System Freeze w/ sis163u USB Wireless Stick
 

I've installed Fedora Core 6 on a friends computer for him. I would have installed a later version, but his computer is old and decrepit, and will not boot from a DVD. I could only find FC6 in CD form. He has a USB wireless dongle, model number TEW-424UB V:2. I've discovered that is uses the SIS163U chipset, and that NDISWrapper is the the way to go.

After installing the appropriate drivers through NDIS (I've used the ones that came with the disc and the newest version from the website), I open up WICD to do the networking and try to connect to the wireless router. The wireless router uses simple hex key WEP encryption.

If I use any mode for the security besides wext (such as NDISWrapper), WICD just gets to "obtaining IP address" and eventually times out. Using wext, the entire machine freezes when trying to connect. Using the drivers on the disc, using wext will just cause the WICD to time out when obtaining an IP address. The newer ones actually cause the hard lock to occur.

I'm not entirely sure where to proceed from here. It's been a while since I've played with wireless USB networking on linux, so I'm out of practice. I hope someone can help!

I'm not using the machine in question to post this, so I will obtain additional information if it is needed in later posts.

Hello,

I'm using Centos with kernel 2.6 and I've got exactly the same problem... (same hardware, ndiswrapper) when activating the interface.
Maybe you have something new on the subject?