ndiswrapper + netgear + LFS = disaster.

tm8992 · 10-28-2006, 09:56 AM

Well, maybe not so much a disaster, but nothing is working :P

I've been building Linux From Scratch, and everything has been perfect so far. I'm booted into the system, everything works - except networking. I use a NetGear WG121 USB card, and it's being stubborn!

I know the problem is not hardware; I'm running Ubuntu now with the same card and the same system - could it be the version of ndiswrapper I'm using, or LFS itself?

Here's what I've done:
- Installed the latest ndiswrapper from source, version 1.25, I believe.
- Loaded my .inf driver.
- Checking ndiswrapper -l, here's what I get:

Code:

installed drivers:
netwg121     driver installed

Not hardware present. I looked in lsusb:

Code:

[snip]
Bus 1 Device 3: ID 0846:4210 NetGear, Inc. WG121 WiFi (v2)
[snip]

So obviously it is being detected somehow. I took the device id (0845:4210) and put it into ndiswrapper -a. Now, ndiswrapper -l claims the hardware is detected --

Code:

netwg121    driver intalled, hardware (0845:4210) present

.
Okay, so all is fine and dandy. I do the modprobe ndiswrapper, and get:

Code:

ndiswrapper version 1.25 loaded (preemt=yes;smp=yes)
usbcore: registered new driver ndiswrapper

But no lights light on the card, as expected. iwconfig further worries me:

Code:

lo no wireless extensions

.
Yuck. What could be the problem?

Oh, and one more thing that you might find useful -- when I start or shutdown the computer, I get:

Code:

Interface eth0 doesn't exist [WARN]

Could that have anything to do with it?

Thanks, I hope I gave enough information

The_Outlander · 11-09-2006, 08:24 AM

Do you have firmware installed. Usually I think in /lib/firmware. That is the common cause of your error.