Ndiswrapper and drivers installed..where to now?

bourne · 03-04-2007, 05:47 PM

I apologize. Linux is still exceptionally new to me I have only been using it for a very short time.

I followed the rest of that tutorial installed freshrpms and yum'ed all the necessary packages. The NetworkManager comes up when I am connected with a wire to my router, but it does not do anything when I unplug it. Is there any special configuring I have to do to get it to look for a wireless signal? I'm assuming that I must us it in conjuction with wpasupplicant to connect to my network since it has wpa enabled?

thanks
todd

bourne · 03-05-2007, 10:04 AM

K well by the looks of it whatever happened, the drivers for my wireless were not installed properly. I went into Administration>Network and there is no wireless device listed there. Trying to manually add it doesn't work either. Could it be that the ipw2200 drivers I installed before are interfering. In the /lib/firmware directory the only files associated with ipw3945 i a file called ipw3945.ucode. The rest of that folder is populated with files pertaining to the ipw2200 driver. I don't even know how to trouble shoot to see what isn't working properly. From what I can see NetworkManager should automatically detect the wireless network but it isn't doing so. I am really confused as to what to do next, I have been reading so many different tutorials about how to install these drivers that to even trouble shoot is hard. Can anyone suggest what I should attempt next? NetworkManager is working, but my wireless device still isn't being detected. I followed the tutorial on this page: http://www.mabula.net/dell_inspiron_6400.html suggested by 2Gnu but the drivers didn't seem to install correctly.

thanks in advance
todd

2Gnu · 03-05-2007, 01:15 PM

Define "didn't seem to install correctly." Did you get errors?

What's lsmod telling you? That lists the kernel modules (drivers in Windows-speak) that are loaded. For example, if the ipw2200 is loaded, that's wrong. You would need to do two things - unload it (modprobe -r) and keep it from loading again (blacklist it). If ipw3495 isn't loaded, try loading it (modprobe ipw3495). Post any errors.

Check to see if the regulatory daemon (a background process) is running. You can list the processes running on your system (ps) show certain details about them with options to the ps command and, to use one of my favorite colloquialisms, pick the pepper out of the fly shit (or view only the relevant information against a lot of noise) with grep. Example: ps aux | grep ipw3495 will show you only those processes running which contain the text string ipw3495 in their name, along with the process ID number, the owner of the PID, memory and CPU it's consuming, etc.

I'm telling you why we're doing these commands vs. just saying "modprobe xxx" so you can eventually reduce your reliance on those tutorials.

bourne · 03-06-2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

Define "didn't seem to install correctly." Did you get errors?

What's lsmod telling you? That lists the kernel modules (drivers in Windows-speak) that are loaded. For example, if the ipw2200 is loaded, that's wrong. You would need to do two things - unload it (modprobe -r) and keep it from loading again (blacklist it). If ipw3495 isn't loaded, try loading it (modprobe ipw3495). Post any errors.

Check to see if the regulatory daemon (a background process) is running. You can list the processes running on your system (ps) show certain details about them with options to the ps command and, to use one of my favorite colloquialisms, pick the pepper out of the fly shit (or view only the relevant information against a lot of noise) with grep. Example: ps aux | grep ipw3495 will show you only those processes running which contain the text string ipw3495 in their name, along with the process ID number, the owner of the PID, memory and CPU it's consuming, etc.

I'm telling you why we're doing these commands vs. just saying "modprobe xxx" so you can eventually reduce your reliance on those tutorials.

THANK YOU, explaining what the commands actually do really helps.
"didn't seem to install correctly"- I stated this because when enter System>Administration>Network my wireless device isn't present. During boot I also do not show it coming up, I only see eto0 which is my wired device.

