Madwifi flub in Suse 10.1

I have googled this quite a bit, but most of what I am finding is either too unspecific about a fix or the problem isn't close enough to my specific circumstances for the solution to be useable.

I have an Atheros-based Belkin cardbus card that I use with my dual-boot Thinkpad A22m and like it very much. It kicks butt in XP Pro and MCE and worked really well under a previous install of Suse 10.1. Recently, I reinstalled Suse and now Madwifi is giving me grief.

DETAILS:
First I set up "http://madwifi.org/suse" as a channel in Smart along with the usual suspects (inst-source, suse-updates, Guru, Packman, oc2pus, etc.) and installed the precompiled binary of Madwifi, ver 0.9.1-1.1. I quickly noticed that the actual "madwifi" package is just a handful of tools and that I needed to install the kernel modules: "madwifi-kmp-default" of which the closest version was 0.9.1_2.6.16.21_0.8-1.1. Oddly, the modules only exist for the kdump kernel in the Madwifi repository. I went ahead and installed the kdump default kernel sources since they were listed as a dependency for the kernel modules. It (of course) only installed the modules in

/lib/modules/2.6.16.21-0.8-default/updates/

with links in

/lib/modules/2.6.16.21-0.13-kdump/weak-updates/

I am running kernel 2.6.16.13-4, so

modprobe ath_pci

flopped out on me. I copied the contents of

/lib/modules/2.6.16.21-0.8-default/updates/

to

/lib/modules/2.6.16.13-4-default/updates/

and the module loads now. Actually, when I plug the card into the slot, NetworkManager (or some other background app?) loads the module for me automatically, or it will load the module during boot if the card is plugged in when I power up the computer. It doesn't matter, though. If I load the module manually or let NetworkManager/whatever do it for me, the result is the same: a dead card.

dmesg pukes this out at me on a hotplug (similar to the output when manually loading the module or having the card in at boot):

pccard: CardBus card inserted into slot 0
ath_hal: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
ath_hal: disagrees about version of symbol wake_up_process
ath_hal: Unknown symbol wake_up_process
wlan: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol per_cpu__softnet_data
wlan: Unknown symbol per_cpu__softnet_data
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol dev_queue_xmit
wlan: Unknown symbol dev_queue_xmit
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol dev_alloc_name
wlan: Unknown symbol dev_alloc_name
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol ___pskb_trim
wlan: Unknown symbol ___pskb_trim
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol pskb_expand_head
wlan: Unknown symbol pskb_expand_head
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol wake_up_process
wlan: Unknown symbol wake_up_process
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol eth_type_trans
wlan: Unknown symbol eth_type_trans
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol skb_under_panic
wlan: Unknown symbol skb_under_panic
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol __alloc_skb
wlan: Unknown symbol __alloc_skb
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol skb_copy_expand
wlan: Unknown symbol skb_copy_expand
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol skb_over_panic
wlan: Unknown symbol skb_over_panic
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol dev_open
wlan: Unknown symbol dev_open
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol dev_close
wlan: Unknown symbol dev_close
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol wireless_send_event
wlan: Unknown symbol wireless_send_event
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol netif_receive_skb
wlan: Unknown symbol netif_receive_skb
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol free_netdev
wlan: Unknown symbol free_netdev
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol netif_rx
wlan: Unknown symbol netif_rx
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol skb_realloc_headroom
wlan: Unknown symbol skb_realloc_headroom
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol netif_carrier_off
wlan: Unknown symbol netif_carrier_off
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol skb_copy
wlan: Unknown symbol skb_copy
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol skb_clone
wlan: Unknown symbol skb_clone
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol netif_carrier_on
wlan: Unknown symbol netif_carrier_on
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol unregister_netdevice
wlan: Unknown symbol unregister_netdevice
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol __kfree_skb
wlan: Unknown symbol __kfree_skb
wlan: disagrees about version of symbol register_netdevice
wlan: Unknown symbol register_netdevice
ath_rate_sample: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ath_rate_sample: Unknown symbol ether_sprintf
ath_rate_sample: Unknown symbol ath_hal_computetxtime
ath_rate_sample: Unknown symbol ieee80211_iterate_nodes
ath_pci: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol per_cpu__softnet_data
ath_pci: Unknown symbol per_cpu__softnet_data
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_tx_complete
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_encap
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_input
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_ifattach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol _ath_hal_attach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_beacon_update
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_find_channel
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_find_rxnode
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_attach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ether_sprintf
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol unregister_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol unregister_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_vap_setup
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_ifdetach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_free_node
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_input_monitor
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol ___pskb_trim
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ___pskb_trim
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_newassoc
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_computetxtime
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_crypto_newkey
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_crypto_setkey
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol ether_setup
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ether_setup
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol pskb_expand_head
ath_pci: Unknown symbol pskb_expand_head
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_dump_pkt
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_ioctl_create_vap
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_dfs_test_return
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_mhz2ieee
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_stop_running
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_detach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_cipher_none
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol __alloc_skb
ath_pci: Unknown symbol __alloc_skb
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_note
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_crypto_delkey
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol skb_over_panic
ath_pci: Unknown symbol skb_over_panic
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_media_change
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_beacon_miss
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_beacon_alloc
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_getcfframe
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_iterate_nodes
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_vap_attach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_ibss_merge
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol register_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol register_netdev
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol free_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol free_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_probe
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_node_cleanup
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_send_qosnulldata
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_detach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_create_vap
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_wme_acnames
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_input_all
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_media_status
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_start_running
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_vap_detach
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_announce
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_mark_dfs
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol alloc_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol alloc_netdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_chan2ieee
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol skb_copy
ath_pci: Unknown symbol skb_copy
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_state_name
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_node_init
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_findrate
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_init_channels
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_dturbo_switch
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_crypto_encap
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol alloc_etherdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol alloc_etherdev
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_chan2mode
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_getrssi
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ieee80211_find_txnode
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_newstate
ath_pci: disagrees about version of symbol __kfree_skb
ath_pci: Unknown symbol __kfree_skb
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_setupxtxdesc
ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_getwirelessmodes

