Installing PCMCIA config in /etc/pcmcia/atmel.conf

I have checked and the firmware files are in the /lib/firmware folder.

What further information can I give in order to help?

Many thanks for your help so far, Dan

Hangdog42 · 03-11-2007, 07:50 AM

If the firmware successfully loaded, then in theory you have a functional card. Can you see it in the output of iwconfig?