Linux - Wireless NetworkingThis forum is for the discussion of wireless networking in Linux.
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That means either one of two things. Either gedit isn't installed or it isn't in a directory that is in the PATH. You don't have to use gedit, any text editor will do. You could also remove bmc43xx by hand with modprobe -r bcm43xx, but be sure to do that before you load the ndiswrapper module.
Hi I used this guide and it didn't work for me. It removes any trace of wireless from my Ubuntu 7.04 and now I'm not sure how to install it again or how to get it to work.
I see a lot of talk about Firmware Cutter and such if this is what I need to do please link me to a tutorial or something. I've been trying to get my wireless working for a while with no luck.
Thanks!
Laptop
DV9010us HP
AMD
Broadcom 1390 Dell mini PCI rev01
Hi I used this guide and it didn't work for me. It removes any trace of wireless from my Ubuntu 7.04 and now I'm not sure how to install it again or how to get it to work.
You'll have to provide details of what you did in order for anyone to help you undo it.
Quote:
I see a lot of talk about Firmware Cutter and such if this is what I need to do please link me to a tutorial or something.
The short answer is if you use bcm43xx, you need to install firmware, and that is done with the fwcutter program. I've got a brief tutorial on my help site (link is in my sig). If you're using ndiswrapper, you don't need to worry about installing firmware since it is in the Windows driver.
You'll have to provide details of what you did in order for anyone to help you undo it.
The short answer is if you use bcm43xx, you need to install firmware, and that is done with the fwcutter program. I've got a brief tutorial on my help site (link is in my sig). If you're using ndiswrapper, you don't need to worry about installing firmware since it is in the Windows driver.
I followed the instructions on this guide and it removes all traces of my wireless card. Every tutorial I've used does this.. and since I can neveer find help I have to reinstall everytime I want to try another one.
I don't know anything about wireless in linux. But it seems to go away after I reboot from following instructions.
{---{{ total wireless noob...will do anything asked to resolve this..then I will print it out so I don't lose them again.
I followed the instructions on this guide and it removes all traces of my wireless card. Every tutorial I've used does this.. and since I can neveer find help I have to reinstall everytime I want to try another one.
Lets try this again.... Did you blacklist bcm43xx? If so, does undoing the blacklisting help? Did you install ndiswrapper? How? Compiled or via a package? Were there any errors during the install? What happens when you run modprobe ndiswrapper? What is the output of lsmod before and after modprobe ndiswrapper? What is the output of iwconfig? Is there anything of interest in your system logs?
Since none of us can see your computer, you have to do the heavy lifting and post the details that we can use to help you.
Quote:
I don't know anything about wireless in linux. But it seems to go away after I reboot from following instructions.
You usually need to take steps to make the driver loading and configuration run each time at boot. If you haven't done that, then it would look like it goes away after a reboot.
Lets try this again.... Did you blacklist bcm43xx? If so, does undoing the blacklisting help? Did you install ndiswrapper? How? Compiled or via a package? Were there any errors during the install? What happens when you run modprobe ndiswrapper? What is the output of lsmod before and after modprobe ndiswrapper? What is the output of iwconfig? Is there anything of interest in your system logs?
Ok let me slow down a bit as I tend to rush things. I was able to get the wireless device back after removing the blacklist. When I blacklist the device and go about installing ndiswrapper from either package or compile I get the same results. No errors during install and ndiswrapper -l shows the hardware present driver installed (14E4:4311) stuff.. But I have no sign on GDM that its there. My lspci out put shows the device present. How do I check the IRQ its on?
One quick question before I get to deep. Does ndiswrapper and the nvidia driver still have problems with each other? I read that somewhere its probably old.
Thank for being patient. (I guess sigs only show if your signed in)
Ok let me slow down a bit as I tend to rush things. I was able to get the wireless device back after removing the blacklist.
OK, that makes sense. Your system is detecting the card and loading bcm43xx. A quick run of lsmod should confirm this.
Quote:
When I blacklist the device and go about installing ndiswrapper from either package or compile I get the same results. No errors during install and ndiswrapper -l shows the hardware present driver installed (14E4:4311) stuff.. But I have no sign on GDM that its there. My lspci out put shows the device present. How do I check the IRQ its on?
I'm hoping that you're just missing a step here. Installing ndiswrapper isn't enough, you actually have to load it every time you want to use it (don't worry, it's easy to automate). Do you ever run modprobe ndiswrapper? That is the command that loads the ndiswrapper kernel module and should give you a functional wireless card (provided bcm43xx isn't loaded).
Quote:
One quick question before I get to deep. Does ndiswrapper and the nvidia driver still have problems with each other? I read that somewhere its probably old.
I haven't seen anyone with that problem for a bit, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Lets look at the simple stuff first and if that doesn't work, then we'll think about nvidia problems.