Now it seems obvious to me that this has something to do with my environment or a version conflict between the "madwifi" and "madwifi-kmp-default" packages, but these are what madwifi.org has offered up in their repo! I suppose I could chop out the precompiled binaries completely and compile it myself from a source tarball I nabbed from sf.net, but WHY? I know that the binaries *CAN* work because I used them on this version of this distro on this laptop with this card only a few days ago! I have also had consistently bad luck trying to compile programs myself. I *really* like binaries unless they just don't exist or I need major customization, such as a new kernel.

I'm not sure what has changed, but I only barely qualify as a Linux novice (and that is probably being generous) and know very little about madwifi except that it is insanely versatile if you don't mind twiddling with a handful of command-line tools. I personally don't care about all of that versatility; I just want my card to work in a managed network, support WPA-PSK encryption, and support monitor mode for when I travel.

Any ideas? Anybody seen this before?

TIA,

J

P.S. - Is there a trick to getting the LED's on the card to work? I have always only had the CLI and GUI to tell me that the card is live. The LED's never worked in Linux, although they work fine in XP with the ndis driver (and ndiswrapper is NOT an option when something as great as madwifi exists).

Also FYI, I am running

depmod -a

after each change...

Hmmm... A week of no responses to what turned out to be a simple fix SHOULD sway my faith in the "community spirit" of open source, but I'll just be nice and post the solution that I figured out for posterity...

It turns out that the binaries in the Madwifi repo are compiled against the latest stock kernel for the distro; hence, I had to get the kernel update from a "Suse-Updates" repo mirror and the binaries worked fine.

J

Try Kubuntu instead of SuSE for headache-less wireless setup.

Install synaptic, set the repositories in synaptic to look for the universal repositories,... get and install the madwifi drivers, wpagui, and any other wpa tools you can get your hands on from synaptic. You'll be much happier.

Originally Posted by litlmary Hmmm... A week of no responses to what turned out to be a simple fix SHOULD sway my faith in the "community spirit" of open source, but I'll just be nice and post the solution that I figured out for posterity... It turns out that the binaries in the Madwifi repo are compiled against the latest stock kernel for the distro; hence, I had to get the kernel update from a "Suse-Updates" repo mirror and the binaries worked fine. J

All I can suggest is to post on more than one linux forum. I don't mean posting in more than one area on this one. Do a google search for linux forums and try a couple of them. Sometimes a person has more luck on one than another. It all depends on who is reading your post.