madwifi problem
 

alright well i got a netgear WG511T and im trying to install the madwifi driver using this http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/FirstTimeHowTo guide and i get to the part where it says type in as root:

wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta

once i hit enter i get something that says:

wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device

edit hwconf and replace ath0 with wifi0, you may need to reboot

where is hwconf?

If you are using a recent svn snapshot (it would help to know which version of the madwifi-ng code you're using), there should be no need to manually create VAPs anymore. Just load the module and it automagically creates a VAP in station mode by default.

im not quite sure the version but i ran:
svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/trunk madwifi-ng
about a day or two ago, so i guess its the latest one out, and i really have no idea what your talking about w/ VAPs, like the power light to my card blinks, but i dont think my computer recongnizes it, and by the way i found my hwconfig and i think my wirless device was eth1, but i did change eth1 to wifi0, and nothing happened still

Since you are using a recent version of madwifi-ng, you do NOT need to execute the command "wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta". This was only necessary with the code before january 23rd 2006, just like it says clearly on the page you posted. You only need to load the ath_pci module, as instructed on the madwifi page.

well it didnt work when i did that either so i figure i'd give wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta a shot, well i posted my entire install and my hwconf file on my site, http://piratesofsnellville.freewebspace.com/, the stuff i saw that looked weird i wrote on the bottom

I perceive the following
This does not look right, because "Broadcom Corporation" is not "Atheros Communications", thus not supported by madwifi. That would certainly explain why madwifi isn't working for you.

thats weird because i looked at the supported list on the madwifi site and this card was on it, and i just tried ndiswrapper w/ it, and that didnt work either

You could also try using the rpm method described here and here. When you reboot, try "lspci | grep Atheros". You should see something like this:
If you don't see anything like that, check wether the module is loaded with "lsmod | grep ath_pci". If the module is loaded and the output of lspci is not like I posted above, then I think we have a big problem.
Hope that helps.

PS
Regarding ndiswrapper: AFAIK that should work with this card as well. Although madwifi is preferable.

Drivers for Broadcom 4318 can be found here:

http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/

well i just updated my kernel so i tried to see if that helped, but now i get this error:

[root@localhost madwifi-ng]# make
/bin/sh: line 0: cd: /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.1833_FC4/build: No such file or directory
Makefile.inc:104: *** KERNELPATH: does not exist. Stop.

Do you have the kernel source installed? It looks like it is telling you the folder that it is supposed to be in does not exist. Or maybe there is no link to it, if it is there.

i just installed it with yum, i just reinstalled FC4 and tried it again, but it was the same thing

You seem to be having quite a bit of trouble. I don't normally suggest a distro as a fix, but I read that Ubuntu should recognize your wireless card. Maybe you could try the Ubuntu live CD, just to see if it works.

ha yeah, well i just tried suse, but i still got the same error, but ill give the ubuntu live a try and see what happens

I have the same model card (Netgear WG511T) and it worked when I used Open SuSE 10.0
I believe the SuSE GPL kernel will provide the madwifi module, but compiling it yourself should work just as well.
Would have been interesting to see the output of lspci. You really shouldn't be having so much trouble with this well supported Atheros chipset. There is allways the possibility that Netgear have decided to use a different chipset for some reason. But I really hope I am very much mistaken about that.

All the research I've done led me to believe it had an Atheros chip also. Reading the information that he had posted on the internet, though, made it look like he had a Broadcom chip. I looked on Netgear's website and noticed quite a few drivers for that card, depending on what version you have. I guess its possible then to have Atheros, Broadcom and maybe even a Prism chip in there somewhere.

Anybody out there have this card with chipset other than Atheros?

Still not sure what all the trouble is. I can guess though.

i bought one of those hoping it'd work with the madwifi and in further research after not making it work i found that if it is manufactured in tawain it has the atheros chipset if manufacturered in china (as mine was) is has a different chipset. personally i just bought a generic atheros wireless card and it works great with all distros i've tried it with now.

truoc444 which wireless card did you purchase?

i bought the netgear WG511T but i got the one manufactured in china.

this is just weird then, i just found a sticker on my box and its says:
total 802.11
XR
atheros

At first we thought you had an Atheros chipset, but you couldn't get it to work. You linked to information you had posted on another website, that said you had the Broadcom chipset: 14e4:4318. Now you are posting that you do have the Atheros chipset?

How about posting lspci from the computer you are using, with the card you want to use connected.

no u dont understand, this has been the same card and same computer throughout the entire process, i have never changed either, but i did do the lspci and this is my result:

[root@x-ceptional ~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 5a3f
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 81)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI (rev 80)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 80)
00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc ATI SB400 - AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 80)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
05:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
05:09.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller

That looks like your wireless card to me. Once again drivers here:

http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/

Or if you choose to use ndiswrapper I found this on ndiswrapper wiki:

Card: Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02) in HP COMPAQ V2415LA with Debian sid, ndiswrapper 1.5

* pciid: 14e4:4318
* Driver: bcmwl5.inf, BCMWL5.SYS, from
* [ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp30001-30500/SP30379.exe]

Look like a match to me. Also see if there is a package for you specific distribution. Maybe that will help you install.

Once you get the driver(s)installed, the configuration is pretty easy.

alright well i've to install the rpm madwifi drivers, with no luck, i would try to install madwifi-0.9.6.0-20.rhfc5.at.i386.rpm and it would say i needed madwifi-kmdl-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5xen0-0.9.6.0-20.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm and when i tried to install that it would say i needed madwifi-hal-kmdl-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5xen0-0.9.6.0-20.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm and when i tried to install that it said i need madwifi-kmdl-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5xen0-0.9.6.0-20.rhfc5.at.i686.rpm this again, i then tried to install the drivers from the bcm43xx site and i got this error:
[root@localhost bcm43xx-standalone-060320]# make
make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build CFLAGS_MODULE="-DCONFIG_BCM43XX=1 -DCONFIG_BCM43XX_DMA=1 -DCONFIG_BCM43XX_PIO=1 -DCONFIG_BCM43XX_DEBUG=1" SUBDIRS=`pwd`/drivers/net/wireless/bcm43xx CONFIG_BCM43XX=m CONFIG_BCM43XX_DEBUG=y CONFIG_BCM43XX_DMA=y CONFIG_BCM43XX_PIO=y CC="gcc" modules
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [modules] Error 2

and then when i tried ndiswrapper i got this error:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.10]# make install
make -C driver install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/redbeard/Desktop/Downloads/ndiswrapper-1.10/driver'
Can't find kernel sources in /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build;
give the path to kernel sources with KSRC=<path> argument to make
make[1]: *** [prereq_check] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/redbeard/Desktop/Downloads/ndiswrapper-1.10/driver'
make: *** [install] Error 2

which looks similar to the error above

Are the sources of the kernel you are using installed?

Yes, that seems to be the problem with both the bcm43xx drivers and ndiswrapper. See post #12 in this thread.

well i mean i just installed FC5, so i would assume that the sources are installed, but i'll install them just to be safe, if someone wouldn't mind posting a link, or instructions on how to do this

i loaded Suse 10 on my computer, and traded my netgear card out for a D-Link DWL-G630, and used madwifi drivers, and now it works fine