I issued the 'lsmod' command and received this output:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
i915                   23489  2 
drm                    80341  3 i915
autofs4                25797  2 
hidp                   24513  2 
rfcomm                 47065  0 
l2cap                  32065  10 hidp,rfcomm
bluetooth              62245  5 hidp,rfcomm,l2cap
sunrpc                166141  1 
ip_conntrack_ftp       12113  0 
ip_conntrack_netbios_ns     7105  0 
ipt_REJECT              8769  1 
xt_state                6337  4 
ip_conntrack           57209  3 ip_conntrack_ftp,ip_conntrack_netbios_ns,xt_state
nfnetlink              11353  1 ip_conntrack
iptable_filter          7233  1 
ip_tables              17541  1 iptable_filter
ip6t_REJECT             9665  1 
xt_tcpudp               7233  15 
ip6table_filter         6977  1 
ip6_tables             18693  1 ip6table_filter
x_tables               19909  6 ipt_REJECT,xt_state,ip_tables,ip6t_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,ip6_tables
cpufreq_ondemand       12493  2 
dm_multipath           23241  0 
video                  21061  0 
sbs                    20097  0 
i2c_ec                  9281  1 sbs
button                 10961  0 
battery                14533  0 
asus_acpi              20825  0 
ac                      9541  0 
ipv6                  276481  19 ip6t_REJECT
parport_pc             31205  0 
lp                     16905  0 
parport                40841  2 parport_pc,lp
snd_hda_intel          24537  1 
snd_hda_codec         164673  1 snd_hda_intel
joydev                 13697  0 
sg                     38877  0 
i2c_i801               11853  0 
snd_seq_dummy           8133  0 
snd_seq_oss            37057  0 
i2c_core               26049  2 i2c_ec,i2c_i801
snd_seq_midi_event     11841  1 snd_seq_oss
sdhci                  23385  0 
snd_seq                57009  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device         12365  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
ipw3945               197160  0 
snd_pcm_oss            46433  0 
e100                   40009  0 
mmc_core               31045  1 sdhci
ieee80211              51308  1 ipw3945
snd_mixer_oss          20545  1 snd_pcm_oss
ohci1394               39173  0 
mii                     9665  1 e100
ide_cd                 42593  0 
ieee80211_crypt        10624  1 ieee80211
iTCO_wdt               14853  0 
snd_pcm                80965  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
ieee1394              300185  1 ohci1394
tifm_7xx1              12481  0 
snd_timer              26693  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
tifm_core              14145  1 tifm_7xx1
snd                    58181  11 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
cdrom                  38753  1 ide_cd
pcspkr                  7360  0 
soundcore              12193  1 snd
serio_raw              11333  0 
snd_page_alloc         14281  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
dm_snapshot            22513  0 
dm_zero                 6337  0 
dm_mirror              26897  0 
dm_mod                 63321  9 dm_multipath,dm_snapshot,dm_zero,dm_mirror
ata_piix               20041  2 
libata                109272  1 ata_piix
sd_mod                 25025  3 
scsi_mod              141805  3 sg,libata,sd_mod
ext3                  136905  2 
jbd                    65001  1 ext3
ehci_hcd               35661  0 
ohci_hcd               25433  0 
uhci_hcd               28237  0

Beside the line: ieee80211 ipw3945 is listed beside that. I don't want to jump to conclusions but it appears as if perhaps the ipw3945 driver is actually loaded?

I then issued the ps aux | grep ipw3945 (i also love grep!) and this was my output:

Code:

root      1173  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   21:09   0:00 [ipw3945/0]
root      1174  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   21:09   0:00 [ipw3945/1]
root      1175  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   21:09   0:00 [ipw3945/0]
root      1176  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   21:09   0:00 [ipw3945/1]
root      3313  0.0  0.0   3884   684 pts/2    S+   21:19   0:00 grep ipw3945

I can't make heads nor tails of that. But it would appear that something is using the ipw3945 drivers.

Thanks again for taking the time to explain. I hoping that if I am successful at doing this it will better prepare me for trying it again later. As I am sure this will not be the last time I will have to deal with wireless in linux.

