Ndiswrapper - WPC54G - Modprobe fails
Forum: Networking
Topic: Ndiswrapper - WPC54G - Modprobe fails
started by: lowride
Posted by lowride on April 13 2006,18:10
Hi,
I'm trying to get my AST Ascentia M Series (233MHZ - 64MB RAM) Laptop to work with Linksys WPC54G (v.2.0) wireless pcmcia card.
The card shows up in DSL panel, and I got the 2.02 version of the windowsdrivers ndiswrapped, but when I modprobe ndiswrapper I get an error message (dmesg)
"Failed to allocate DMA memory", bla bla bla ...windows driver couldn't initialize the driver.
I googled and found a guy with a similar problem, giving advice to change the kernel memory allocation, using sysctl
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which is to add these lines to /etc/sysctl.conf, and run "sysctl -p" to update the settings:
kernel.shmmax = 67108864
kernel.shmall = 67108864
from:http://www.tulrich.com/geekstuff/debian_tricks.html
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anyway...when I tried to I could not make changes in the lib tree, as the file that is updated with sysctl is part of the dsl image, with read only access.
So I'm stuck on how to get this card to work. Any suggestions?
Posted by jonam on May 14 2006,12:29
Hello,
I have the same problem with a D-Link DWL-G650 (Rev C3) wireless card (Atheros chipset). DSL supposedly works with this "out of the box" if you read the website. I have installed my DSL onto the hard-drive of an old Compaq 1530D (Pentium MMX 133MHz, 16MB RAM).
Both the Madwifi driver and ndiswrapper have failed in DSL with this card and after a lot of searching, it appears that the versions supplied with DSL are way out-of-date. As I cannot access the web, I cannot update these drivers and hence I am in a catch-22.
I first tried using the Madwifi Atheros drivers included with DSL but checking the dmesg log found that Madwifi returned an error code 13 which meant that the version of Madwifi with DSL was too old for the chipset revision. Checking the Madwifi site, I found that this driver has now been replaced by Madwifi-ng which apparently isn't available for DSL and I have no idea where to get it. So my only choice was ndiswrapper.
I tried using the D-link drivers with ndiswrapper but it failed to detect the hardware as DSL recognised the Atheros chipset and did not link this to the D-link drivers. So, after some searching on the web, I found the Atheros reference drivers and loaded them up with ndiswrapper. Rather than use the tool included with DSL, I found installation instructions for ndiswrapper on Sourceforge and followed them exactly.
Managed to load the driver OK and it detected the hardware. When I then tried modprobe, I got the same error message as you have in the dmesg output. Similarly, I found the same solution you did for your problem and as I had hard-disk install, I was able to change the syscntl.conf file.
Didn't work - same error in dmesg file. Then I noted the ndiswrapper version - it is 0.10!! Currently I believe it should be 1.2 according to the ndiswrapper website.
As far as I can work out both Madwifi and ndiswrapper need to be updated to current versions but I have no clue how to do this as I am new to Linux. I don't have the time to find the source and re-compile the latest versions and I have no idea if they will work with the supplied kernel.
So, like you, I am stuck. Looks like I will have to install my old Win98SE on this laptop and try and get that working with the G650.
Regards,
Jonam
Posted by roberts on May 14 2006,16:52
There is an updated nidswrapper in DSL v2.4RC2.
I am using it with an Atheros G54 type pcmcia card.
Posted by jonam on May 15 2006,00:16
Roberts,
Thanks. Last night I managed to find the updated madwifi-ng driver for DSL but have yet to try it out. I assume that the updated ndiswrapper will be found in the same DSL repository?
My only way of transferring files from the web to my DSL machine is via floppy. I will let you know what happens.
Regards,
Jonam
Posted by jonam on May 15 2006,13:11
Roberts,
I tried out the new madwifi-ng driver for DSL. Unfortunately, its two steps forward, one step back. The driver installs correctly, however, when I try to configure the card using the wlanconfig command, I get (depending on from where I run the command):
ioctl: Operation not permitted and,
ioctl: Invalid argument
Turns out after searching on Sourceforge that this is a known problem with Debian 2.4.27 kernel:
sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=14359060
I assume it is occuring with the 2.4.26 kernel in DSL.
Next try will have to be ndiswrapper in DSL 2.4RC2. A couple of evenings work to reload DSL and I will let you know.
