Linksys WUSB54g adaptor messin' up on MandrivaLinux
 

Okay....I know that the Linksys adaptors is a super MAJOR problem that has been discussed and answered (poorly however) quite a few times.

I have the MandrivaLinux 2006 Release Candidate 1 (which may be my problem), and the Linksys WUSB54g version 4.0.

I've dealt with Ndiswrapper several times, and I *believe* I am using the latest version (isn't that 1.2???). I can't check things too often because my machine (an HP Pavilion 563w) double boots between Windows XP Home and Mandriva. I simply added a new hardrive (and 512 more ram, giving me 1 gig) to that machine's configuration. and most other things have no problems.

HOWEVER, whenever I use ndiswrapper.

I do ndiswrapper -i 'location of the inf file'
It says 'rt2500usb loading'. This is a good thing.

However, when I put in ndiswrapper -l
It says 'rt2500usb invalid driver!'

I go into kde as root (I know it's a bad thing, but I dislike command lines...), and then I use Konqueror to COPY and PASTE my inf and sys files from the Linksys cd to my etc->ndiswrapper->rt2500usb.

Then I go to the konsole, and use ndiswrapper -l
It says something like 'rt2500usb drivers present, hardware present'.

I do ndiswrapper -m
It says that it has added 'wlan0' to my modprobe.conf

Then, I do modprobe ndiswrapper. FREEZE!

I close the konsole, and do modprobe ndiswrapper. It gives no error.

I do dmesg, and then it does NOT show wlan0. HOW DO I FIX THIS??? I do lsusb, and then FREEZE! I take out the wusb54g adaptor and all of these commands work--but my internet still doesn't work.

So, Mandriva Linux CHOOSES when it wishes to detect my Linksys... Why is this? I've used Ubuntu (Hoary Warthog??) and that won't do ANYTHING for me. I get as far as modprobe, and then it shut down. Plus, I hate Gnome.

I can't use PCLinuxOS--the cd that I have burned is corrupt (or something like that). I haven't tried Fedora Core--but I sense the problems will still be there. Haven't tried Knoppix, even though that is famous for its hardware detection.

ALSO, when I use the Mandriva Control Center, it says it doesn't recognize rt2500usb.inf as a proper driver--i.e., Linux doesn't recognize the adaptor. The adaptor is CLEARLY plugged in; the light is ON! I don't know...

By the way...I ONCE got this working, when I had Mandriva Linux 2006 Limited Edition (that's a mouthful), and I was surfin', and it was cool. But then, I shut down, and when I turn on, it wouldn't even start the machine. It was hang EVERY TIME when starting wlan0 (even though the adaptor WAS ON!)

Can someone please move my IGNORANT posts to the proper board (WIRELESS networking???)

I'm so sorry.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Wireless Networking and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

I fixed the problem--I really don't understand why it worked when all the other times it didn't. I just followed the standard instruction one more time.

Could you please provide what "standard instructions" you performed that made it work? I'm encountering the same problem...

Oh dear...
The problem with this is that I am NOT completely sure it will work all the time (and I don't know how someone OUTSIDE of Mandriva would pull this off).

Essentially, you need a version of ndiswrapper, which you can see by going to a root konsole and then typing 'ndiswrapper'. That should give you several commands. If you DON'T have ndiswrapper, you will have to get a tar.gz or whatever your distro uses (RPM, right?) from ANOTHER computer, and then use a USB key or floppy to get it on.

I think the way to install ndiswrapper is:
tar zxvf '//:path/to/ndiswrapper-1.xx.tar.gz' (you can copy this location and then paste it into the konsole.). Press enter, and then it should make several directories.
Use 'cd ndiswrapper-1.xx' to change directortories, and then I'm not quite sure if this is EXACTLY RIGHT what to do next.

Type 'make'
It should give no errors (otherwise, you need to get a copy of the kernel code, which you would have to go to a computer with WORKING internet to get.

Type 'install'
This might not be necessary, because next you'll type...

'make install'
There should be no errors. You now SHOULD be able to use the ndiswrapper command in the root konsole (and if you use a different command line interface, I THINK you can go to root with the command -sudo, but I've never done that.)

Put in your linksys cd, and go to Drivers, and go to WUSBG4.0 (IF you have a 4.0 wireless adaptor...they CHANGED the main driver from 2.0 to 4.0.

You should see rt2500usb.inf and rt2500usb.sys. You might as well copy/paste this to a memorable spot on the harddrive.

In ndiswrapper, WHILE the Linksys adaptor is plugged in (you can check this by typing 'lsusb', and it should give you a USB address and maker of all deviced recognized...I forget what the Linksys adaptor is, but it MIGHT begin with 13b7...maybe....I've not done this in a while).

ANYWAY. go to 'ndiswrapper'
There should be a few commands.

