Slackware 10.0 + ndiswrapper + Broadcom = Help!

Gatroae · 04-07-2005, 05:53 PM

I am lost when it comes to getting wireless internet working on my laptop. I am using Slackware linux with the 2.6.11.6 Kernel. When I was using the 2.4 kernel I got the wireless working. I have a Broadcom chipset in my laptop, and my problem is I can't get a IP assigned to the wlan0 interface. I tried searching google for some help, and I did find A LOT of information that help me along the way I started finding the same information over and over. I even tried some books I have laying around for Linux, and they really didn't help since they were too out of date (a few years or so :p ). I can get the wireless interface up, but it will not accept a IP using DHCPCD.

I am using:
Linux Router -> Switch -> Access Point Laptop
Laptop w/ Slackware 10.0
DHCPD Server running on Linux Router (It assigns IPS to the Linux desktops and to my laptop on the old kernel fine.)
ndiswrapper v1.1 (Compiled from source)
Windows XP Driver Files (bcmwl5.inf & bcmwl5.sys)
Wireless Tools version 27 (Compiled from source and Compatible with Wireless Extension v11 to v17)

I start off by doing:

Code:

root@plague:~# modprobe ndiswrapper

This loads fine and returns no errors. I verified the modules loaded by using modprobe -l which returned /lib/modules/2.6.11.6/misc/ndiswrapper.ko at the bottom of the list. Also here is a snip of the dmesg...

Code:

ndiswrapper version 1.1 loaded (preempt=no,smp=no)
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,06/13/2003, 3.20.23.0) loaded
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:02:02.0[A] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ndiswrapper: using irq 5
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:4b:4b:42:ff using driver bcmwl5, configuration file 14E4:4320.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP, WPA with TKIP, WPA with AES/CCMP

I also see that when I type iwconfig I get this output:

Code:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.457 GHz  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:16 dBm
          RTS thr:2347 B   Fragment thr:2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management max timeout:0us  mode:All packets received
          Link Quality:100/100  Signal level:-10 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:0

Since I was having problems I set my access point to use no security just to try to get this to work. However, this is where I start to get confused. After reading so much over the past week or so I think I have confused myself on what I need to do when it comes to configuring the wlan0 interface. I seem to be unable to set the ESSID unless I set the interface to Ad-Hoc. Then the interface will reflect my changes from the below commands.

Code:

root@plague:~# iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc
root@plague:~# iwconfig wlan0 essid HomeLanTest channel 2

Next, I bring the interface up using ifconfig:

Code:

root@plague:~# ifconfig wlan0 up

Then I try to get an IP using dhcpcd, but it just returns after ~10-15 seconds.

Code:

root@plague:~# dhcpcd wlano

After it returns I check the status of the interfaces by typing ifconfig in the shell, and to my surprise wlan0 has disappeared from the list! However, it was listed in ifconfig BEFORE I tries to get an IP using DHCPCD... I am completely lost I can not find an error message or any reason why it is doing this. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

DyeKid · 04-07-2005, 08:38 PM

I had the same problem, but it's really not as bad as it seems.
First check that you can get the wireless card up
If you have followed the instructions for ndiswrapper, you really don't have to modprobe each time you boot ( at least I didn't )
If you can bring up the card with the command ifconfig wlan0 up then you are almost there. Actually I just use three commands to get my card on the network and onto the internet.

I used to use a more manual approach to bring up my wireless,
Boot, start KDE, load shell, SU and
ifconfig wlan0 up
ifconfig wlan0 ###.###.###.### (Enter Valid IP for laptop)
(verify you are connected to the network by pinging your gateway)
ping ###.###.###.### ( my address is 192.168.1.1)

If you can see your gateway, then you are ready to add the route to the internet
route add -net default gw 192.168.1.1 metric 1

once you have everything ironed out in your config, you may want to automate the process, it's really not that hard.

goto /etc/rc.d and check that you have the files:rc.wireless and rc.wireless.conf ( should be since I think they are part of wireless tools )

Edit your rc.wireless.conf to the settings of your network.
I set my ESSID, CHANNEL, MODE, and AP here

Save the file then open /etc/rc.d/rc.local and add the lines
/etc/rc.d/rc.wireless wlan0
/sbin/dhcpcd wlan0

Save and reboot.

You should see the card come up and connect
You can use ifconfig and ping to make sure.

Good Luck!

Gatroae · 04-07-2005, 11:56 PM

Thanks for the input with instructions for making it come up automatic at boot up. That is really going to help me out. Here is how I got it to work.

1) Switched to bcmwl5a.inf instead of bcmwl5.inf (A comment on the ndiswrapper site pointed me to this.)

2) Press the little "Wireless" button on my laptop (A noob mistake on my part). After this I rebooted and used: modprobe ndiswrapper ... presto! It found my lan on the first shot.

