LinuxQuestions.org - Newbie; Netgear MA101(b) on Mandrake 10.1

- Linux - Hardware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/)

- - Newbie; Netgear MA101(b) on Mandrake 10.1 (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/newbie%3B-netgear-ma101-b-on-mandrake-10-1-a-270610/)

Newbie; Netgear MA101(b) on Mandrake 10.1

Normally I like to lurk a while before I register on a forum to make sure I don't look like an idiot, but I'm getting kind of desperate and want to get this resolved quickly.

I entered the Linux world a couple days ago by installing Mandrake on an unused computer. I ran into various trivial problems and one quasi-serious one: I can't connect to my network through my wireless usb adapter. I've searched the internet high and low but can't find anything that could help me resolve the problem - well a couple sites came close, but aren't applicable to my distribution.

Specs:
Mandrake 10.1 Community
Kernel 2.6.8
Netgear Wireless MA101 (Revision B) USB Adapter (to a Netgear MR814 router, but I haven't gotten that far yet)

Right now I'm using an ethernet cable, which was auto-detected within seconds, but eventually this machine will be moved. The Control Center seems unable to install the drivers for any wireless device, or else I am grossly misusing it. 'ifconfig -a' gives me devices eth0 (lan connection), lo (local loopback), and sit0 (I have no idea), but I see no wlan0. 'iwconfig' simply says "no wireless extensions" for those three.

I've never compiled a kernel or driver before, I don't know how they interact, and I don't fully understand the 'make' tool, but I tried anyway. First I attempted to compile the atmel driver, which told me to change some kernel options first and load in a patch. I can't even begin to tell you what the errors were, there were just so many at different stages. Then I read up on the at76c503a driver and tried that one. I think I'm slightly closer, but there's still no wlan0.

I'm working under the assumption that if I plug in my adapter and see a device in ifconfig named something like wlan, that means I've succeeded and I can proceed to work with the network itself. If I'm wrong, let me know - the last thing I want to do is direct my efforts at the wrong solution.

Anyway, here's my syslog from when I plugged in the adapter:

Code:

Dec 26 19:06:53 localhost kernel: usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 7

Dec 26 19:07:00 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using address 8

Dec 26 19:07:00 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: using compiled-in firmware

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: reset full speed USB device using address 8

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: device firmware changed

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: unable to get descriptor

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: unexpected opmode 185

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 8

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: wlan%%d disconnecting

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: at76c503-rfmd disconnected

Dec 26 19:07:03 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using address 9

Dec 26 19:07:04 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: using compiled-in firmware

Dec 26 19:07:04 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: getting firmware failed with -32, or version is 0

Dec 26 19:07:04 localhost kernel: 3rdparty/at76c503a/at76c503.c: this probably means that the ext. fw was not loaded correctly

And my lsusb:

Code:

Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0864:4102 NetGear, Inc. MA101 802.11b Adapter

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

So I assume this means I need to load in the firmware somehow. I downloaded firmware images, but even if I knew which one applied to my hardware, I have no clue what to do with it.

If you have ideas or suggestions, I'd really appreciate any help.

[edit] Gah.. I see there's a restriction on new posters entering url tags, but since these are sites that I referred to for technical reasons and don't benefit from page hits, I'll post their urls:
at76c503a.berlios.de
at76c503a.berlios.de/fw_dl.html
And for the record, I have indeed searched these forums and others - believe me, asking for help is normally a last resort for me. :)

I took another look at the firmware readme and found that I missed an install.sh. That made me feel a little better, but I still got the same log output about not loading it properly. The atmel_fwl utility for loading the firmware says it accepts as an argument an interface - doesn't this mean that I have to be able to see wlan or whatever before the firmware is loaded? If so, I'm missing a whole other step in this.

Woah! I booted up today and suddenly saw it configuring wlan0! Contrary to everything I've heard about Linux, the machine required a restart. :)

I still can't get internet through the device, but I suspect that's due to this shorewall firewall utility - I'm seeing a lot of packets rejected in the syslog due to it. But in case that doesn’t work I'll give you my syslog now.

[size=small]

Code:

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new driver usbfs

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new driver hub

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v2.2

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 9 for device 0000:00:04.2

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:04.2: UHCI Host Controller

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:04.2: irq 9, io base 0000d400

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:04.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using address 2

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: /root/drivers/at76c503a/at76_usbdfu.c: USB Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) handler v0.12beta22-static loading

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: /root/drivers/at76c503a/at76c503.c: Generic Atmel at76c503/at76c505 routines v0.12beta22-static

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: /root/drivers/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: Atmel at76c503 (RFMD) Wireless LAN Driver v0.12beta22-static loading

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: /root/drivers/at76c503a/at76c503-fw_skel.c: using compiled-in firmware

Dec 27 10:17:52 localhost kernel: usbcore: registered new driver at76c503-rfmd



--- And later ---



Dec 27 10:16:45 localhost ifup:  

Dec 27 10:16:45 localhost ifup: Determining IP information for wlan0... 

Dec 27 10:16:53 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8 

Dec 27 10:17:16 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7 

Dec 27 10:17:33 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7 

Dec 27 10:17:41 localhost dhclient: DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.1 

Dec 27 10:17:41 localhost dhclient: DHCPACK from 192.168.1.1 

Dec 27 10:17:41 localhost ifup:  done. 

Dec 27 10:17:41 localhost NET: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-post : updated /etc/resolv.conf 

Dec 27 10:17:41 localhost postfix[2584]: warning: My hostname localhost is not a fully qualified name - set myhostname or mydomain in /etc/postfix/main.cf 

Dec 27 10:17:41 localhost postfix/master[2585]: warning: My hostname localhost is not a fully qualified name - set myhostname or mydomain in /etc/postfix/main.cf

[/size]

I think the trick here, for all who are looking for a solution, is to download the CVS of at76c503a. It seems to have the firmware update util built in.

Do that, compile it, check your local distro for an RPM of the firmware stuff. After you do all that, and then unplug and plug in your unit, REBOOT the darn thing.

Hope this helps