Linux hangs after having installed WMP54GX Linksys driver in NdisWrapper

I wouldn't worry too much about ndiswrapper -m not working. You can always add the alias line by hand.

One thing I do notice with your ndiswrapper install, is that you never mention running make install. Did this actually get run?

Originally Posted by Hangdog42 One thing I do notice with your ndiswrapper install, is that you never mention running make install. Did this actually get run?

Sorry, I forgot to notice this -> I've corrected this in my posting...

Well, I can now honestly say I'm stumped. Your installation procedure seems fine, and as long as make didn't throw any errors, ndiswrapper should be fine. I'm also assuming that when you loaded the Windows driver, you had a .inf and .sys file in the same location.

Which kind of leaves us with a nasty problem, namely that this card may not work with ndiswrapper. The only think I can think of would be to search the manufacturers web site and try any drivers they have for this thing, even old ones.

Maybe this hardware info helps:

62: udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_17cb_1'
  pci.product = 'AGN100 802.11 a/b/g True MIMO Wireless Card'
  pci.subsys_vendor = 'Linksys'
  linux.sysfs_path_device = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:08.0'
  info.bus = 'pci'
  pci.device_protocol = 0 (0x0)
  info.udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_17cb_1'
  pci.linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:08.0'
  pci.subsys_product_id = 69 (0x45)
  linux.subsystem = 'pci'
  info.vendor = 'Airgo Networks Inc'
  pci.product_id = 1 (0x1)
  pci.vendor = 'Airgo Networks Inc'
  info.product = 'AGN100 802.11 a/b/g True MIMO Wireless Card'
  pci.subsys_product = 'Unknown (0x0045)'
  linux.hotplug_type = 2 (0x2)
  linux.sysfs_path = '/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:01:08.0'
  pci.vendor_id = 6091 (0x17cb)
  info.parent = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10de_3f3'
  pci.subsys_vendor_id = 5943 (0x1737)
  pci.device_class = 2 (0x2)
  pci.device_subclass = 0 (0x0)

Sorry, but I'm not sure that helps. The problem is that this card and chipset are new, and as usual, the manufacturers offer absolutely zero linux support. I've done a bit of googling, and I'm not finding any success stories except the one I pointed out a couple of posts back.

The only suggestion I've got at this point it to give linuxant another go and see if it can handle the driver.

Okay, Hangdog42, thank you so far.

I still have some options, but meanwhile I am thinking about changing the card, if I won't have success during the next days.
The idea I have is to add option values to the /etc/modprobe.conf file additionally the the alias ("alias wlan0 ndiswrapper"). I found mem values (0xddee0000 and 0xdde00000) and the irq value (11) for this card, and I think I'll add an io value as well. Of cource this is only experimental...

Originally Posted by Hangdog42 The only suggestion I've got at this point it to give linuxant another go and see if it can handle the driver.

I tried it with Driverloader - and it also failed. Here is the extract of the kernel messages:

sbcore: registered new driver driverloader
driverloader: wnihdd51.sys: 0xe1353000..0xe1420200 entry = e141bc00 (pbase = 0x10000)
driverloader: /var/lib/driverloader/ntoskrnl.exe: unable to open (err=-2)
driverloader: wnihdd51.sys: export not found: InterlockedPushEntrySList (ntoskrnl.exe)
driverloader: /var/lib/driverloader/ntoskrnl.exe: unable to open (err=-2)
driverloader: wnihdd51.sys: export not found: strstr (ntoskrnl.exe)
driverloader: /var/lib/driverloader/ntoskrnl.exe: unable to open (err=-2)
driverloader: wnihdd51.sys: export not found: MmIsAddressValid (ntoskrnl.exe)
driverloader: /var/lib/driverloader/ntoskrnl.exe: unable to open (err=-2)
driverloader: wnihdd51.sys: export not found: InterlockedPopEntrySList (ntoskrnl.exe)
driverloader: /var/lib/driverloader/ndis.sys: unable to open (err=-2)
driverloader: wnihdd51.sys: export not found: NdisInitializeReadWriteLock (NDIS.SYS)
driverloader: unable to load "wnihdd51.sys" (-6)

I've changed the netani.inf file a little bit, e.g. I have deleted all lines with "wnihdd51.sys" (seems to be the XP driver), so that the other sys file (wnihdd50.sys, W2K driver?) should only be loaded. It is a bit curious for me that the kernel log messages mentioned above appear even after having deleted the lines with "wnihdd51.sys". Do you have any ideas for that behaviour?

Just for your information:

I found links to software from Airgo Networks Inc., die Producer of the used Chipset on the Linksys card, and from Belkin:

GPL tarbal you can find the binary Drivers and wireless tools

Airgo Networks GPL Code Center

OK, I should have asked this before....... Are you running the 64 bit version of Suse or the 32 bit version?

I use the 32bit version from OpenSuse and the mentioned software.

The support from Linuxant said that I should have a look a older (Windows) drivers for that device. I haven't found any older drivers so far...

It is a bit curious for me that the kernel log messages mentioned above appear even after having deleted the lines with "wnihdd51.sys". Do you have any ideas for that behaviour?

To be honest, not really. My understanding of Windows drivers is fairly limited, but it seems that this one might be linked to more than just a single .sys file. I may be 100% wrong about that, but if this driver doesn't comply with normal Windows rules, it would explain why ndiswrapper and linuxant can't use it.

I found links to software from Airgo Networks Inc., die Producer of the used Chipset on the Linksys card, and from Belkin:

The stuff from Belkin is useless, at least for fixing your problem. It seems to be the software for one of their routers. I haven't been able to download the stuff from Airgo (their server is frighteningly slow) but again, if this isn't a driver for the cards, it probably isn't going to help your problem. At least not in the near term. It was something like this that allowed the Broadcom 43xx chipsets to be reverse-engineered, but that takes a LONG time to happen.

I use the 32bit version from OpenSuse and the mentioned software.

Nuts. I was hoping I had just overlooked something simple.

I think if you want wireless you're going to need to use a different card under Linux. I'm just not seeing anything wrong that I have an idea of how to fix.