How to enable wlan on a ThinkPad T42

Forum: Networking
Topic: How to enable wlan on a ThinkPad T42
started by: Multitudes

Posted by Multitudes on Feb. 20 2006,15:57

I am currently running DSL ver. 2.2b from LiveCD.

I have problems activating my wireless miniPCI adapter (Intel Corp. Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)) (based on the atheros chipset) on my IBM ThinkPad T42.

At boot only the wired interface is detected. It is configured automatically and works fine.

Output from lspci -v:

Code Sample

0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corp. Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)
Subsystem: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2712
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
Memory at c0214000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

If I try to modprobe ath_pci I get:

Code Sample

Warning: loading /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o will taint the kernel: non-GPL license - Proprietary
See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted modules
Module ath_hal loaded, with warnings
Module wlan loaded, with warnings
/lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_pci.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_pci.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_pci.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_pci.o: insmod ath_pci failed

Ifconfig lists the interfaces eth0 (wired ethernet) and lo

Iwconfig states "no wireless extensions" for both eth0 and lo

I will be very greatfull if anyone can give me any clues on how to proceed.

Thanks in advance!

Multitudes

Posted by K.Mandla on Feb. 22 2006,21:02

I could also use a hand getting one of these going. I have the 2200BG too, in a Dell XPS M170. I've tried ndiswrapper with the latest drivers from the Dell site, but with no luck.

Posted by doobit on Feb. 22 2006,21:26

That's the same error I was getting with the newer madwifi modules before Robert wrote a configuration script for them. Since the compiled ones are not loading up automatically you may want to try the madwifi.dsl package. Load it as you would a normal .dsl package. Here are the instructions:
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....t=10389 >

Posted by Multitudes on Feb. 22 2006,23:32

@doobit:

Isn't the madwifi package compiled for the newer kernel?
I'm running DSL 2.2b.

Multitudes
(with no progress so far ...)

Posted by doobit on Feb. 23 2006,01:07

The madwifi is compiled for the newer kernel, yes. However, you said it wasn't loading since you don't see it as you boot up. The older madwifi that's in the 2.4.26 kernel may not load if your card is not recognized first in the boot order. There are some advantages to the new madwifi modules that Robert packaged. I'm just saying you should give it a try since the precompiled ones aren't working for you. Personally, the ones that are compiled in the kernel work for me, and the newer ones work with DSL-2.1b extremely well too.

ath_pci.o needs to load to make the interface work.

Posted by K.Mandla on Feb. 23 2006,03:16

Hmm. I get kernel compilation errors. I'll keep trying though.