If their ChangeLog is to be believed, Mandrake pulled the 2.4.23-pre1 kernel
patches into their 2.4.22-2mdk release. Unfortunately, the 2.4.23-pre1 patches
include yet another addition to "struct net_device" that changes the offset
of the "priv" member. This is similar to the change described in post #130, and
has the same result: a "priv_part.o" compiled against older kernels won't
work in the newer kernels.

Until RealTek releases a driver compiled against 2.4.23-pre1 or later, I think
your only option is to install an older kernel. I'm not familiar with Mandrake,
but if you can get 2.4.22-1mdk or earlier from them you might be OK. It'd
be even better if you could get something from them closer to the kernel
used to build that driver's "priv_part.o" (2.4.20-8).

Great thread!, lots of information, I've learned a lot just by going through all the posts... BUT, my card is still not working.

I've downloaded the SUSE (from a site posted somewhere above) and the GCC-3.0 (from Realtek) drivers. Both compiled with no problem (well, I had to modify line 128 of the SUSE), both insmod OK, but I get "no private ioctls" from iwpriv and "no wireless extensions" from iwconfig for wlan0. What could be missing ? I've seen a reference to this issue in some posts above, but found no answer to it.

Some info from my system:

1. lspci -v shows:

04:00.0
Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 8180 (rev 20)
Subsystem: Linksys: Unknown device 0019
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 4000 [size=256]
Memory at 10800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

2. lsmod shows:

rtl8180_24x 243952 0 (unused)

3. cat /proc/rtl8180/status shows:

************ Current driver status ************
rtl8180_pci_driver loaded.
MacAddr = 00:06:25:2f:37:e0
ioaddr = 0x4000
irq = 11

-- RTL8180 Link status --

Channel number = 0
beacon period = 100
BSSID = 0x00 0x11 0x22 0x33 0x44 0x55
SSID = 0x61(a) 0x70(p) 0x74(t) 0x65(e) 0x73(s) 0x74(t) 0x32(2)
Capability = 0x00
AID = 0x00
Operational rate = <1><2><5.5><11>Mbps

4. dmesg shows:

******** RTL8180 Wireless Lan Driver 2003-06-11 loaded********
RTL8180: 04:00.0: region #0 IS a PIO resource!
RTL8180: request_region(0x00004000,0x00000100) !
RTL8180: STA is NOT acting as AP!
RTL8180: LITTLE_ENDIAN memory access
RTL8180: station mode eeprom info
RTL8180: EEpromAddressSize = 8!
RTL8180: eepromID = 0x8129
RTL8180: EEPROMVersion = 0x0102
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 0 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 1 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 2 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 3 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 4 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 5 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 6 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 7 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 8 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 9 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 10 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 11 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 12 = 0x24
RTL8180: Tx Power Level, channel 13 = 0x24
RTL8180: ChannelPlan = 0x0000
RTL8180: RFChipID = 0x0004
RTL8180: EEPROMVersion > 0x0101
RTL8180: AntennaDiversity = TRUE
RTL8180: CSThreshold = 0x000a
RTL8180: DigitalPhy = TRUE
RTL8180: DefaultAntennaB = FALSE
RTL8180: CSMethod = RCR_EnCS1
RTL8180: wlan driver loaded. ioaddr=0x4000, irq=11, MAC_addr=0:6:25:2f:37:e0

5. iwpriv shows:

wlan0 no private ioctls.

6. iwconfig shows:

wlan0 no wireless extensions.

7. I am using a Debian based distro with kernel 2.4.20.

So, the driver is loading and it detects the device, but for some reason (I am lost here), it is not showing its private ioctls, so I cannot setup the card and cannot enable it (if I type iwpriv wlan0 enable I get the same "no private ioctls" message).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi All,
I have been following this thread for about a week. Lots of great input, hard efforts by so many. Super!
For what it's worth, I am not a programmer,coder, guru or anyone with a special ability, just someone who enjoys computing! So here goes.

Set The Scene: This is my reliable workhorse! Toshiba Satellite, 400 celeron, 192 RAM, RH 9 and Win2K, Netgear FA410(eth0), Linksys WPC11v4(wlan0), Linksys WRT54g(ver.1.1, firmware 1.42.2)AP/Router/Switch.
Below is history of my first attempt:
Step 1: Download rtl8180_linuxdrv_v13(gcc3.xx).zip from Realtek.com.tw(Thanks Realtek!).
Step 2: Unpack file, run "make" against kernel 2.4.20-8.
Step 3: Customize "wlanup" script for my specific AP settings.
Step 4: Run "wlanup" script, module rtl8180_24x.o loads, WPC11 begins to blink, but, no comm's to the AP.
Step 6: Disable all WEP settings in "wlanup" and AP. Run script again, same results as before.. umm OK.
Step 7: I went back to post#304 of this thread, by ongakugainochi(NICE!), and carefully rewrote the Realtek "wlanup" script *in the same order*. Again adding my specific AP settings where needed.
Step 8: Run "wlanup" and BINGO! 128bit wireless access working perfect. Below is the script that worked for me:
--------begin snip------------
------------------------------

#Load module
/sbin/insmod rtl8180_24x.o


#Set SSID
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para networktype=infra
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para ssid=<network-name>
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para channel=6
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para ssid2scan=<network-name>
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepmode=on
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepmode=wep104
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepkey104_1=<key-code-here>
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepdkeyid=0
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para authtype=sharedkey


#Enable wireless lan driver
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 enable



#Configure wlan0 IP address
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.116 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.1.1
echo "$(/sbin/ifconfig wlan0)"

----------------------------
-----------end-snip---------
As best as I can tell, the order of the commands is what made the difference for my laptop. When I rearrange the iwpriv commands in the script, comms to the AP stop.
To test my results, I deleted all files and started over. The same thing happened, the Realtek "wlanup" script wouldn't do it. As soon as I wrote the script in the same order as ongakugainochi(post# 304) had suggested, my network with 128bit security "lit up".
This was my little test, if someone with more "skillz" than I can test it, great.
Hats off to ALL! Very humbling experience to see so much effort put into one thread!(I hope Linksys/Cisco realizes this for future support of drivers?)
Anyway, Thanks.
w4rth0g

A new version of the 8180 driver (1.4) has been released.

