another DWL-G630 problem (with errror msgs!)

Forum: Networking
Topic: another DWL-G630 problem (with errror msgs!)
started by: stormy

Posted by stormy on Nov. 30 2005,05:17

First off I have just done a fresh install of dsl 1.2.1.
Secondly the leds on the card light up (and stay lit afterwards) during the auto-detection phase of bootup. But there is no wlan0 or ath0, only lo.
I read on another dwl-g630 related post that the mad-wifi drivers were built into linux - ath_pci. Also this is the C2 dwl-g630.

Code Sample

root@box:/home/dsl# modprobe -v ath_pci
/sbin/insmod -q /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o
Using /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o
Symbol version prefix 'smp_'
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
/sbin/insmod -q /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/wlan.o
Using /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/wlan.o
Module wlan loaded, with warnings
/sbin/insmod -q /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_pci.o
Using /lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_pci.o
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
# delete wlan
# delete ath_hal

I did an lsmod just in case, but to no avail. Both wlan and ath_hal modules load with ease though.

So with my led lights still blinking I decided to use ndiswrapper. I've used it once before on a USRobotics card and it worked very well. I've also seen many post about it working with this particular card.

Code Sample

root@box:/home/dsl/Drivers/Drivers# ndiswrapper -i net5211.inf
Installing net5211
root@box:/home/dsl/Drivers/Drivers#

Then:

Code Sample

root@box:/home/dsl/Drivers/Drivers# ndiswrapper -l
Installed ndis drivers:
net5211 hardware present
root@box:/home/dsl/Drivers/Drivers#

I then did a modprobe ndiswrapper.
No errors, so I did an ifconfig. Still no wireless iface. Just lonely old 'lo'.

But wait, let's check dmesg:

Code Sample

root@box:/home/dsl/Drivers/Drivers# dmesg | tail -n 15
ath_hal: driver unloaded
ath_hal: 0.9.6.11
wlan: 0.7.3.1 BETA
ath_pci: 0.8.5.2 BETA
ath_pci: No devices found, driver not installed.
wlan: driver unloaded
ath_hal: driver unloaded
ndiswrapper version 0.10 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 05:00.0 to 64
__alloc_pages: 0-order allocation failed (gfp=0x21/0)
ndiswrapper (NdisMAllocateSharedMemory:997): Failed to allocate DMA coherent memory. Windows driver requested 4096 bytes of cached memory

ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:196): log: C000009A, length: 4 (c1c73160)

ndiswrapper (ndis_init_one_pci:1458): Windows driver couldn't initialize the device
root@box:/home/dsl/Drivers/Drivers#

Honestly I'm lost. Any help you can provide would be great. I really need my wifi
:<

-Thanks in advance

Posted by tempestuous on Nov. 30 2005,07:15

You may be closer than you realise. "ifconfig" only shows ACTIVE network interfaces. Run "ifconfig -a" to see ALL network interfaces.
Also, you may be confusing ifconfig with iwconfig. iwconfig will display all network interfaces with Linux wireless extensions. This means most, but not all, wireless interfaces.

You can load your MADWiFi modules individually if you prefer with insmod, but it's easier just to do -
modprobe ath_pci

If your ath0 interface is present, now you just need to setup the wireless connection -
iwconfig ath0 essid MY_ESSID key 1234567890 mode managed
pump -i ath0

Similar story with ndiswrapper, but make sure you unload any MADWiFi modules before attempting to use ndiswrapper.

MADWiFi drivers are included in many Linux distributions, but don't assume this in all cases.

Posted by stormy on Nov. 30 2005,07:28

ifconfig (-a), iwconfig - neither show any wireless iface. sorry for not being more clear. neither ndiswrapper or madwifi is working in this case as you can see from the dmesg output.