Regards,
Jonam
Posted by jonam on May 15 2006,13:29
Roberts,
More searching - the problem is apparently with the madwifi driver as outlined in:
< Madwifi Ticket >
Followed the recommended fix and got the wlanconfig command working. However, card fails to see the active AP so more work to do.
Regards,
Jonam
Posted by jonam on May 22 2006,04:26
Roberts,
I have done a lot of work on this problem over the last week and believe it is probably due to the yenta_socket driver that is part of the pcmcia driver package in DSL 2.3.
By loading the pcmcia drivers manually (pcmcia_core, yenta_socket and ds), as far as I can find out, allocation of IRQs to the card is not being done properly. Doing a "cat /proc/interrupts" shows no interrupts being generated on either PCMCIA slot and dmesg indicating an IRQ routing conflict that yenta_socket tries to resolve using ISA IRQs.
Searching the internet seems to confirm a problem with the yenta_socket driver. See the section on 2.4.1+ Linux kernels on the following page:
< Elan PCI to PCMCIA >
Does DSL 2.4 include a patch in yenta_socket to fix PCI IRQ allocation as outlined on the above site? Which version of DSL changed from the pcmcia driver using the i82365 module to yenta_socket?
I suspect that the problem indicated in another thread on this forum with HP Ominbook 5700ctx laptop PCMCIA not working on DSL after 2.1b is the same as mine.
I have this laptop as well and though I haven't tried loading DSL on it yet (no CDROM) , it uses the same chipsets (TI PCI1131) and PCMCIA architecture as the Compaq 1530D which is what I am having problems with.
I will try getting DSL 2.0 or 2.1 going on the Compaq over the next week to see if the old pcmcia_cs drivers work.
Regards,
jonam
Posted by roberts on May 22 2006,04:49
Seeing that it works on some machines but not your particular machine leads me to belive it is an IRQ conflict.
Check dmesg for IRQ assignments and then adjust either via BIOS settings or parameters to modprobe might be suggested.
Posted by jonam on June 06 2006,11:59
Roberts,
I have done a lot of testing on both an Omnibook 5700CT (DSL 2.4RC2) and Compaq 1530D (DSL 2.1b to 2.3) and believe it is a problem in the yenta_socket driver as per my previous post (Elan PCI to PCMCIA link).
On the Omnibook, interrupts get correctly allocated, all PCMCIA modules and Madwifi-ng modules load correctly and I can get the DWL-G650 card to the point where "ifconfig ath0 up" gets both ACT and LINK lights alternately flashing.
There are no errors in dmesg and lspci -v shows no problems in Cardbus allocation. The only problem is that doing a "cat /proc/interrupts" shows a count of 0 against the Cardbus controllers.
Trying to do an "iwlist ath0 scan" returns "no scan results".
Doing "iwconfig" and "ifconfig" shows the TX bytes count on the ath0 device incrementing but no RX bytes.
I have also tried ndsiwrapper but cannot get it to work using either the D-Link or Atheros reference drivers on either machine.
On the Compaq with DSL 2.1b, I cannot find the madwifi drivers for the 2.4.31 kernel. Trying to load the madwifi drivers for the 2.x kernels in the DSL repository produces an IMLIB Error: Cannot find Palette. A Palette is required for this mode.
Jonam
Posted by jonam on June 08 2006,21:15
Roberts,
An update.
I have managed to get my wireless card working with DSL 2.1b on the Compaq 1530d with madwifi. As per my previous posts, I believe the problem is with the PCMCIA card services modules, probably yenta_socket. DSL 2.1b appears to have a later version of the PCMCIA modules and the card is detected and installs correctly. Carrying out the same sequence of installation DSL 2.4 fails.
I will post more details once I confirm with my other laptop.
Regards,
Jonam
Posted by jonam on June 14 2006,04:53
Roberts,
Just confirming that my HP Omnibook 5700 which has the same Cardbus chipset as the Compaq 1530D works fine with wireless under 2.1b using the madwifi drivers posted for 2.0/2.1b and the Cardmgr v3.2.5.
I have also replied to okko who was having a similar problem with the same laptop (HP 5700) and he has reverted to DSL 2.1b.
Please see my post in the Ideas and Suggestions Forum for more details on the steps I took to locate this problem. If you need any further details, please let me know.
Regards,
Jonam
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