Kernel Panic while booting after setting up WLAN using NDISwrapper

merlinsenger · 05-17-2004, 03:22 PM

Hi folks,

I have fooled around a little bit with NDIS Wrapper to get my Intel WLAN adapter work. Unfortunately my Fedora 2 does not boot up anymore but presents me a kernel panic message.

What I did:
I used

Code:

make install

to compile the sources.
I used

Code:

ndiswrapper -i /home/merlin/dontremeber.inf

.
I then used the redhat-config-network tool to setup a new wireless device.
I chose ndiswrapper (alternative was "other device" or something).
I used the default settings (ssid, wep and so on).
I - unfortunately - used the option activate at startup (or something).

Now the system boots up for a while, then presents some wired stuff I dont understand (if helpful I can make some notes). Since I am quiet new to linux I have no idea of what to do now. Is it possible to start the system without the network support?

What can I do

Notice: I am new to Linux, I am not a native English speaker and I am now under Windows so I am really a bit handicapped

merlinsenger · 05-18-2004, 01:52 AM

To be a little more specific the dump looks like this:

Code:

process loadndisdriver( ... )

call trace:
call_init ... [ndiswrapper]
ndis_init_one ... [ndiswrapper]
...
...
<6> linux kernel card services

When booting the message "press I to enter interactive startup" appears (has always been appeared). But nothing happens when pressing "i". This did not work for me in the past either.

merlinsenger · 05-18-2004, 02:35 AM

I am now downloading knoppix maybe this gives me access to the files I have to edit. What files should I check? Anyone knows? Thanks, Merlin

merlinsenger · 05-18-2004, 03:30 AM

I am now under Knoppix (for the second time). I edited both

Code:

/etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-wlan0
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0

and turned

Code:

ONBOOT=no

It did not help. I still get a kernel panic (but now with a different stack trace. Seems that noone hears me cry down here

merlinsenger · 05-18-2004, 04:55 AM

I am now back at Fedora

I did the following: I guess it is not state of art, but I am back in.

Under Knoppix I mounted my Fedora (root) partition at /mnt/hda3 (KDE did that)

Because I am not really familiar with "find" I used

Code:

updatedb

and made myself some coffe.

I then located all files containg "ndiswrapper" in their name (only on my hda3)

Code:

locate ndiswrapper | grep hda3

I then put all those file into an archive and deleted them, rebooted and found myself back on fedora.

I POSTED THIS HERE JUST BECAUSE I WANT TO TELL THE COMPLETE STORY, BUT NOT BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS THE BEST WAY (OR EVEN A GOOD ONE) TO DO IT.

flv7a · 05-21-2004, 08:19 AM

I ran into the same thing. To back it out while I further diagnose I did the following.

At the grub menu press 'e' (I believe) to edit the boot configuration.
Highlight the kernel line (kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ....) and press 'e' again
append a space and the letter s to the end of this line, this will direct your system to boot into single user mode this one time.
Continue the boot process.

After your system boots to single user mode, edit modules.conf & modprobe.conf, comment out the line for ndiswrapper in each. <- You could have done the same under knoppix.

This simply prevents the ndiswrapper module from being loaded during the boot sequence.

Reboot.

In terms of the larger problem, I'm still trying to figure it out.

HTH