Ok, I've been following the steps that have been posted, and it all goes well, until i get to step 7: ndiswrapper-l, i get the error message bash: ndiswrapper: command not found I'm total linux newb, and would love to know what I've done wrong
hope to hear something soon
Dante__182

Nice how-to article you wrote there. I tried to follow the steps and got kind of close but still no bananas. Got the ndiswrapper to load at boot time only after editing /etc/rc.d/rc.local, but still not connecting to any AP, as if iwconfig loses its settings. I can scan APs around my place, but would have to set essid and key manually in order to connect to my AP. Even then the signal level is way down: -32 db.

I have a Dell e1705 with a wireless 1390 mini-card and am running 2.6.16-1.2122_FC5smp with a matching kernel devel package (via yum).

I'll be very grateful if you can shed light on:
1. Why iwconfig settings seem missing?
2. If I go to Network Configuration, only eth0 shows up as net device. wlan0 does show up in Hardware pane with status 'configured'. Why?

TIA,

Kwei

I'm running FC5, and you can find ndiswrapper in /usr/sbin

In general, you can use 'find' command on Linux to find things.

Kwei

Dante,

Before you run the ndiswrapper -l command make sure you do su -c 'bash -l' (this will log the shell so that you can run the aforementioned command).

And Kwei - I have stored my configurations commands in the /etc/rc.local and they run everytime I start my box, I also included intermitent pauses such as: ping -c3 127.0.0.1 > /dev/null between my commands so that it will run more stable and wont crash. If you wish to not have Eth0 start upon boot you can edit the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file and set the following value ONBOOT=no

Yaomk,

Thanks for the tips. I ended up creating a wireless device named wlan0 via System/Admin/Network (GUI), where I entered the wireless settings, and then add the following line to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
ifup wlan0

The wireless connection now goes up at boot time. I might try your trick of inserting pauses if it starts crashing.

thx again. I'm gonna fix display resolution and sound next.

Kwei

Hi.

I got a lot of tips from this thread. After struggling for a week or so I could set up Broadcom Wireless Adaptor version bcmwl5.inf on HP nx9010. Great!!!

Other useful webpage from Technetra is ndis_wrapper_wifi_html

Thanks..

RKGarg

type: which gcc
There error[s] indicates that you can't see the GNU dev tools (gcc, ar, etc...)
Put them in the path, or install them .

Hi.
My kernel is 2.6.16-1.2122_FC5 686 REGPARM 4KSTACKS gcc-4.1
Kernel ver 2054 was autoupdated on internet (using cable connection for eth0) while installing ndiswrapper 1.13 using yum command.
The driver used is bcmwl5.inf from c:\windows\drivers directory. 2.6.16-1.2122_FC5 686 REGPARM 4KSTACKS gcc-4.1

I hope this may be helpful.
RKGarg

Hello everyone,
Before trying to use this ndiswrapper hack that taints your kernel, have some considered trying this:
http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/
Which is a true linux driver that is being heavily maintained and waiting for feedback from users with newer laptop models. There is a compatibility list but more hardware is supported. This driver is stable enough so that it is integrated in 2.6.17 kernel. Worth trying!?

If it really doesn't work, then go with ndiswrapper.

don't use KSRC... The new version I got, I have to use KBUILD.

dear all,
i have a similar problem as matt's.
i've installed fedora core 5 with kernel version 2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 and went on to install the latest kernel, viz 2.6.16-1.2129_FC5-i686 together with its devel file, like kayoss717 suggested. trouble in step 5, as he's confused between the two kernels:

[grunberg@dhcppc2 ndiswrapper-1.17]$ make install KSRC=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.16-1.2129_FC5-i686
make -C driver install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/grunberg/Ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.17/driver'Can't find kernel build files in /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build;
give the path to kernel build directory with
KBUILD=<path> argument to make
make[1]: *** [prereq_check] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/grunberg/Ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.17/driver'
make: *** [install] Error 2

he's still using the old kernel despite rebooting, as i see from uname -r. how can i solve this ?
thanks,
dan

well, linuxnewbie1972 was right to point out that one should use KBUILD instaed of KSRC.
however, my problem somewhat persists:
after several succesfull steps of
make install KBUILD=/usr/src/kernels/2.6.16-1.2129_FC5-i686
i face the following error, suggesting he's still confused between the two kernels:
thanks for any help,
dan

make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.16-1.2129_FC5-i686'
*** WARNING: Kernel is compiled with 4K stack size option (CONFIG_4KSTACKS); many Windows drivers will not work with this option enabled. Disable CONFIG_4KSTACKS option, recompile and install kernel

mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/misc
mkdir: cannot create directory `/lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/misc': Permission denied
make[1]: *** [install] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/grunberg/Ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.17/driver'
make: *** [install] Error 2

Hi Guys,

I have been able to follow this post up until now.

I have installed the correct kernel source and devel rpms. I then installed ndiswrapper and all went well. I was able to install the driver and when I type ndiswrapper -l I can see that it is installed and the hardware is present.

When I move on to the next step which is modprobe ndiswrapper I get the following error:

FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp/misc/ndiswrapper.ko): Invalid module format.

I know that this means I have the wrong kernel-devel installed but I double checked and it is the correct one.

What do I do to fix this?

Thanks

Hi.
I had installed ndiswrapper and bcmwl5 driver for my laptop HP nx 9010. I am giving sequence here. Original kernel ver was 2054_FC5. I straightway followed these steps which have been updated and correct.
(1) Update kernel to 2.6.16-1.2129_FC5.i586 with sources by downloading following three files.
(i) kernel-2.6.16-1.2129_FC5.i586.rpm
(ii) kernel-devel-2.6.16-1.2129_FC5.i586.rpm
(iii) kernel-2.6.16-1.2129_FC5.src.rpm

Make a directory as
(i) mkdir /usr/src/redhat/
(ii) mkdir /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES

Install all as
rpm -i *.rpm --aid --force

(2) After installation boot the system in new kernel version that is 2.6.16-1.2129

(3) Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndiswrapper/ and download ndiswrapper-1.16.tar.gz file. Extract it to /tmp/ndiswrapper-1.16 folder and install it following the instructins written in the document INSTALL which is supplied in above folder.

(4) find out your bcmwl5.inf and .sys files in windows and copy them to /usr/broadcom folder. I am mentioning in windows because you are sure that this driver works fine with the hardware.

(5) In root terminal, change to this directory cd /usr/broadcom

(6) Type following command

ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

You should be 100% sure of your bcmwl5 driver which works on notebook else no success.

(7) Verify proper installation and hardware compatibility by typing command
ndiswrapper -l
(8) It should display:
"bcmwl5 driver installed, hardware present"
If you don't get it then problem with driver.

(9) Place a line in /etc/modprobe.conf at top using editor:
alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

(10) Now you can reboot to have it activated, or you can run following two commands:

(i) depmod -a
(ii) modprobe ndiswrapper

(11) Deactivate the ethernet port by command

ifconfig eth0 down

(12) Activate the wireless port by command

ifconfig wlan0 up

(13) To see wlan0 details to be used in next step type command

(i) iwconfig
(ii) iwlist wlan0 scan shows the Access points and details

(14) run command sytem-config-network for configuring the network. I have configured only static IPs option and left everything to default.

(15) You may ping your gateway to confirm the wireless connectivity.


I hope this is helpful.
RKGarg

thanx gargrk72. now in the meantime, i've removed the 2.6.16 kernel and kept my 2.6.15 one, then installed ndiswrapper. things went ok, including modprobe. now i'm trying to use the access point of my the neighbourhood (some neighbours using windows XP tell me they can use several APs without encryption key). with
$ /sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
i see 6 APs, of which 3 have their encryption key on and 3 have it off. with
$ /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid "NETGEAR"
i choose one of the 3 that has the key off. then i do
$ /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 key open
and get the following error msg:
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A): SET failed on device wlan0; Invalid argument.
if i do
$ /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 key off
$ /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up
no error msg but then i still have no connection, and netstat -rn doesnt show any result for wlan0.
what's wrong ? thanks for helping that hapless newbie...
cheers,
dan