MN720 wireless notebook adapter

Forum: Networking
Topic: MN720 wireless notebook adapter
started by: dmizzel

Posted by dmizzel on Sep. 15 2005,23:54

I'm getting frustrated with wireless. This is the 3rd card I've tried to get working. I bought this card because it is easy to set up. Well... call me slow (I don't mind) but I can't get it to work.

I'm on a thinkpad t22 with 128mb ram, DSL 1.3 (frugal install :cool:

). I've tried to insert the card both before boot up and after boot up and I don't get any lights (power is the only one I expected). I've tried the following:

From ndiswrapper website I downloaded the driver: mn720-ankh.inf
which I placed in a folder I created: /mnt/hda5/home/dsl/windows

Then I opened ndiswrapper from the dsl control menu and entered the path to the driver: /mnt/hda5/home/dsl/windows/mn720-ankh.inf
(also tried /home/dsl/windows/mn720-ankh.inf )

Next line I left alone: wlan0

sid: linksys (I'm not sure what i'm doing here)
wep: (left blank)

And now what?

From the dsl control panel I clicked 'wlanconfig' to which I get: 'No wireless network card found'

I've tried:
dsl@box:~$ cardctl status
Socket 0:
3.3V CardBus card
function 0: [ready]
Socket 1:
no card

dsl@box:~$ ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
mn720-ankh hardware present

dsl@box:~$ lspci
....blah blah blah......
0000:02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4325 (rev 02)

Thanx

Posted by ke4nt1 on Sep. 16 2005,02:41

I use these cards in DSL, they work very well for me.
The MN730 ( PCI version ) uses the same driver,
and also works flawlessly with ndiswrapper using this driver.

Here are the steps I use to make it go..

1. Insert card into pcmcia slot.
2. Power up and boot into DSL. - goto desktop
3. Access the ndiswrapper utility in DSLPanel
4. Line one - path to file - /home/dsl/mn720-ankh.inf
( be sure the bcmwl5.sys file is in the same location,
and add both filenames to your /home/dsl/filetool.lst for backups.)
5. Line two - device - wlan0 ( works for me )
6. Line three - sid - Check your wireless router setup for this.
( The linksys routers usually default to 'linksys' )
7. Line four - wep - I use 128 wep, it's 13 hex pairs, separated by colons.
8. Press OK ..

By this time, I see lights flash, and I can open up firefox, and be online.
No other utilities needed..

Once successful, you can find a file in /opt called myndis.sh .
Add this filename to your /home/dsl/filetool.lst for backup purposes.

Add the line /opt/myndis.sh to your /opt/bootlocal.sh file
to have it autostart at boottime.

If your having any other issues, best check your router config.
This works consistantly for me.. I have 4 of the MN7** cards..
2 PCMCIA, 2 PCI , all good.

73
ke4nt

Posted by dmizzel on Sep. 16 2005,08:36

Thanx for the response but.......

No lights (power or wireless).

Maybe my card is bad? How can I troubleshoot it? Are there any commands that I can try to check?

Posted by dmizzel on Sep. 20 2005,00:04

I guess I should return the card?

dsl@box:~$ ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
mn720-ankh hardware present

but still.... no lights

Posted by ke4nt1 on Sep. 20 2005,03:35

Do you have another machine to test this on?
( to see if the mn720 works and is OK? )

Do you have another cardbus adapter that works?
( to show that the cardbus itself is not faulty )

Did you verify your ssid in your router config?
Are other devices on your wireless network working with DSL ?
Can you look at their config files in /opt, and see what they use?

You said in your first post this is the third card you have tried
Are you sure it's the cards, and not the network config?

Worst comes to worst, you can send it to me,
and I'll test it for you in a working DSL environment..

73
ke4nt

Posted by dmizzel on May 05 2006,06:54

I have exchanged my mn-720 card for a new one a while back. Works perfectly (following ke4nt's how-to above)!

I don't know if it's the new card or the fact that i'm using dsl 2.2 now. (I assume it was a bad card).
If this thread has kept the mn720 from being listed in the working wireless cards, I apologize.

I was unable to edit the wiki to add this card. Hopefully the persons who are able to edit see this.