Hi friends,

I am a newbie Linux user. I am using a Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, 512 mb RAM, Netgear WPN511 wireless card (which I have established has an Atheros chipset). I have a problem making my wireless network card work on Suse 10.2 (KDE). Linux-only on the system. I am able to use the ethernet connection to access internet without any problems. I hope someone can help me with the following problem:

The system knows that there is a wireless network card inserted, but it cannot be made active. Everything was working OK under Suse 10.1 using ndiswrapper, but upon upgrade (and subsequent complete reinstall) to 10.2 and despite efforts over the past 3 weeks I appear to be no nearer success.

I have followed the instructions under website page http://en.opensuse.org/Atheros_ndiswrapper (I used the ndiswrapper version 1.25 which I extracted from the distro DVD)

Under Yast Control Centre/Network Card the card's configuration name is wlan0, module name used is ndiswrapper. Card is started on hotplug and IP address via DHCP. My network is WEP (64 bit password ) on a netgear router. The wireless network card is always shown as 'not connected'. Below are the results from ndiswrapper -l, ifconfig, iwconfig and lspci commands, and an extract from /var/log/boot.msg. The latter has ndiswrapper error codes, but I do not know what they mean.

Please would someone suggest what I need to do to get this working? Thanks Clive

result of ndiswrapper -l

linux-qv5w:~ # ndiswrapper -l
installed drivers:
net5211 driver installed, hardware (168C:0013) present (alternate driver: ndiswrapper)

result of ifconfig:

linux-qv5w:~ # ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0D:56:E9:C5:84
inet addr:192.168.1.4 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20d:56ff:fee9:c584/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:568 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:598 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:666802 (651.1 Kb) TX bytes:65036 (63.5 Kb)
Interrupt:7

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1956 (1.9 Kb) TX bytes:1956 (1.9 Kb)

result of iwconfig:

linux-qv5w:~ # iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

result of lspci (extract):
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

extract from /var/log/boot.msg

<6>pcmcia: parent PCI bridge I/O window: 0xd000 - 0xefff
<6>cs: IO port probe 0xd000-0xefff: clean.
<6>pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0xf8000000 - 0xfdffffff
<6>pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0x30000000 - 0x31ffffff
<5>pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
<6>ndiswrapper version 1.25 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
<6>cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x3af: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0x3e0-0x4ff: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcf7: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.
<6>ndiswrapper: driver net5211 (,09/17/2003,2.4.2.14) loaded
<4>PCI: Enabling device 0000:03:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
<6>ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
<7>PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:03:00.0 to 64
<4>ndiswrapper (NdisMAllocateMapRegisters:855): invalid request: 256
<3>ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:237): log: C000009A, count: 4, return_address: e0bda911
<3>ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 3740669952
<3>ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 35
<3>ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 3753181184
<3>ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 3753181184
<4>ndiswrapper (miniport_init:269): couldn't initialize device: C000009A
<4>ndiswrapper (pnp_start_device:426): Windows driver couldn't initialize the device (C0000001)
<7>unregister_netdevice: device eth%d/def61000 never was registered
<4>ndiswrapper (miniport_halt:326): device def61400 is not initialized - not halting
<6>ndiswrapper: device eth%d removed
<6>ACPI: PCI interrupt for device 0000:03:00.0 disabled
<4>ndiswrapper: probe of 0000:03:00.0 failed with error -22
<6>usbcore: registered new driver ndiswrapper

Try uninstalling ndiswrapper with YaST, then installing the latest version using YaST. For that you'll need to be connected to the internet. Then install the drivers with ndiswrapper, and attempt to modprobe ndiswrapper, post results here.

Hi there

following your advice I downloaded ndiswrapper 1.37 in a .tar file. Error messages while unpacking this file required me to install kernel-source, and then OK. I followed the setup instructions and installed the wlan0 card in Yast. the result is that my wireless card flashes its 2 lights alternately, rather than just one...

One last thing that I did, following the ndiswrapper setup instructions, was to use midnight commander to edit the etc/sysconfig/network file ifcg-wlan0 with

DHCLIENT_MODIFY_RESOLVE_CONF='yes'
DHCLIENT_SET_DEFAULT_ROUTE='yes'

I then tried to connect to my network. I know that it is broadcasting, and that I am using the correct WEP hex passcode. The connection process begins, but never succeeds. The Access Point is not associated. What do you think i should do to resolve this?

