This thread is to discuss the article titled: Netgear WG511 with WPA on SuSE 10.0

I've had some trouble configuring Suse 10.0 with wpa-psk. When using wpa-psk my laptop hung, except the touchpad. After some debugging I found out that wep and no-security did work. It turned out that any special characters made the system crash. My wpa-psk key was wwwwdddd#ww$wwwww (w=[a-z], d=[0-9]). Without the # and $ wpa-psk works like a charm, with the software provided by Yast.

(I was using my built in wlan device (Inspiron 6000, ipw2200))

Hi, I am a Linux newbie. I have often tried to install Linux (different distributions) on my Laptop, but I always failed with WLAN (only with a LIVE CD of Knoppix I've got a connection to my Router and to the Internet).
Since two weeks I try to configure my new Suse 10 that WLAN will work, but all I got (after an online update via the build in Ethernetcard) was an active WLAN (green LED on my Netgear WG511 is permanently on). I tried different configurations via YAST2 and KWIFI to get a connection to the DSL-Router and through it to the Internet. The best solution I obtained was the information of the router that a connection with 54Mps is active (the MAC adress of the WLAN card was also addressed)but there was no IP address assigned by the router (works as a DHCP server).
I was very happy about the detailed description I found for the installation of the WG511 with WPA on SuSE 10.0 in this forum and tried to follow it.
All worked well until I checked if ndiswrapper has installed the netwg511.inf file correct. Here a got the message: "netwg511 invalid driver".
I am confused and don't know how to proceed. I want to change from Microsoft to Linux, but I need a wireless connection to the Internet and as long as this doesn't work I can not change. Please help me. Thanks

You should probably check to see what version your card is and where it was made. From what I've read, the "Made in Taiwan" cards are easier to get working, but I got my "Made in China" version 3 card working. Try searching this site or googling for details on your specific card. Also, when installing the .inf file, make sure that the .sys file is in the same directory. That led to a lot of head scratching on my part until I figured that out. Good luck.

The link in the original WG511 post to the firmware at prism54.org no longer works. I went to the web site and they do have the file on the "FullMAC Driver page". I got the card working following the instructions (my thanks to munstah for those) but had problems with WPA. The Network Card section of Yast wasn't happy with my key selections. I finally found the NetworkManager tab in the system tray and it had a line for a WPA personal encryption key. I put in the key there and the system connected I've been trying different Linux distros to get this card working and never got any further than making the lights blink before now. Thanks for sharing the wisdom.

I followed the steps outlined in this post above. When I do an ifstatus wlan0 I see that the WPA_STATE=SCANNING and it remains there for ever.

I am not sure what the issue is and how to proceed further.

Any help is appreciated.

TIA

I had to run iwconfig to set the essid.

Thanks