wlan0 doesn't exist on SUSE 10.0 using ndiswrapper 1.17 and Linksys PCI card

kevingreen · 06-25-2006, 01:19 PM

Hey I'm having a little bit of trouble getting my wireless NIC setup so I thought I'd see if any folks here could shed some light since I'm a Linux noob.

Here's the basic set up:

HP Pavilion xt963 1.2 ghz processor with 128 ram
Running SuSE 10.0...

I have installed (as in, put in computer. Not installed successfully other wise I wouldn't be here lol)

a Linksys WMP54G wireless PCI card. I saw that a lot of people use them so that's what I decided to go with.

Ok, I installed ndiswrapper 1.17 successfully, overwriting the crappy 0.12 version that came with my distro (as recommended a thousand times over) and I got the latest drivers off the Linksys website.

I installed them and did all the ndiswrapper commands and it said the driver was loaded.

Now, where it tells most people that the driver was loaded AND hardward detected, mine JUST said driver loaded. It made absolutely no mention (good or bad) about hardware so It's freaking me out a little.

Anyway, I don't know if thats the main problem. The main problem is that everyone is saying to configure wlan0, but wlan0 doesn't exist. It's saying it can't find the device.

Here is the output from various commands which you might expect.

If you have any ideas how to get wlan0 working using yast, or any other way, please let me know!

Code:

linux:/home/kevin # lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82810E DC-133 GMCH [Graphics Memory Controller Hub] (rev 03)
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82810E DC-133 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller] (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 7123
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 9
        Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Memory at f4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801AA PCI Bridge (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
        Memory behind bridge: f4100000-f41fffff

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801AA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801AA IDE (rev 02) (prog-if 80 [Master])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801AA IDE
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
        I/O ports at 10a0 [size=16]

00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801AA USB (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801AA USB
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at 1080 [size=32]

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801AA SMBus (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801AA SMBus
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
        I/O ports at 10b0 [size=16]

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801AA AC'97 Audio (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 5643
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 9
        I/O ports at 1200 [size=256]
        I/O ports at 1300 [size=64]

01:0a.0 Network controller: RaLink: Unknown device 0301
        Subsystem: Linksys: Unknown device 0055
        Flags: slow devsel, IRQ 255
        Memory at f4100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=32K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2



linux:/home/kevin # lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
hfsplus                75140  0
vfat                   12800  0
fat                    49692  1 vfat
subfs                   7552  1
speedstep_lib           4228  0
freq_table              4612  0
ipv6                  242752  10
snd_pcm_oss            59168  0
button                  7056  0
battery                10244  0
snd_mixer_oss          18944  1 snd_pcm_oss
ac                      5252  0
snd_seq                51984  0
snd_seq_device          8588  1 snd_seq
edd                     9824  0
ndiswrapper           162448  0
snd_intel8x0           33408  1
snd_ac97_codec         90876  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_ac97_bus            2432  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                93064  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer              24452  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
uhci_hcd               32016  0
snd                    60420  10 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
usbcore               112640  3 ndiswrapper,uhci_hcd
soundcore               9184  1 snd
i2c_i801                8844  0
snd_page_alloc         10632  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
i2c_i810                4868  0
i2c_algo_bit            9096  1 i2c_i810
i2c_core               20368  2 i2c_i801,i2c_algo_bit
intel_agp              22044  1
agpgart                33096  2 intel_agp
generic                 4484  0 [permanent]
shpchp                 88676  0
pci_hotplug            26164  1 shpchp
hw_random               5268  0
parport_pc             38980  1
lp                     11460  0
parport                33864  2 parport_pc,lp
orinoco_pci             7040  0
orinoco                38548  1 orinoco_pci
hermes                  7296  2 orinoco_pci,orinoco
dm_mod                 54972  0
reiserfs              250480  1
ide_cd                 39684  0
cdrom                  36896  1 ide_cd
fan                     4996  0
thermal                14472  0
processor              24252  1 thermal
piix                    9988  0 [permanent]
ide_disk               17152  3
ide_core              122380  4 generic,ide_cd,piix,ide_disk


linux:/home/kevin # ifconfig -a
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:87 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:87 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:6437 (6.2 Kb)  TX bytes:6437 (6.2 Kb)

sit0      Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
          NOARP  MTU:1480  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

linux:/home/kevin # wtf where is wlan0 lol

beagle2 · 06-25-2006, 01:51 PM

Two or three drivers it could be for your card - check output of lspci -n for 01:0a.0 as per
lspci -v and confirm pciid here
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...index.php/List for correct driver and see how
you get on.

kevingreen · 06-26-2006, 03:44 PM

I'm not sure that the driver issue is the problem, but I could be wrong. Being the newb I am, it would seem improbable that the wrong driver being used (which I'm almost certain isn't the case) would stop Linux from having a wlan0. It recognizes that the PCI card is plugged in, doesn't it? It would seem that way based on the output.

beagle2 · 06-26-2006, 04:20 PM

Ok but have you checked just to be sure? Then you will know where to look next...
What does ndiswrapper -l show

kevingreen · 06-26-2006, 06:45 PM

Hey I rebooted my Linux box and was watching the boot sequence...I noticed it mentioned that wlan0 could not be initiliazed...so there IS in fact a wlan0 somewhere, there's just a problem.

The boot screen said it could not find a specific file, but I'd need a log of the bootup to see that. Is there anyway I can view a boot log or would this be found in the regular system log?

I'll post the relevant entries as soon as I know how to find them

kevingreen · 06-26-2006, 07:21 PM

Also,

Code:

ndiswrapper -l

outputs

Code:

rt2500 Driver Loaded

beagle2 · 06-26-2006, 07:50 PM

Again that just shows the driver is loaded but not the hardware for that driver - 2 ralink chipsets for that card so until you have confirmed chipset cant help. You can load any old driver with ndiswrapper and get "xxx driver loaded" but that doesnt mean it will ever work with your hardware. You need to use driver already confirmed as working from the list http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...dex.php/List#L

kevingreen · 06-26-2006, 10:28 PM

Ah that's good advice. Just wondering though if on the off chance you might know how to find out the exact version of a linksys card. It doesn't say on the box and the ndis sourceforge page has different drivers for the so called different versions (I think ranging 1-4.1)

beagle2 · 06-27-2006, 04:04 AM

Already mentioned how to - you have done lspci -v which gave this 01:0a.0 Network controller: RaLink: Unknown device 0301
Now do lspci -n in console, your device will be referred to in the output of the command by the identifier 01:0a.0 . The PCI ID will be in the third column of the output and will be in the form 104c:8400 and check here http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...index.php/list for pciid corresponding to your card. You really are very close here so do this and at least you will know you have verified working driver.

kevingreen · 06-29-2006, 03:23 PM

Hey, thanks for the help! I didn't even have to use ndis wrapper at all! I found that at the Ralink website, there is a native Linux driver for this exact card! I also found a tutorial on the net of how to install it and now my internet on Suse works perfectly. Virutally 0 config on my part as well. It also can use the built in linux wireless network tools, and stuff like ethereal. If anyone needs I can post the link but I'm at work (lol) so I can't I gotta go home to find the book mark. It's sweet though. My next endeavor is setting up my distro to be a web/ftp server. Mostly done except for the ftp part which is gonna take some late nights I can tell already..