Thanks for your assistance,
Clive, UK

iwconfig now shows:

linux-qv5w:~ # iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"NETGEAR"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Encryption keyff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

sit0 no wireless extensions.

ifconfig now shows:

linux-qv5w:~ # ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0D:56:E9:C5:84
inet addr:192.168.1.4 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20d:56ff:fee9:c584/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:21 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5606 (5.4 Kb) TX bytes:1508 (1.4 Kb)
Interrupt:7

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1956 (1.9 Kb) TX bytes:1956 (1.9 Kb)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0F:B5:A68:82
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:11 Memory:f8000000-f8010000

extract from /var/log/boot.msg

<6>pcmcia: parent PCI bridge I/O window: 0xd000 - 0xefff
<6>cs: IO port probe 0xd000-0xefff: clean.
<6>pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0xf8000000 - 0xfdffffff
<6>pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0x30000000 - 0x31ffffff
<5>pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
<6>ndiswrapper: driver net5211 (,09/17/2003,2.4.2.14) loaded
<4>PCI: Enabling device 0000:03:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
<6>ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKA] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
<7>PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:03:00.0 to 64
<6>ndiswrapper: using IRQ 11
<6>wlan0: ethernet device 00:0f:b5:a6:d8:82 using serialized NDIS driver: net5211, version: 0x20004, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: '', 168C:0013.5.conf
<6>wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA; AES/CCMP with WPA
<6>cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x3af: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0x3e0-0x4ff: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0x820-0x8ff: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcf7: clean.
<6>cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.

Did you have your Ethernet cable plugged in when you ran ifconfig? If so, unplug it for now.

You say that you are using WEP, yet I don't see a key anywhere, iwconfig yieled "encryption key off" Try turning off any security on your router for now, so we know that's not causing the problem.

Lets try to connect to your wirless manually. Try running these commands for me.

Then try to connect to the internet. Post any output you get from those commands here.

Thanks for the suggestion. The results were as follows (no connection), both with WEP and security disabled:

linux-qv5w:~ # ifconfig eth0 down
linux-qv5w:~ # route add gw 192.168.1.1
gw: Unknown host
linux-qv5w:~ # iwconfig wlan0 essid NETGEAR
linux-qv5w:~ # ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.109
linux-qv5w:~ # iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"NETGEAR"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Encryption keyff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

sit0 no wireless extensions.

I have since connected the ethernet cable, ifconfig eth0 up, and I am replying on this forum using no-WEP.

Incidentally, the Yast settings were for WEP were in place. I disable WEP there too, without effect.

regards Clive, UK

Okay I'm running out of ideas. ifconfig eth0 down again, then run "iwlist wlan0 scan" (No quotes of course) and post the results here.

Hi there

iwlist wlan0 scan...resulted in

no scan results

I have just spent a hour or so seeing if I could get the thing working, no encryption, WEP, WPA and nothing changed. As far as the router broadcasting is concerned: I bought a new MacBook for my wife yesterday: it identified 2 nearby networks, of which mine was one, asked for the WEP password, and it works. Depressing. On the Suse Linux laptop, it does not spot any wireless networks at all (although it did under Suse 10.1).

I thank you for your patience and input...but my patience is nearly exhausted after nearly 1 month, and I am inclined to go looking for a replacement wireless network card that definitively works on a Dell & Suse. What do think?

regards Clive/UK

You might want to try your hand at the MadWifi drivers for Atheros. They are native linux drivers and if they work they'll work better than ndiswrapper. I'm a Slackware guy but I'm sure that they are in the repositories somewhere so you should be able to install them with Yast. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if when you updated your system, the kernel was upgraded and you possibly lost those madwifi drivers. Make sure that the drivers are compiled against the kernel that you have and you should be all set.

If those don't work then we'll look at ndiswrapper.

Good luck!

try using a old version of ndiswrapper. I could not get wpa_supplicant with kwlan front end working with my broadcom 4306 wlan nic. My wireless light would go on and it would show in my ifconfig, but would not connect. I was using the latest version of ndiswrapper from sourceforge. All I did was uninstall the lastest version of ndiswrapper (made sure most of the files were out of system after uninstall) and installed ndiswrapper version 1.12. I restarted my laptop after (after reinstalling the driver and modprobe ndiswrapper) and I was online.