OK, that makes sense. Your system is detecting the card and loading bcm43xx. A quick run of lsmod should confirm this.
ok I have 2 things here..Not sure if both are supposed to be present.
ndiswrapper xx(size) 0
bcm43xx xx(size) 0
Quote:
I'm hoping that you're just missing a step here. Installing ndiswrapper isn't enough, you actually have to load it every time you want to use it (don't worry, it's easy to automate). Do you ever run modprobe ndiswrapper? That is the command that loads the ndiswrapper kernel module and should give you a functional wireless card (provided bcm43xx isn't loaded).
I've done this too still never had it come up after a reboot. The only way I've ever seen the wireless device in the network settings is to unblacklist the device.
ok I have 2 things here..Not sure if both are supposed to be present.
ndiswrapper xx(size) 0
bcm43xx xx(size) 0
No, only one should be present in the output of lsmod. To remove one, use the modprobe -r command. So to remove ndiswrapper, it would be modprobe -r ndiswrapper and to remove bcm43xx it would be modprobe -r bcm43xx.
If you have both modules loaded at the same time, they will conflict.
Quote:
I've done this too still never had it come up after a reboot. The only way I've ever seen the wireless device in the network settings is to unblacklist the device.
That means one of two things. Either the blacklisting isn't working and the two drivers are conflicting or ndiswrapper is having problems all by itself.
OK, here is what I would do. Use modprobe and unload both ndiswrapper and bcm43xx. Then reload ndiswrapper. Check lsmod to make sure that bcm43xx isn't loaded. Then have a look at the output of iwconfig. If you see a wireless device there, you can configure it and hopefully it will work. If you don't see a wireless device, check your log files (/var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages and the output of the dmesg command) and see if ndiswrapper is leaving any clues.
OK, here is what I would do. Use modprobe and unload both ndiswrapper and bcm43xx. Then reload ndiswrapper. Check lsmod to make sure that bcm43xx isn't loaded. Then have a look at the output of iwconfig. If you see a wireless device there, you can configure it and hopefully it will work. If you don't see a wireless device, check your log files (/var/log/syslog, /var/log/messages and the output of the dmesg command) and see if ndiswrapper is leaving any clues.
Ok removed the 2 devices and redid packaged ndiswrapper (1.38). Modprobed and wireless is gone again. lsmod shows ndiswrapper and no sign of bcm43xx. iwconfig shows lo - no wireless extensions and eth0 no wireless extensions.
Jul 29 08:26:25 nate-laptop kernel: [ 1291.120000] ndiswrapper: probe of 0000:03:00.0 failed with error -22
OK, something is going wrong with ndiswrapper. Unfortunately their wiki doesn't seem to list their error codes, so I'm not sure what error -22 is.
Quote:
packaged ndiswrapper (1.38)
Two things here. There are significantly newer versions of ndiswrapper available on their site, and that might help. The other thing is that ndiswrapper absolutely MUST be compiled against your kernel. Usually if you're using a stock kernel for your distro, this isn't a problem. However, I've seen some of the automated software installation program install the wrong version of ndiswrapper and cause all sorts of trouble.
So I'm going to suggest that you compile it from source. As long as you have the source code for your kernel installed, it is drop-dead easy:
1) Download the newest stable source from the ndiswrapper site (avoid any rc versions)
2) Unpack the ndiswrapper tarball.
3) Remove the existing ndiswrapper package you installed
4) Drop into the directory created when you unpacked ndiswrapper and run make
5) As root, run make install
6) If you didn't get any errors for steps 4 and 5, then load the new ndiswrapper module with modprobe and check that it sees the card (ndiswrapper -l) Then check and see if you get a wireless card in iwconfig.
OK, something is going wrong with ndiswrapper. Unfortunately their wiki doesn't seem to list their error codes, so I'm not sure what error -22 is.
Two things here. There are significantly newer versions of ndiswrapper available on their site, and that might help. The other thing is that ndiswrapper absolutely MUST be compiled against your kernel. Usually if you're using a stock kernel for your distro, this isn't a problem. However, I've seen some of the automated software installation program install the wrong version of ndiswrapper and cause all sorts of trouble.
So I'm going to suggest that you compile it from source. As long as you have the source code for your kernel installed, it is drop-dead easy:
1) Download the newest stable source from the ndiswrapper site (avoid any rc versions)
2) Unpack the ndiswrapper tarball.
3) Remove the existing ndiswrapper package you installed
4) Drop into the directory created when you unpacked ndiswrapper and run make
5) As root, run make install
6) If you didn't get any errors for steps 4 and 5, then load the new ndiswrapper module with modprobe and check that it sees the card (ndiswrapper -l) Then check and see if you get a wireless card in iwconfig.
Ok I don't get any errors following your steps. However I get the same results from iwconfig that I posted earlier.
