I just purchased a Dell Inspiron 600m with an Intel Centrino 2200BG wireless card. I am finding the following message in dmesg:

ieee80211_crypt: no version for "struct_module" found: kernel tainted.
ieee80211_crypt: unsupported module, tainting kernel.
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
ieee80211: unsupported module, tainting kernel.
ipw2200: unsupported module, tainting kernel.
ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 0.12
ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2004 Intel Corporation
ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

What am I doing wrong? I've followed the instructions for installing the drivers from Intel on SourceForge. I'm using SUSE Professional 9.1.

Let me know. Thanks!

Unless you are having difficulty connecting, I don't think those messages are a problem. The "tainted kernel" errors are just telling you that the ipw2200 modules aren't released under the same license as the kernel, therefore "tainting" it (it may no longer be a pure open source kernel. Big whoop). Basically, you should be good to go.

Well, my problem is that it isn't pulling an IP address via DHCP, regardless of what I do. I have the configuration file in place, it just seems to time out or something when trying to contact my router. I thought maybe that message was the cause. Perhaps not.

OK, you have hte config file in place, but is it actually being used? You might have a look at the output of iwconfig and see if the card is actually being configured correctly.


The other thing you could try would be to set a static IP address with ifconfig and set your gateway with the route command. Doing it manually might get around problems with DHCP.

The config file is actually being used. Setting the IP address manually makes no difference. iwconfig shows the card as active, but without any IP address.

Iwconfig never shows the IP address, just the card configuration. You need to use ifconfig to see if the card has an IP address. If ifconfig isn't showing one, what happens if you run dhclient interface (be sure to replace interface with the name of the wireless card). If that doesn't work, try dhcpcd interface. However, I think SUSE uses dhclient, not dhcpcd.

It would also be helpful if you got more descriptive than "makes no difference". Did the static IP show up in ifconfig?

I'm using an IBM thinkpad and getting the same results. SuSE 9.1 uses dhcpcd. loading it with my interface gives me the following message

linux:/ # dhcpcd eth1
linux:/ # eth1 device: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 4220 (rev 05)
ERROR: No configuration found for eth1

Upon loading my system, eth1 does not show up in ifconfig but I can do an ifconfig eth1 up and it comes up but does not get the dhcp address.
I can also use iwlist scan and find my ap. And iwconfig shows the following and appears to me that it is setup correctly.

eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"rfamily"
Mode:Managed Channel:6 Access Point: 00:06:25:F1:A0D
Bit Rate=54Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:43/100 Signal level:-32 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:1635

I agree, from your iwconfig output, your card is configured properly and is associated with the AP. If you want to use DHCP to connect, you might want to look in your /var/log/syslog and /var/log/messages and see if DHCP is logging any further reasons why it isn't getting an IP address. That "No configuration found" is odd since dhcpcd doesn't use a configuration file as far as I know. Is it possible that the dhcpcd request is being sent before the card is configured and the error is coming from something else?

The other thing you could do would be to assign a static IP with ifconfig. You would also need to use route to set your router up as your default gateway and you would need to edit your /etc/resolv.conf to include your ISP's nameservers.

Thanks for the feedback, the following text is from my /var/log/messages file. It looks like I'm getting some kind of conflict within my kernel. Do you have any ideas as to what the duplicate address is reffering to?

Nov 21 19:55:01 linux kernel: eth1: duplicate address detected!
Nov 21 19:57:07 linux ifup: No configuration found for eth1
Nov 21 19:57:38 linux modify_resolvconf: Service dhcpcd modified /etc/resolv.conf. See info block in this file
Nov 21 19:57:38 linux ifup: No configuration found for eth1
Nov 21 19:57:38 linux kernel: eth1: duplicate address detected!

I'm completely guessing here, but if the kernel is complaining, I think it may be detecting a MAC address collision. Please note the heavy emphasis on think. Is it possible that your system is trying to load the same card twice? How many devices do you see with ifconfig?

I have exactly the same problem, I have a Toshiba Satellite A30, and installed th intel 2200 wifi card. It finds my AP, but does not get an IP address. All my log files are exactly equals. I'm using Suse 9.1 also

If dhcp is proving to be a problem, you could always try assigning a static IP address. That might get around your troubles.