Wifi installation problem for a Atheros chipset
 

I tried to install madwifi, so I could get my TEW-441PC working, but when I went to make, this is the error I got:

/bin/sh: line 0: cd: /lib/modules/2.6.18-5-486/build: No such file or directory
Makefile.inc:66: *** /lib/modules/2.6.18-5-486/build is missing, please set KERNELPATH. Stop.

I echoed kernelpath, and it wasn't set to anything! I tried to figure out what to set it to, but I can't figure out how to find "build".

So instead I went and tried to install ndiswrapper after that, but when I tried to make that, it gave a gazillion errors, but basically acted like it didn't understand basic C commands. Some examples are:

loadndisdriver.c:527: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘atoi’
loadndisdriver.c:542: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘atof’
loadndisdriver.c:549: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘strcmp’

I know that I have gcc 4.1 installed (I checked with gnome-apt). I'm not even really sure where to start in this problem... Anyone have any ideas for me?

Install the kernel source package for the kernel you're running. You'll probably want the headers as well.

I loaded linux-header, but I couldn't find a linux-source or kernel-source anywhere. I tried downloading linux-image and that changed things, but now when I try to make madwifi, it couldn't find the headers, so it of course gave a bunch of errors like ndiswrapper did. How do I tell it where to find the proper header files? Or did I download the wrong thing?

home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:26:19: error: stdio.h: No such file or directory
/home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:27:19: error: errno.h: No such file or directory
/home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:28:20: error: getopt.h: No such file or directory
/home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:29:20: error: string.h: No such file or directory
/home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:30:20: error: stdlib.h: No such file or directory
/home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:32:23: error: sys/fcntl.h: No such file or directory
/home/mama/Desktop/madwifi-0.9.3.2/ath_hal/uudecode.c:33:22: error: sys/stat.h: No such file or directory

.....

Looks like something's gone wrong, as you're missing some headers you definitely should have.

So no one knows what might be the problem here? Whatever is going on, I can't seem to install anything except what I use aptitude to get. Is there some path that I need to set? Or a header file or something that I'm missing? This seems like a fairly fundamental problem, so I'm sure that someone else has run across this before...

Those C header files are part of libc6-dev. Do you have it installed?

Norm

Yes, I have "libc6-dev" installed. I also have "libc6" and "libc6-i686" installed. I'm running an Intel dual core processor, so the "i686" should apply to me (I think).

Anything else I could check?

From the gcc docs:
So make sure those C headers reside in one of those directories. On my system they're in /usr/include.

Try running in your madwifi directory and post the results.

Norm

I managed to get it to make properly. I went and installed "linux-headers 2.18-5" rather than "linux-headers 2.18-5-686", and it installed without error.

Now I just have to get it to work... I try to follow the instructions on the madwifi website, and it breaks down when I get to trying to scan. It simply says:

ioctl[unknown???]: No such device
wlanconfig: unable to get scan results

I try to create a ath0 device, (which shouldn't be necessary wit hthe newer build, but I tried anyway) and it said:

wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device

So I went to check what devices are in the system, and all there were was eth0, eth1, and lo. Shouldn't there be a wifi0 or a device like that in the system already? Or is this another patch that I need to install?

If you're running Debian, in the future, you'll find it better to use Module-Assistant to compile and install kernel modules. As root, just type Module-Assistant or m-a. There will be an ncurses-type graphical interface to walk you through installing available kernel modules. You might have to install the package first using apt-get install module-assistant. It's the "Debian Way".

Try an lsmod and see if the ath_pci module is installed. If not, you'll have to install using modprobe ath_pci.

Check the madwifi docs - they are pretty good.

The modprobe ath_pci did put a couple modules on the list when I typed lsmod, but it didn't seem to make a difference. I have tried reading through the madwifi documentation. It's quite extensive, but I can't find where it address any problems like what I'm seeing here.

Here's what I tried; Any more suggestions?

----------------------

David-Debian:/home/david# modprobe ath_pci
David-Debian:/home/david# modprobe wlan_scan_sta
David-Debian:/home/david# wlanconfig ath0 list scan
ioctl[unknown???]: No such device
wlanconfig: unable to get scan results
David-Debian:/home/david# wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta
wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device
David-Debian:/home/david# iwconfig
bash: iwconfig: command not found
David-Debian:/home/david# ifconfig
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1B:FC:E1:56:A5
inet addr:192.168.1.165 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21b:fcff:fee1:56a5/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5202 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4160 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5334538 (5.0 MiB) TX bytes:723228 (706.2 KiB)
Interrupt:225 Base address:0x6000

eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1B:FC:E1:5D:21
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:233 Base address:0xe000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:560 (560.0 b) TX bytes:560 (560.0 b)

David-Debian:/home/david# lsmod
Module Size Used by
wlan_scan_sta 12160 0
ath_pci 82688 0
wlan 177764 2 wlan_scan_sta,ath_pci
ath_hal 191504 1 ath_pci

..... (there's a lot of stuff listed)

Post the results of lsmod as well as ifconfig.

Does the computer have two different wired Ethernet NICs? There's an eth1 and eth2. Don't see the expected wlan0 or ath0 or something similar.

Is the wifi card a PCI card or what? Try lspci to see what it is reporting.

There is a Wireless networking forum here. You might want to post a question listing the details of your computer, wifi card, and the results of what you've done so far.

I suspect there may be some installation issues with the madwifi module installation.

*nods* Yes, there are 2 ethernet ports built into the motherboard. I'll post a question over on the wireless forum. The lspci says that I have a "unknown device" so you're probably right about it being a installation issue.

-----------

David-Debian:/home/david# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:01.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 03bc (rev a1)
00:02.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C55 PCI Express bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:0a.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:0a.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SMBus (rev a2)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a1)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 IDE (rev a1)
00:0e.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0e.1 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0e.2 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0f.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI bridge (rev a2)
00:0f.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP55 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:11.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:12.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 0292 (rev a1)
02:07.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 0023 (rev 01)
02:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev c0)
03:00.0 Mass storage controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller (rev 01)