Type
ndiswrapper -i '//path/to/rt2500usb.inf'
You CAN have single quotations around the path to the inf, but if I remember correctly, double quotations and no quotations give you errors.

ANYWAY, it should say 'installing' OR nothing at all, depending on your version of ndiswrapper. Use 'ndiswrapper -l'.
It should say something like 'linksys drivers present; hardware present' OR 'rt2500usb drivers present; hardware present'.

IF AT THIS TIME!!!! it only says the drivers are present, OR it says the drivers are incorrect (or something bad like that), OR it freezes, THEN, you will have to do a little more.

Cases 1, 3 are the worst--your computer doesn't recognize the adaptor. Case 2 is relatively easy to solve. Go to root (or, AT LEAST, you need to use a graphical browser AS root to do this, because there's NO way I'm going to 'drag and drop' in a CLI, sorry).

In root, go to Konqueror (or browser of choice). Find the place of you .inf and .sys files. Copy them.

Go to etc/ndiswrapper. INSIDE here, there should be a .conf file (maybe, maybe not), and a folder that either says 'rt2500usb' OR 'linksys'. Go inside. There should be a file with NUMBERS, but your inf file and sys file may NOT have automatically installed.

In that case, paste into that folder (the linksys/rt2500usb folder).

You can TECHNICALLY do this konsole stuff while in root (you WILL need a root konsole, but when I'm in root for longer than five minutes, things die....quickly, so I HAVE to log into a normal account!).

As root (or just as a root konsole), go to ndiswrapper, and use 'ndiswrapper -l'. It should tell you the correct response, which is 'linksys drivers present; hardware present' OR 'rt2500usb drivers present; hardware present'.

If it DOES do this, then use ndiswrapper -m. IT should say, "Creating wlan.conf in modprobe description," OR SOMETHING jazzy like that. If you have 'wlan', then you've almost won. But you're NOT done.

Use 'modprobe ndiswrapper'.
It SHOULD give you no problem. If it freezes, then you will find that it will UNFREEZE as soon as you take out the Linksys adaptor...This means you WILL have to repeat all the steps (delete etc/ndiswrapper/linksys), and install again. If you had to copy/paste the first time, you will have to do it again.

HOWEVER, if it doesn't give you a problem, then you should be able to use 'dmesg'. I DON'T KNOW IF THIS is a Mandriva specific command (but, if dmesg gives you nothing, I guess you know...).

At the end SOMEWHERE, it should talk about wlan0.

The next part is INTERESTING. Mandriva has an automated drake at this point, and I just set up my network from here. HOWEVER, from the command line, I am not sure how you set up the specific network.

iwconfig is involved...I think. dhclient is involved...but that IS distro specific.

If that helps, mazel tov, eh?

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond with such detailed directions! I'll try it once more as soon as I get home. I felt like I was close last night...RaThingy (whatever it's called) was able to sniff out the wireless routers in the area, but I couldn't actually seem to create a connection via the Network Configuration dialog...like I said, I'll try again when I get home. :)

Well that got me pretty far, but still not quite there... I have the wlan0 (ndiswrapper) option for creating a wireless connection, but when I go to activiate it, I get "ndiswrapper device wlan0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization"... hopefully I can figure out why that's happening.

Why has setting up wireless networking on Linux always been so hard? I think this is the main problem I have always had with using Linux over Windows.

Well, most of the problem is that these companies DON'T support Linux for whatever reasons they don't, so they don't give any driver support.

So, amateur Linuxers (I guess that's what you can call a user of Linux), have to do things from scratch...And that takes quite a bit of time.

I notice you are only using Fedora Core 1...Have you researched anything about upgraded wireless support in the later cores?

Well I haven't used Fedora Core 1 or 2 for quite a number of months...it's actually not really an upgrade, as I'm starting over on my old system from scratch. And on that note, I haven't researched anything. :) I never really understood the steps I was following before, with all this modprobe and ndiswrapper and iwconfig, and all that.

I'm a very novice Linux user. I can use it when it's up and running, but getting things running and applications installed is always the hard part for me. I have trouble understanding how RPM's work (with regards to how Linux knows what apps I have installed), modules (what exactly they are and how they differ from programs), kernels (what is the difference between a kernel and an OS), and even things like the typical directory structure (where apps vs libs etc are stored).

Interesting....I guess it isn't TOO vital to know those things for this...but I do know that Mandrake 10.0 (way back when) wouldn't do the wireless at all, and when I got Mandriva 2006 Free (RC1), it was easier to install stuff.

Fedora Core is up to 4, right now, right??? I would see if there is ANYTHING about 'wireless updates' or 'wireless supports', and look specifically for linksys. You won't have to go very far--google will either give you something or give you nothing.

Hey, this is kinda late in this thread, but this works great with my wusb54g v.4 and RHEL4U3. Thanks!