i have searched all of the related threads and have not found a single one useful. I am somewhat new to LINUX. I have a dell latitude 110l
with a dellwireless 1370 wlan 802.11b/g onboard. SuSe does not even recognize it. It only recognizes the onboard modem and onboard nic card.
Everything else is running fine and I am able to connect if I wire in. I would like to use the wireless nic though. Can someone please help me?

Try ndiswrapper :

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net

ok I got that package but cannot install it?

Install the ndiswrapper that comes with Suse, use Yast. Next you must install the WIndows driver for your WiFi card.

ndiswrapper -i driver_name

Here is a scrip I run any time I wan to use my WiFi, I call it "wlan"

echo "Loading ndiswrapper..."
modprobe ndiswrapper

echo "Setting mode Managed..."
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed

echo "Setting up wireless interface wlan0..."
echo " -- Setting ESSID"
iwconfig wlan0 essid SkyNet

echo " --Setting to cchannel 11..."
iwconfig wlan0 channel 11

echo " --Turning on managed mode..."
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed

echo " --Setting encryption key"
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted 7DC0E6358XXXXFA3B0628888 <-- Your security key

echo "Bringing up interface wlan0..."
ifconfig wlan0 up

echo "Activating UP address via DHCP..."
dhclient wlan0

Note that the dhclient is for Mandriva, just do dh and hit tab, it will tell you the name of the file.

Hope this help.

ok I installed the ndiswrapper and the network drivers.
I ran that script and it game me errors.
Also in YAST it is not seeing a wireless nic and iwconfig comes back with no wireless extensions

You use yast just to install ndiswrapper. That's it. Don't worry if Yast don't see the WiFi card.
Forgot to mention that you need to change the ESSID to match yours, also you need to change the encription key if you are using any, you may try your router with no security enable first. Also, change the last line to dhcpcd, make the script executable(chmod 755), and bingo! It should work!

Below is the script that I am using now.


echo "Loading ndiswrapper..."
modprobe ndiswrapper

echo "Setting mode Managed..."
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed

echo "Setting up wireless interface wlan0..."
iwconfig wlan0 essid SkyNet <--- Your ESSID, my is SkyNet, if none, use "default". You must put something here.

echo " --Setting to cchannel 11..."
iwconfig wlan0 channel 11

echo " --Turning on managed mode..."
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed


echo " --Setting encryption key"
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted 7DC0E6358XXXXFA3B0628888 <-- Your security key. If this is not enable in your router, don't use this at all, comment it out.

echo "Bringing up interface wlan0..."
ifconfig wlan0 up

echo "Activating UP address via DHCP..."
dhcpcd wlan0


This shoudl work!

Loading ndiswrapper...
linux:~ # modprobe ndiswrapper
FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.13-15-default/extra/ndiswrapper.ko): Operation not permitted
linux:~ #
linux:~ # echo "Setting mode Managed..."
Setting mode Managed...
linux:~ # iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; No such device.
linux:~ #
linux:~ # echo "Setting up wireless interface wlan0..."
Setting up wireless interface wlan0...
linux:~ # iwconfig wlan0 essid default
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; No such device.
linux:~ #
linux:~ # echo " --Setting to cchannel 11..."
--Setting to cchannel 11...
linux:~ # iwconfig wlan0 channel 11
Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; No such device.
linux:~ #
linux:~ # echo " --Turning on managed mode..."
--Turning on managed mode...
linux:~ # iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; No such device.
linux:~ #
linux:~ #
linux:~ #
linux:~ #
linux:~ # echo "Bringing up interface wlan0..."
Bringing up interface wlan0...
linux:~ # ifconfig wlan0 up
wlan0: unknown interface: No such device
linux:~ #
linux:~ # echo "Activating UP address via DHCP..."
Activating UP address via DHCP...
linux:~ # dhcpcd wlan0



Still failing and I checked to make sure that its installed and it told me that it was installed

OK I just checked and ndiswrapper told me that it was an invalid driver. I pulled the folder from the wireless nic driver directory. In dell computers they always put a driver folder inside the root of the "C:" drive and if I were reinstalling WIN I would put that whole folder on my flash drive and the install all of the driver from their. The folder is full of exe. and dll and a couple other file types. Is their a specific file in there that I should point the ndiswrapper to?

The first FATAL error is telling me that you still have some problems with ndiswrapper, remove it with the comand, but first find the correct version:

rpm -q ndiswrapper
then
rpm -e ndiswrapper_version_number

reinstall it using Yast. I mean use the one that come with Suse.

Regarding the file, yes! You need to look for files ending wiht .ini, you may have more than one, if that is the case, load one by one, and check it with nidiswrapper until you don't get the error invalid driver loaded.
Remember, I am talking about the folder that has your WiFi files.

ok iwconfig shows me that it is installed
It is not starting up though. I only know how to write scripts in dos/win
I tried to write it in linux with no luck, and I wrote it in win and tried to run it in win and it only see's it as a text file. When I did run I just copied it all and dropped it into the shell, which is where you see that stuff I posted earlier.
Please help me complete this mission. Do you know of any good books that will teach me more commands and shell scripts to be able to do this stuff. I can do it all on windows and I work with windows machines all day.


I really appreciate your help here.


linux:~ # iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSIDff/any Nickname:"linux"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:4123-7259-1067-6788-7878-8776-35 Security mode:restricted
Power Managementff
Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-35 dBm Noise level:-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


ok I looked in my router and I seen the mac address for the wireless NIC under the DHCP table
I could not however connect to the internet or anything else.
Please help I am so close

OK, if you see your WiFi mac address in the router, that means, the WiFi card is working somehow. Make sure you check it with the ndiswrapper -l that the driver is loaded correctly:

linux:/home/alex/suse # ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
bcmwl5 driver present, hardware present

If that is the case, you need to run the script that I posted earlier. Make sure you have the correct ESSID, ecription key if any, if not encription key, removed that line. Regarding how to write the script, you can copy and paste it. Use kate if you are not familiar with VI. Name it anything you want it, make it executable, I think you know this: chmod 755 script_name, and run it like this:
./script_mame and hit enter.

Remember who owns the script, root or somebody else.

Just do an ls -l script_name:

linux:/home/alex/suse # ls -l wlan_l
-rwxr-xr-x 1 alex users 507 2005-11-02 20:03 wlan_l

Also, check your /var/log/messages for errors regarding to your WiFi card, if you see, for example, ifstatus not wlan0 available or something like that, the kernel did not recognize your wifi interface at all, bad news, you may have to reinstall Suse.

Also, you may try to run the script line by line, and see which one gies you an error.

Do an "iwlist scanning" I hope you will see your ESSID and other details about your wlan.
If all of the above work, check you firewall.

got it MAN.. thankyou

it was the essid that was killing it.

THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!!

I am glad it work, those were my two cents , dude!