drivers fight to take over wifi cards

alaios · 11-22-2007, 07:05 AM

hello all,

so here is the situation,

i want : to have two wireless cards on my laptop working (it would be the best if they could be working with the madwifi driver)

i have : an acer 5051AWXMi laptop with an on board wifi card (atheros chipset AR5007EG) and two external pcmcia wifi cards, netgear WG511v2 and netgear WAG511 (older than the first one)

my trials : i cannot get the onboard wifi card working with the madwifi driver... from many posts that i have read,unfortunately this chipset is not working with madwifi (and more sadly it is erroneously reported by lspci as an AR5006EG and took me 4 days to find that out)... so, I have managed to get this on board wifi card working with the ndiswrapper and i cannot find any way that i can make it work with madwifi

now, when i insert the netgear wag511 (which has an atheros chipset supported by madwifi) into the slot the distro (kubuntu 7.10) hangs there and i cannot do anything (does not respond to anything). if i uninstall the ndis drivers of the onboard card then i can make the netgear wag511 to work with madwifi...when i try to install the ndis driver for the on board card, when i reboot it hangs there..

when i try to use ndis drivers for both cards i do get :

Code:

module configuration contains directive install pci:v000011ABd00001FAAsv00004E00
sd00001385bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 28.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v000011ABd00001FAAsv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 29.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v000011ABd00001FABsv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 30.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv00001021
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 31.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv00001022
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 32.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv00002021
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 33.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv00002022
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 34.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv00007005
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 35.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 36.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00000417
sd00001468bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 37.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001025
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 38.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001026
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 39.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001027
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 40.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001030
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 41.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001031
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 42.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001041
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 43.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001042
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 44.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001051
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 45.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001053
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 46.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001234
sd000010CFbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 47.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001235
sd000010CFbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 48.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001236
sd000010CFbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 49.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002025
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 50.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002026
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 51.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002027
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 52.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002030
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 53.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002031
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 54.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002041
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 55.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002042
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 56.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002051
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 57.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00002053
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 58.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007005
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 59.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007005
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 60.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007057
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 61.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007058
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 62.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007064
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 63.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007065
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 64.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007084
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 65.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00007088
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 66.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 67.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000014sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 68.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000015sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 69.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000016sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 70.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000017sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 71.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000018sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 72.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd00000019sv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 73.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00000418
sd00001468bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 74.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00000420
sd00001468bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 75.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00001052
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 76.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00001054
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 77.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00002052
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 78.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00002054
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 79.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv00007094
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 80.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 81.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00001061
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 82.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00001062
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 83.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00001063
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 84.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00001065
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 85.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00001329
sd000010CFbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 86.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv0000134F
sd000010CFbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 87.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00002061
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 88.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00002062
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 89.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00002063
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 90.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00002065
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 91.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv00007092
sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 92.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv*sd*bc*s
c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 93.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00000422
sd00001468bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 94.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00000428
sd00001468bc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 95.
module configuration contains directive install pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv0000139C
sd000010CFbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 96.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00003061
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 97.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00003062
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 98.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00003063
sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 2 99.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00003065                                          
               sd0000168Cbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE>
line 3                                                          00.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00007096                                          
               sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE>
line 3                                                          01.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv00007106                                          
               sd0000144Fbc*sc*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE>
line 3                                                          02.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv*sd*bc*s                                          
               c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE>
line 3                                                          03.
module configuration contains directive install
pci:v0000168Cd0000FF19sv*sd*bc*s                                          
               c*i* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper ;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE>
line 3                                                          04.
module configuration already contains alias directive

or when sometimes i try to install just one card..(but when i reboot it works)

so q1) how can i get both cards working with ndis (this is the worst case scenario but at least i could have both of them working)..

q2) why does the distro hang when i insert the pcmcia card and the madwifi driver tries to take over (or at least this is what i understand from the situation)

any ideas/suggestions/proposals are really welcome

jschiwal · 11-23-2007, 12:00 AM

I think that the answer has to do with the /etc/modprobe.d/<config> or /etc/modprobe.conf entries.

You can include modprobe options in the entry for each kernel module explicitly telling it the i/o address and interupt to use. Use the output of "sudo /sbin/lspci -v" to determine the values to use.
Here is an example of an options entry. Sometimes there will also be a text file for a kernel module in /etc/src/linux/Documentation/ that includes options you can use. Also check the README file in /usr/share/doc/ for the package.

Example from /etc/modprobe.conf:

Code:

 options e2100          io=0x300 irq=10 mem=0xd0000 xcvr=0

Code:

lspci -v | sed -n '/Broadcom/,/^$/p'
02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company NX9500 Built-in Wireless
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
        Memory at e0104000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]

I think I would use the options
options ndiswrapper io=0x8000 irq=11 mem=0xe0104000

I haven't done this before however, so I don't know absolutely if this is correct.

alaios · 11-23-2007, 07:14 AM

hmm this didn't work but for a weird reason a restart worked and i now have two wireless cards working with ndis.. (the onboard and the pcmcia)..

is there any way of having one of them acting as an access point? i tried to set them (using iwconfig) in master mode but they refuse with the following :

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; invalid argument.

both of them cannot be used as access point.. any ideas?

ps. should i open another thread for that? because it is not reflected on this topic..

jschiwal · 11-25-2007, 05:03 AM

I think you can configure that from the YaST2 network devices config. You may need another package installed to control an AP. It may also be a matter whether the card or ndiswrapper supports it.

I would read the linux-wireless howto on the www.tldp.org website before trying it.