Problems insmod SMC2635W driver

RuFI0 · 10-28-2004, 04:08 AM

I'm running Gentoo kernel version 2.6 and i've been having problems getting my pcmcia wireless card working. I downloaded admtek's 2.6 driver version for my SMC2635W wirelesscard and it compiled nicely, how ever, when i tried to install the driver, this is what i get:

Code:

rufus ADM8211-2.6 # insmod 8211.ko
insmod: error inserting '8211.ko': -1 Invalid module format

rufus ADM8211-2.6 # modprobe 8211
FATAL: Error inserting 8211 (/lib/modules/2.6.7-gentoo-r11/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/8211.ko): Invalid module format

I've been trying to get this card for weeks now, i'd appreciate any help i can get. Thanks in advance.

david_ross · 10-28-2004, 12:44 PM

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Wireless Networking and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

flamingice · 10-28-2004, 02:36 PM

Try the GPL driver at http://aluminum.sourmilk.net/adm8211

RuFI0 · 10-28-2004, 11:39 PM

Thanks for the reply, but no luck. I still get the same error message when trying to load the driver. Any other ideas on why this is happening or how to solve this?

flamingice · 10-29-2004, 06:12 PM

Are you sure you installed the driver with "make install" and loaded the driver with "modprobe adm8211"?

RuFI0 · 10-31-2004, 04:20 AM

Yeah, I'm very sure. I tried "insmod adm8211.ko" first but it didn't work. Then i tried "modprobe adm8211" and it didn't work too. Both returned an error message saying "Invalid module format" or something like that.

flamingice · 10-31-2004, 07:39 AM

Alright.. Just to check a few things, can you give me the output of "make install", "uname -a", and "modprobe -V"?

RuFI0 · 10-31-2004, 10:01 PM

Here's what you wanted:

Code:

phlak adm8211 # make install
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.7-gentoo-r11/build M=/home/rufus/downloads/adm8211 modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.7-gentoo-r11'
  CC [M]  /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/adm8211_hw.o
  CC [M]  /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/adm8211_ioctl.o
  CC [M]  /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/ieee80211.o
  CC [M]  /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/wep.o
  LD [M]  /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/adm8211.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST
  CC      /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/adm8211.mod.o
  LD [M]  /home/rufus/downloads/adm8211/adm8211.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.7-gentoo-r11'
cp -f adm8211.ko /lib/modules/2.6.7-gentoo-r11/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
depmod -a
phlak adm8211 # uname -a
Linux phlak 2.6.7-gentoo-r11 #1 Mon Jul 26 13:44:10 AST 2004 i686 mobile AMD Athlon(tm) XP-M (LV) 1600+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
phlak adm8211 # modprobe -V
module-init-tools version 3.0
phlak adm8211 #

I also read another forum that someone got the card working using ndiswrapper, and the driver is supported by ndiswrapper. However when i tried to modprobe ndiswrapper, here's what i got:

Code:

phlak adm8211 # ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
rt2400  hardware NOT present
smclib.sys      hardware NOT present
phlak adm8211 # modprobe ndiswrapper
FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.7-gentoo-r11/misc/ndiswrapper.ko): Invalid module format

The same error message. This thing is seriously driving me up the wall.

flamingice · 11-01-2004, 02:12 PM

You do not have a driver problem at the moment, you have a general system problem. Something somewhere is out-of-tree drivers to compile incorrectly or fail to be loaded. I'm guessing either the kernel tree is messed up or module-init-tools. Would be a good idea to upgrade to a newer 2.6 kernel anyway due to security updates..

Also, if the windows driver really has a file named rt2400, you do not have a ADM8211 based card. It is, IIRC, a Ralink chipset.

RuFI0 · 11-01-2004, 04:20 PM

I read on ndiswrapper's website that the Ralink driver supports my SMC2635W, that's why decided to try it out. I'm currently using kernel version 2.6.7-gentoo-r11 and i've downloaded the sources for 2.6.9-gentoo-r1 a few days ago using portage but i don't know how to replace the old kernel with the new one. When i ran "emerge --search gentoo-dev-sources" and it says that i have 2.6.9-gentoo-r1 installed. However when i did uname -a, it said that i have 2.6.7-gentoo-r11 as my kernel. I'm kinda confused now.

flamingice · 11-01-2004, 05:40 PM

Is your bootloader (GRUB/LILO) loading the right kernel?

RuFI0 · 11-01-2004, 11:50 PM

Nope, it loads the old one. It's kinda weird though, when i downloaded 2.6.7-gentoo-r11 with portage, portage even compiled the kernel for me. Maybe i'll try to compile the new kernel myself. One question though, how do i copy the old kernel config into the new kernel?

flamingice · 11-02-2004, 02:00 PM

In the old kernel tree, there should be a hidden .config file at the top. You can also use make xconfig/make menuconfig/etc. to save the configuration to a file of your choosing.

RuFI0 · 11-03-2004, 01:02 PM

After 2 months of tweaking around trying to find away to make the card work, i can now sleep peacefully

You were right, the kernel was messed up and there was a problem with pcmcia. I reformated my linux and installed gentoo again, and made sure everything was in order. Then i installed the GPL drivers and now the lovely lights are blinking! h0h0h0h0h0

Thanks for all the help flamingice! Really really appreciate it

RuFI0 · 11-03-2004, 02:44 PM

I've got the card installed but some how i can't get it to run properly. I "ifconfig eth1 up" then issued "iwconfig" but it shows:

eth0 no wireless extensions

eth1 no wireless extensions

lo no wireless extensions

Did i do something wrong?