Incredibly frustrating DWL-520 V.E

annihilan · 07-30-2009, 03:37 AM

I installed Slackware 12.2 straight from slackware.com. No kernel updates, no compiling, nothing.
I'm building a computer for my computer-challenged sister, because her and my mom's house burnt down recently, and I plan on forcing her to learn how to use linux so she can become as she wants to be, more computer savvy.
I cannot trust her to know how to set up a linux computer, as even I cannot seem to do it correctly.
With a DWL-520 V.E wireless D-Link card, it seems to be impossible.
I have tried using ndiswrapper with their driver, which appears to install fine, and for good measure I do

Code:

>ndiswrapper -m
>ndiswrapper -mi
>ndiswrapper -ma

No errors. However, I am unaware as to how I actually use that driver to connect, as a wlan0 is not found by the Settings -> Network Settings program. Only eth0 & eth1.
I tried using their supplied linux drivers, but that won't work either, as I get lots of warnings during the

Code:

make

process, but none during the

Code:

make auto_config

. Such errors include:

Code:

make: *** [error 2]
warning: incompatible
warning: too few arguments
make: *** [error 1]

Mind you that these errors are not quotes from the terminal, as that computer has no connection other than the wireless that does not work.
Madwifi appears to not work at all, I get a lot of

Code:

 make: *** [error 2]

and it just generally does not work.

If you would be so kind as to explain to me how to make this card work, my sister would forever be in your debt, as would I for giving me the gift of knowledge.

P.S.
What is the unix-like equivalent of a Windows .bat file? I wanted to make a script file that would run the terminal and execute

Code:

 shutdown now -h -P

but I couldn't think of how to do it.

Please, don't assume that I understand much. I've read the Slackbook but it was a while ago, I don't remember what most of the commands do.

If you do happen to provide a walkthrough, the more descriptive the better. I'll be saving them to .txt files and storing them for reference, and because I'm not unix/linux savvy.

If you try to tell me 'Look at the FAQ on madwifi and read that' that won't help me, as I've tried that and it doesn't make sense to me. I can Google things to learn, so please don't tell me to try using Ubuntu. I didn't like it. GNOME to me is trying to be different from Windows GUI, whereas KDE is simpler. I know that Ubuntu has a bunch of repositories, but I also know that Slackware is packaged with far more programs and is known to be more documented.

Any, and as detailed as possible, help is very appreciated.

annihilan · 07-30-2009, 07:48 PM

I ran

Code:

ifconfig wlan0

and it gave me the entry on Network Settings, but I can't actually connect, even though I enter in the SSID, WEP key, domain name, domain server, and all that. Can someone please explain how to connect to my network? KWifi acknowledges that my device is working, but the scan for networks still returns no results.

Can someone explain what is happening?
Also

Code:

ndiswrapper -l
netprism: driver installed
         device (1260:3873) present alternate driver (hostap_pci)

Does this mean that I did something right?

jschiwal · 07-30-2009, 08:10 PM

Just an opinion. Slackware may not be the best choice for your "computer-challenged" sister. It isn't regarded as a newbie distribution.

Look at which modules are loaded in the kernel. If you have two different kernel modules loaded for the same device, you can have a conflict.

Look at "/sbin/lspci" and "/sbin/lspci -n". Identify the pci address used in the first listing and get the manufactures code for the matching pci address in the second listing to get the manufacture's code.

If it uses an Atheros chip, uninstall ndiswrapper and use ath5k or ath9k as applicable.
The ath*k drivers don't need to cut out or wrap firmware. You may be able to simply modprobe the kernel module and then configure networking. Your problem could be that ath5k or ath9k were already loaded when you installed ndiswrapper. Look at your boot up messages. Does it say anything about your wireless device?

To test if the wireless device is working, run "sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist <device> scan".
E.G.: sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
It should return a list of APs.

P.S. Why are you configuring WEP and not WPA?

annihilan · 07-30-2009, 09:36 PM

Results of /sbin/lspci:

Code:

01:0a.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan Chipset (rev 01)

I suppose that's what the wireless card is.
Results of /sbin/lspci -n

Code:

01:0a.0 0280: 1260:3873 (rev 01)

I'm setting all of this up under root and passwording it so she can't nuke her computer.
Results of /sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan

Code:

bash-3.1# /sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0    No scan results

So I'm guessing it's not working?
How do you uninstall certain modules?

I'm setting up WEP and not WPA because my home network uses WEP as the security measure.

annihilan · 07-30-2009, 09:40 PM

I do:

Code:

ndiswrapper -l
netprism : driver installed
        device (1260:3873) present (alternate driver: hostap_pci)

So the netprism driver did find the card, and installed to it?

