help installing ipw2200 wireless drivers
 

Okay so I've just installed slack 12.0 and I need to get my wireless drivers working. I've downloaded the source for the ieee80211, ipw2200, and the ipw2200 firmware.

I compiled and installed both the ieee80211 and ipw2200. Then copied the firmware to the /lib/firmware directory.

However when I try and run the load script or modprobe ipw2200 I get an output as so:

WARNING: Error inserting ieee80211_crypt (/lib/modules/2.6.21.5/net/ieee80211/ieee80211_crypt.ko): invalid module format

WARNING: Error inserting ieee80211_crypt (/lib/modules/2.6.21.5/net/ieee80211/ieee80211.ko): invalid module format

FATAL: Error inserting ipw2200 (/lib/modules/2.6.21.5/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw2200.ko): invalid module format

I've never installed drivers before so this stuff is very new to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I installed the ipw2200 driver/firmware, and didn't need to install ieee80211_crypt to get it working. Read the INSTALL file that comes with the ipw2200 driver, it's *AMAZINGLY* detailed, but it boils down to:

• run the upgrade script in the ipw2200 driver directory
• configure/compile/install the ipw2200 driver
• copy all the files in the firmware file to /lib/firmware

for a clean Slack12 install.

I think all I did off a clean slack install was copy the firmware files to /lib/firmware and then modprobe ipw2200.

Okay I did a fresh install, and tried to just copy the firmware files into /lib/firmware. But when I do a modprobe ipw2200, it returns nothing.

So, I'm back where I started I guess. If it makes any difference I'm using the huge.s kernel.

I tried following the install instructions that come with the ipw2200 driver but I don't have any success. Which ends up with the same results as I first posted.

Is there anything I could be missing?

Please try generic kernel and make sure that you have the correct firmware version. (There are many versions but you need only one).

I have the ipw3945 card in my laptop and if it's similar to the ipw2200 all you do is compile the driver, copy the firmware, DO NOT INSTALL THE GENERIC IEEE80211 PROTOCOL (hope that was clear enough :p ) and install the user space regulatory daemon. When modprobing the module you will see nothing happen, but if you do a dmesg you will see the module respond. Hope that helps.

Simon

It should return nothing when you issue the command modprobe ipw2200. Did you go any further in trying to configure that interface?

I use hugesmp kernel and there's no need to manually modprobe ipw2200 and ieee80211. The kernel loads them automatically at startup. I just copied ipw2200 firmware to /lib/firmware and it just works.

As Vincent_Vega said, modprobe should just bring you back to the command line. You can do a

lsmod | grep ipw to see if it loaded.

ipw2200-fw-3.0 is the version of firmware you should download and use with the default slack 12 install. It sounds like all you need to do is start configuring your card.

Okay after I do lsmod | grep ipw I get:

ipw2200 140872 0
ieee80211 29640 1 ipw2200

And dmesg says it detected my card. However, when I do a iwconfig my network interface eth1 is not listed. Is there a file I need to modify somewhere? Or is something wrong? I don't want to be fooling around with files unless I know what to change.

der 11
Slackware 12 already has drivers for the ipw2200
Just get the firmware from here http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
I user the firmware v.3.
And copy the firmware files to /lib/firmware.
Reboot and your wireless should be fully functional.
I am using the generic-smp kernel.
The huge kernel is really only meant for installation.
If you need wpa_supplicant then see my thread on it I started recently, there is more info there.

My card is detected as far as I can see. But the interface eth1 doesn't show up anywhere. So, I'm completely confused here. And I've already configured it to use the wpa_supplicant. I just need to get the interface up.

General you need to restart the network (or simply reboot) for the device to show up.

Dennisk

I have rebooted several times but the interface doesn't show up. It is however detected, so I'm very confused.

try ifconfig -a to list all available interfaces. Might not be named eth1 (what's on eth0?)