Hi All,
update to my prior post,(# 363). I downloaded the Realtek rtl8180 version 1.4, built the module against my RH 9, 2.4.20-8 kernel and started testing.
My results were like before. What I did realize after reading the Realtek
"readme", however, was that some information in the "wlanup" script is not
needed. If your using an AP, the ssid and channel can be left out of the script.
The Realtek readme is pretty informative, they explain the 3 different modes that might be needed and how to write the script to be ready for all 3 modes... cool. I wish I could get there scipt to function!
In closing, this post is being sent via my wireless lan. My "wlanup" script is below, my card is Linksys WPC11 v4, AP is Linksys WRT54G
router/switch, 128bit WEP, using the Realtek version 1.4 rtl8180_24x.o module.

----------begin-snip---------
------------------------------
#Load module
/sbin/insmod rtl8180_24x.o


#Set SSID
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para networktype=infra
#/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para ssid=<network-name>
#/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para channel=6
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para ssid2scan=<network-name>
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepmode=on
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para encmode=wep
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepmode=wep104
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepkey104_1=<your-key-code>
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para wepdkeyid=0
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 wlan_para authtype=sharedkey


#Enable wireless lan driver
/sbin/iwpriv wlan0 enable



#Configure wlan0 IP address
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.116 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.1.1
echo "$(/sbin/ifconfig wlan0)"

----------end-snip---------
---------------------------

I will be following this thread for a bit, if anyone needs more specifics on my set-up, post and I will get what you need.
Hope this helps.
w4rth0g

i just got the new driver, version 1.4 and i'm compiling on gcc 3.2

my kernel version is 2.4.22-10 on mandrake 9.2

whenever i load the module it says initializing.....is there any solution to this with the newer driver b/c i had this problem with version 1.3 too...

I am also using 2.4.22-10 on Mdk9.2 and have the same problem

when I run make I get the following warning:

In file included from /usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/asm/semaphore.h:39,
from /usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/linux/fs.h:204,
from /usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/linux/capability.h:17,
from /usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/linux/binfmts.h:5,
from /usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/linux/sched.h:9,
from r8180_if.c:27:
/usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/asm/system.h: In function `__set_64bit_var':
/usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/asm/system.h:194: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules
/usr/src/linux-2.4.22-10mdk/include/asm/system.h:194: warning: dereferencing type-punned pointer will break strict-aliasing rules


when I insmod the module it seg faults
lsmod says the module is initializing

iwconfig never does anything useful with this driver, but having
iwpriv fail is strange. Especially since the driver itself seems to be
loading fine.

What version of the wireless-tools package are you using?
You might also look at the "common problems" section at:
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_...nux/Tools.html

It's lying, of course. It was initializing when it blew up, "insmod"
just has no way to "back out" the module in that event. If your
machine runs until the end of time, that module will still be
"initializing".

If you're seeing the same oops as coolj (a bad address value
like "000e0109"), you have the same problem: the "shape" of
an important data structure in the 2.4.22-10mdk kernel is different
than it's "shape" in the 2.4.20-8 kernel that the RealTek driver
was compiled against.

You either need a different driver (and RealTek hasn't yet produced one
with the correct "shape") or you need a different kernel (and I don't
know what sort of options Mandrake gives you in this regard).

Has *anyone* got this driver to run under *any* Mandrake version, BTW?

I just dug out Mandrake 9.1 and the version 1.4 driver compiles and seems to load fine. Mdk9.1 has kernel 2.4.21.0-13mdk

Just have to setup the wlanup script properly to match the configuration of my brothers AP (wep, ssid, dhcp, etc) and see if it works fully.
crosses fingers, toes ...

Up and running with 2.6.0-test9-mm2 and WPC11v4, thanks to linuxant. It loaded with the linksys driver that came with the card, but I never managed to connect to an AP. But using the XP driver from realtek, it is working well.

If anyone is interested in using a 2.6 kernel with this card, I guess this is the only choice. Also now you can use all the wireless tools to scan and set things. You will probably also be able to use GUIs that ship with different distros for setting it up etc.

You can choose what interface you want it to load as, which is nice, gives you power to adjust it to your setup.

Lets just hope I don't have to pay for this (or not too much at least).

i followed the directions posted in this thread, i can see the AP from my driver and it tries connecting to it but it keeps timing out, i dont have wep, i use dhcpclient, is that different from dhcpd?

This is similar to the 2.4.22 not working problem. If you are running 2.4.22, try a different kernel (older).

i have 2.40.20-18 (or maybe thatz wrong) but its the default kernel which came with rehad 9.0

i have static DHCP in my router set(dlink 614+) could that be an issue?

Thanks for your answer.

I am using version 25 of the wireless-tools.

I've just tested version 1.4 of the realtek driver and it is still a no go. I will check the link above and let you know what happens.

Thanks again,