I can do most linux commands and such, but linux networking is new to me.

annihilan · 07-30-2009, 10:14 PM

I downloaded linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9
and I got this:

Code:

bash-3.1# make
set -e; for d in src doc man etc; do make -C $d ; done
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src'
set -e; for d in mkmeta shared wlanctl nwepgen wlancfg p80211 prism2; do make WLAN_SRC=/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/ -C $d ; done
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/mkmeta'
mkdir -p obj
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/mkmeta'
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/shared'
Nothing to do...
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/shared'
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/wlanctl'
make[2]: `wlanctl' is up to date.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/wlanctl'
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/nwepgen'
make[2]: `nwepgen' is up to date.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/nwepgen'
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/wlancfg'
make[2]: `wlancfg' is up to date.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/wlancfg'
make[2]: Entering directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-smp/build M='/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211' WLAN_SRC=/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/ modules
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7'
  CC [M]  /root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.o
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:475:2: warning: #warning "get rid of p2mib here"
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c: In function 'wext_translate_bss':
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1531: warning: passing argument 1 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1531: warning: passing argument 3 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1531: warning: passing argument 4 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1531: error: too few arguments to function 'iwe_stream_add_event'
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1547: warning: passing argument 1 of 'iwe_stream_add_point' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1547: warning: passing argument 3 of 'iwe_stream_add_point' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1547: warning: passing argument 4 of 'iwe_stream_add_point' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1547: error: too few arguments to function 'iwe_stream_add_point'
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1566: warning: passing argument 1 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1566: warning: passing argument 3 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1566: warning: passing argument 4 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1566: error: too few arguments to function 'iwe_stream_add_event'
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1575: warning: passing argument 1 of 'iwe_stream_add_point' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1575: warning: passing argument 3 of 'iwe_stream_add_point' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1575: error: too few arguments to function 'iwe_stream_add_point'
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1581: warning: passing argument 1 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1581: warning: passing argument 3 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1581: warning: passing argument 4 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1581: error: too few arguments to function 'iwe_stream_add_event'
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1589: warning: passing argument 1 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1589: warning: passing argument 3 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' from incompatible pointer type
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1589: warning: passing argument 4 of 'iwe_stream_add_event' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.c:1589: error: too few arguments to function 'iwe_stream_add_event'
make[4]: *** [/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211/p80211wext.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** [_module_/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211] Error 2
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.27.7'
make[2]: *** [default] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src/p80211'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/Desktop/linux-wlan-ng-0.2.9/src'
make: *** [all] Error 2

It said that any kernel newer than 2.6.24 or something was not supported. Am I doomed? Can I get this to work with a different distribution? I installed Slackware mainly because it's the distribution I know about and if she learned, I would too. Would Ubuntu/Kubuntu work better?

jschiwal · 07-31-2009, 05:31 AM

IMHO *buntu, SuSE or Mandriva would be more newbie friendly distro's. But if your sister won't be learning about Linux but just using email, and the web, and you will be administering it, then Slackware would be fine. Put it another way. Will she be able to install Slackware 12.3 in the future?

The "hostap_pci" looks like it is a driver you can use instead of using ndiswrapper. Some drivers will present the wireless device as eth1 instead of wlan0. I think you may have had the native module and ndiswrapper both loaded, causing a conflict. ( AFAIK, ndiswrapper is aliased to wlan0, at least when I used it ) I am thinking that is were the eth1 device came from.

On google, the info I've gotten on this device is pretty dated, circa 2004. Is this an old computer?

Using ndiswrapper should be the last resort. Your sister may have to rebuild it after every kernel security update. See if a native kernel module is available first.

annihilan · 07-31-2009, 04:42 PM

It's not an old computer, but the card is old. My grandfather is a PC guy from the IIE era, so he's had computer parts from here to now. I had to build a computer using around 1999-2000 parts. How can I remove ndiswrapper and set the hostap_pci driver to be used instead? I have the Kubuntu (I prefer KDE, simpler to use) distro .iso and I can burn/install in about 15 minutes, but I'd like to get this problem worked out.

annihilan · 08-01-2009, 02:26 AM

I searched around, and I found this thing called 'hostapd' which supposedly supports my card. I did what it said: Get hostapd, and prism54 for my card. The thing is, prism54 came as 2.7.0.arm, and it said to rename it to a certain filename, and place it in /lib/firmware. It is still just an .arm file. What do I do with it?

Anyway, I configured hostapd for prism54 cards, and ran make. It succeeded, except for a minor error 1 at the end that didn't seem to have an effect on anything. Well, now, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. There's this executable file called hostapd, that doesn't really do anything when executed at terminal, and it requires some weird commands that I don't understand. Can someone help me?

I ran hostapd and it wants a configuration file. I try to use the one I configured before make and it tells me that there are a bunch of incorrect objects on the page. I don't know how I'm supposed to configure this...

Help?