Thanks again
todd

2Gnu · 03-06-2007, 10:09 PM

Hmmm.

You're right, the module is loaded. I'm not sure I like that there appears to be four instances of the daemon running.

Does ifconfig show a wireless adapter, now that you appear to have the basics running?

What's the output of iwconfig?

Is the card turned on? If I recall correctly, the Intel cards have a soft switch to kill the radio. I don't know the command to toggle it, but I'm sure it's in the iwp3495 docs.

Ironically, I have a new ThinkPad with this same wireless card just waiting for me to go through the same process. I have it partitioned, but haven't loaded Linux yet. Whatever I learn here will apply there.

bourne · 03-07-2007, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

Hmmm.

You're right, the module is loaded. I'm not sure I like that there appears to be four instances of the daemon running.

Does ifconfig show a wireless adapter, now that you appear to have the basics running?

What's the output of iwconfig?

Is the card turned on? If I recall correctly, the Intel cards have a soft switch to kill the radio. I don't know the command to toggle it, but I'm sure it's in the iwp3495 docs.

Ironically, I have a new ThinkPad with this same wireless card just waiting for me to go through the same process. I have it partitioned, but haven't loaded Linux yet. Whatever I learn here will apply there.

Oh jeez really, well I wish you luck. hopefully we can figure it out so you won't have to go through the same pains i have gone through.
As for the output of those two commands. Only eth0 shows up with ipconfig and as for the iwconfig:

Code:

lo      no wireless extensions.

eth0    no wireless extensions.

The computer still does not want to recognize that there is a wireless card. I will see if I can't find the command to turn the wireless switch on. Even though its 'on' on the computer, perhaps in the software of linux its off.

thanks
todd

bourne · 03-07-2007, 01:46 AM

Wow, I was just reading the 'INSTALL' file for the ipw3945 drivers. I am really starting to think that perhaps I should start all over and attempt to load the drivers myself. Perhaps I should reinstall linux and start fresh. See if I can't follow these instructions from the install file. There seems to be a lot of things that I missed in terms of actually configuring the drivers and what not. I don't know if thats a good course of action. Reinstalling isn't an issue really as all I have pretty much done is try to install the wireless drivers.

Unless you can think of anything that I might try. I also have yet to be able to find the command to turn the card on, but i am still looking!

thanks
todd

2Gnu · 03-07-2007, 09:06 AM

It's rf_kill. The command is listed in the README and there's a thread here discussing usage.

http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/README.ipw3945

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=483548

Redoing the driver install wouldn't be a bad idea if you think you missed something. Reinstalling the distro shouldn't be needed.

bourne · 03-07-2007, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

It's rf_kill. The command is listed in the README and there's a thread here discussing usage.

http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/README.ipw3945

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=483548

Redoing the driver install wouldn't be a bad idea if you think you missed something. Reinstalling the distro shouldn't be needed.

Well if I decide to go ahead and redo do the install of the drivers using the instructions provided with the ipw3945 .rpm do I first have to uninstall any of the previous work I did? I plan on starting from the beginning. Hopefully I will be able to properly install ieee80211 and avoid the 'make' command error I get when attempting to make the drivers for ipw3945. So would it be alright if I just started the tutorial and go through it without first uninstalling everything I did before?

thanks
todd

2Gnu · 03-07-2007, 04:43 PM

It's hard to make a blanket statement about it being OK. In the prefect world, the RPM package would overwrite the compiled from source stuff, but some distro packages prefer different paths and you could end up with something in /usr/local/whatever conflicting with /usr/whatever

If you can't get through the make process, something is missing. IF you fix that, you should be in good shape.

bourne · 03-08-2007, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

It's hard to make a blanket statement about it being OK. In the prefect world, the RPM package would overwrite the compiled from source stuff, but some distro packages prefer different paths and you could end up with something in /usr/local/whatever conflicting with /usr/whatever

If you can't get through the make process, something is missing. IF you fix that, you should be in good shape.

hmm, that is why I kind of want to start fresh so that I know that there won't be any conflicting objects getting in the way of getting it to work. So I think I might start fresh.