3) Brought up the interface with: ifconfig wlan0 up

4) Gave it an IP with: dhcpcd wlan0

.... now that worked and I could ping my router. However, then I ran into another problem with the wireless connection. When I started X-Windows (three times in a row) I could not connect to anything. I tried dmesg which showed me this:

Code:

<snip>
ndiswrapper version 1.1 loaded (preempt=no,smp=no)
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,10/20/2004, 3.70.22.0) loaded
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:02:02.0[A] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ndiswrapper: using irq 5
wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device 00:90:4b:4b:42:ff using driver bcmwl5, configuration file 14E4:4320                                       :103C:12F4.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP, WPA with TKIP, WPA with AES/CCMP
eth0: link down
eth0: link down
irq 5: nobody cared!
 [<c012e1ba>] __report_bad_irq+0x2a/0xa0
 [<c012dca0>] handle_IRQ_event+0x30/0x70
 [<c012e2c0>] note_interrupt+0x70/0xb0
 [<c012ddc0>] __do_IRQ+0xe0/0xf0
 [<c0104999>] do_IRQ+0x19/0x30
 [<c01030c2>] common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20
 [<c012dc90>] handle_IRQ_event+0x20/0x70
 [<c012dd88>] __do_IRQ+0xa8/0xf0
 [<c0104999>] do_IRQ+0x19/0x30
 [<c01030c2>] common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20
 [<c011740e>] __do_softirq+0x2e/0x90
 [<c0117496>] do_softirq+0x26/0x30
 [<c010499e>] do_IRQ+0x1e/0x30
 [<c01030c2>] common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20
handlers:
[<c029d110>] (usb_hcd_irq+0x0/0x70)
[<e0cb9f60>] (ndis_irq_th+0x0/0x150 [ndiswrapper])
Disabling IRQ #5

That was my answer to what was causing that problem. I fixed this by adding a kernel parameter noirqdebug to /etc/lilo.conf (Thanks Google :) ) I'm not 100% sure on what this does to the system, but I now have it working so unless I find a reason not to use it i'll keep the parameter set.

In the end, I am sending you this message through my WPA Wireless connection! Thanks for your tips again now when I turn my laptop on I don't have to bring it up because it's all done automatic! Now, on to getting the battery meter and all the ACPI working.

Thanks again
gatroae

DyeKid · 04-08-2005, 01:27 AM

Well, It seems that you are helping ME out too. I started getting the IRQ problem too, so I will try out the lilo param and see if that fixes my problem as well.

Gatroae · 04-08-2005, 10:19 AM

Well I have noticed that when you pass that param to the kernel when booting it seems to cause some small glitches. For instance when I am boot up X-Windows it seems that it will freeze until I move my mouse. Once I move my mouse it will continue loading. If I figure out what causes this and how to fix it I will let you know.

gatroae

DyeKid · 04-08-2005, 11:17 AM

I tried to add append=noirqdebug , but didn't make the change in lilo. I just typed it in at the Boot: prompt before the boot process. It didn't seem to help my problem. If I boot normally, my wireless comes up fine and as long as I stay at a command line it will continue to work without fail. When I startx I get the RIQ problem and wireless goes down. I know there is a conflict with my acpi because it's listed in the error messages, acpi=off also has no effect.

Basically I can log in as root, and start pinging my website - everything is ok. If I ctl+alt+F2 to another session and login under my user account, startx and change back to the root ping screen, I can actually watch it fail.

It's driving me nuts, I think it is due to an upgrade on my system, but I don't recall what.

Gatroae · 04-08-2005, 02:00 PM

That was exactly what was happening to me. I too did the multiple logins and watch the ping fail after starting x-windows. However, in my /etc/lilo.conf all I did was add an append="noirqdebug" then saved and ran lilo at the command prompt to make the changes. It maybe because you are passing that argument at boot it doesn't affect the kernel. I read somewhere if you do it in the lilo.conf it will stay resident in the kernel.

I'm not sure if that is true or not, but I would say it's worth a shot because it fixed my problem.

Good luck
gatroae

DyeKid · 04-08-2005, 04:18 PM

I'll try that and post my results when I get a chance.

Thanks for the info. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone else also!

DyeKid

aitzim · 05-24-2005, 03:14 AM

Quote:

I fixed this by adding a kernel parameter noirqdebug to /etc/lilo.conf (Thanks Google

)

I know this might seem odd, but would still know what terms you used for the google search. I'm having the exact same problem with IRQ 5 being shut down a random amount of time after I get my card up and running with ndiswrapper. I've tried using some of the dmesg text for search terms to no avail.

I'm using using SuSE 9.2 with kernel 2.6.8-24.10. I don't think your suggestion applies to me since I'm using grub and I don't have that file. I wonder if I could do the same with grub.conf, I'm just scared to mess with anything that seems to point to the bootloader. The thought of installing linux the third time in a short week....

I would still like to know through what fine tooth comb you found suggestions to this problem.

thanks