/var/log/syslog
Code:
Jul 29 10:04:37 nate-laptop kernel: [ 7182.888000] usbcore: deregistering interface driver ndiswrapper
Jul 29 10:04:37 nate-laptop kernel: [ 7182.892000] ndiswrapper (ntoskernel_exit:282): object f59113a0 type 2 was not freed, freeing it now
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop loadndisdriver: loadndisdriver: load_device(426): couldn't chdir to /etc/ndiswrapper: No such file or directory
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop last message repeated 2 times
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop kernel: [ 7423.076000] ndiswrapper version 1.47 loaded (smp=yes)
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop loadndisdriver: loadndisdriver: load_device(426): couldn't chdir to /etc/ndiswrapper: No such file or directory
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop last message repeated 17 times
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop kernel: [ 7423.184000] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
oh btw I had removed the previous installed driver. I think thats why the log is saying no such file or directory there. I reinstalled the driver and it comes up with ndiswrapper -l.
heres another question...could these errors be because of the start options I use for grub? I was reading that with the DV9xxx laptops the ACPI and stuff screws up USB and a few other things.
noacpi acpi=off pnpbios=off pci=assign-busses so on and so on..I can't remember how to pull the menu.lst up to tell you exactly what options I have.
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop loadndisdriver: loadndisdriver: load_device(426): couldn't chdir to /etc/ndiswrapper: No such file or directory
Jul 29 10:08:38 nate-laptop last message repeated 17 times
That simply shouldn't be happening if you've installed a windows driver with ndiswrapper -i. If this error is from before you installed the driver, remove and reload ndiswrapper and see if it is still there.
Quote:
heres another question...could these errors be because of the start options I use for grub? I was reading that with the DV9xxx laptops the ACPI and stuff screws up USB and a few other things.
I know acpi can cause trouble in some laptops. However, before messing around with your boot config, I would first try installing firmware and giving bcm43xx a try.
And please, please, PLEASE tell me this thing isn't a USB wireless card.
I'd google for how to pull up your boot options. I'm a LILO user, so I don't really have much experience with GRUB.
I know acpi can cause trouble in some laptops. However, before messing around with your boot config, I would first try installing firmware and giving bcm43xx a try.
And please, please, PLEASE tell me this thing isn't a USB wireless card.
I'd google for how to pull up your boot options. I'm a LILO user, so I don't really have much experience with GRUB.
Ok thats not what I wanted to hear :P Ok do you have a good starter for doing fwcutter and howto use/install it? I really wanted to showcase this laptop so people can see Ubuntu. Oh and no its NOT USB...its the built in PCI-E type.
I will google up some boot options for Grub. I may just try the noacpi setting and see if that fixes anything directly. Thank you for trying to help me fix this issue.
Last edited by Snipersnest; 07-29-2007 at 05:30 PM.
...but it seems there is more to your problem than meets the eye. These things should be checked...
1) check your kernel version. Is it 2.4.x or 2.6.x? Enter uname-r. If it's not a 2.6 kernel, my experience indicates that ndiswrapper won't work properly when you need it most. It will install, load itself as a module, and so on. However, when it comes to boot time, it's a no dice scenario.
2) If you compiled your kernel, did you include wireless extensions? If you didn't, or if you didn't enable all of them, once again, ndiswrapper loads incorrectly.
3) ndiswrapper initializes the adapter. If your wireless router is set for anything but a COMPLETELY open network, you will also need wpa_supplicant.
4) Once ndiswrapper brings up the adapter, and wpa_supplicant gains access to your wireless router, you also need to set an IP address for the wireless adapter.
Might I suggest you take a look at my step-by-step instructions for getting bcm43xx wireless adapters going? While it's specifically written for Slackware, much will cross over to other distributions; such as the idea that you should compile ndiswrapper directly from source code. Don't count on the version that comes on your install disk (if applicable) to be functional. Ndiswrapper is compiled to work with your specific kernel. The only way to insure that happens as it should is to compile ndiswrapper from source.
While getting a wireless network operating properly under Linux is no cakewalk like it is under Windoze, it is a very doable kind of thing. I have done it five times already. Once on this machine, and four different times on my other laptop. Now, not only does the wireless network work under Linux, with the addition of my wireless restore script, the wireless network is actually much more stable, and more likely to come back gracefully from a hiccup under Linux than XP.
As strange as that statement might seem, it is very true. Sometimes the wireless adapter gets squirrelly under XP. When that happens, the wireless network will sit there, sometimes for fifteen minutes or more trying to re-establish an IP address. Sometimes, when things get really weird, the "repair" button gets pushed, too. Even when that step is taken, sometimes the wireless network remains down. Under Linux, if the wireless adapter gets squirrelly, invoking my script gets the wireless network back up in less than fifteen seconds. Once up, it stays up, especially if I am jamming on internet radio.
I agree with Hangdog42; you need to be mellow about the situation. Getting upset at Linux makes it that much harder to fix bugs and tweak the system. The fact that you can get online means you aren't tied to your wireless adapter. If you look it as more of an experiment than a mandatory thing, you might get a little bit ahead of where you are.
I hope the situation works out for you. Getting a wireless network functional under Linux can be a real pain in the posterior. However, once you get it working, it works as reliably (or better) under Linux as it does under Windoze XP.
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