As for the error message I am receiving when trying to compile the source drivers I tried to do a search for a way to fix it but I was unable to find an answer. The error I believe I posted earlier in this post:

Code:

WARNING: Your kernel contains ieee80211 symbol definitions and you
are not using the kernel's default ieee80211 subsystem.  (Perhaps you
used the out-of-tree ieee80211 subsystem's 'make install' or have
provided a path to the ieee80211 subsystem via IEEE80211_INC.)

If you wish to use the out-of-tree ieee80211 subsystem then it is
recommended to use that projects' "make patch_kernel" facility
and rebuild your kernel to update the Module symbol version information.

Failure to do this may result in build warnings and unexpected
behavior when running modules which rely on the ieee80211 subsystem.

 
 Aborting the build.  You can force the build to continue by adding:

        IEEE80211_IGNORE_DUPLICATE=y

to your make command line.


make: *** [check_inc] Error 1

I don't want to use the ignore option because I have read that people have ran into other problems further down the line. Perhaps I should try compile it as part of the kernel. I was reading in the INSTALL file for the ipw3945 that you may need to do that with ieee80211 if you run into any errors. So perhaps I need to do that. I will hopefully have a chance to reformat and reinstall tonight and I am going to try from scratch and I will let you know so hopefully you can get yours up and running with no problems!

thanks
todd

bourne · 03-08-2007, 01:19 PM

I found something interesting the in the ieee80211 folder. In the unpackaged file there is a directory called 'in-tree' it contains: Kconfig, and Makefile. According to the error message it is saying that I might have used the out-of-tree make install. When I got into the 'in-tree directory and issue the make command I get the following message: make: *** No targets. Stop. I wondering if I can some how use that make install file to install the ieee80211 subsystem. What if I copied the 'Makefile' from within the 'in-tree' directory to the main ieee80211 folder and then moved the other Makefile some place else, so essentially replacing it with the 'in-tree' 'Makefile'. Do you think this could possibly solve that error message?

thanks
todd

2Gnu · 03-08-2007, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bourne

What if I copied the 'Makefile' from within the 'in-tree' directory to the main ieee80211 folder and then moved the other Makefile some place else, so essentially replacing it with the 'in-tree' 'Makefile'. Do you think this could possibly solve that error message?

No. I think that would result in a "make mess"

In that folder, run ./configure --help

That will list the compile options. I'll bet that one of them is in-tree/out-of-tree. Also check the README. I'm sure it's all in there.

bourne · 03-08-2007, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Gnu

No. I think that would result in a "make mess"

In that folder, run ./configure --help

That will list the compile options. I'll bet that one of them is in-tree/out-of-tree. Also check the README. I'm sure it's all in there.

Thats whats so weird, I can't find a README in the ieee80211 folder. Even in the ip3945 README, it tells me to get into the ieee80211 documentation to see how to do everything but it isn't provided.
So I am not sure what to do now. But I would agree with you that one has to be the in-tree one. I am just not sure how to install it as an in-tree subsystem.

thanks
todd

2Gnu · 03-08-2007, 10:57 PM

OK, I stand corrected. I grabbed the ieee80211 source package and there is neither a README nor a configure script. The INSTALL file gives pretty clear instructions, though.

After reading the INSTALL file and the project page info, it's clear that the ieee80211 stuff should be included in recent kernels. If not, you can recompile to include it. In-tree is the way to go.

Also, the INSTALL file tells how to remove old versions of the package, even though I'm not sure you ever got far enough to install it.

You can save a reinstall of the whole thing by reinstalling just the kernel source, modules and headers. That should put you back to an in-tree base, assuming FC kernels include it. Then, you can add the other pieces and (hopefully) roll on.