Problems setting up Intel Wireless 3945ABG

[Pippaki]

Hi guys, I am fairly new to using linux and only installed fc5 yesterday. The first thing I wanted to get done is getting my wireless to work (Intel Pro Set Wireless 3945ABG) but no luck. I have had a look at the instructions but find them very confusing (it's been a massive learning curve).
The problem I found was that these instructions tell you to go from this readme file to another and they are not exactly user friendly. Is there not something really simple and possibly with information to what I am actually doing or possibly someone here could help?
I have a Dell Inspiron 6400.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Brian1]

Are you using this driver? http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/
Or the Ndiswrapper driver? http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

What does it say you don't understand.

Brian1

[MAnix]

Basically install (by compiling, ./configure, make, make install) ndiswrapper, then download the driver, then add it to ndiswrapper, then configure the wireless card.

These are the instructions. Follow word for word:
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation

To make this work you need the drivers. I have found yours below but you can check here for them (no need as below is your device and driver location):
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List#I

They are alphabetically listed. It really easy too. Ignore all the crap and basically you download the drivers. Extract them apropriatly to a folder, say, /etc/driver. Then you run ndiswrapper -i to install the right file (the .inf windows driver file). Then follow instructions given above in installation guide. Thats the order you do it all in. That should save you looking much more. The list is here:
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List#I

and i am so helpful i have found the relevant instructions for you so you can get on with installation and i have removed all the useless bits for you!!

Card: [Intel] PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
pciid: 8086:4222
Driver: version 10.1.0.13 http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-010623.htm (w39n51.inf, unfortunatly the download is 80MB because it's packaged with "Intel PROset/Wireless software", and drivers for the 2200BG and 2915ABG)
Other: Tested on Gentoo Linux

So download the above driver file (links are on the website given for the list), and extract it to folder (remember where you put them too!!) You are looking to use the file w39n51.inf, in your case. This WILL work no trouble. It is all a matter of reading the installation stuff. Dont cloud with other stuff. I say this as i went around the houses for over 5 hours before coming to this doc and it worked in minutes. It is so easy. To unpack .exe self extracting files and .zip here are the instructions:
Use [cabextract] on the exe file.
Use [unshield] to extract from CAB files, typically named data1.cab, data1.hdr, data2.cab. Also read [here] for a bit more detail.

All i have said is on the installation instructions. Download ndiswrapper from above link posted by Brian1, then follow my instructions...It is simple and this is as easy as it gets, but to be fair wireless is one hell of a headache so to be this far is good!! it gets easier!!

Good luck, and have fun!! Let us know if this works. And welcome to Linux community!!

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix, thank you very much for your help. Could you please advise what the first bit of the instructions mean (see below):
-----------------------------------
Prerequisites
You need a recent kernel at least 2.6.6 or 2.4.26 with source. Under Red Hat or Mandrake, the sources can be installed using the package kernel-source<kernel-version>.rpm. Make sure there is a link to the kernel source from the modules directory. /lib/modules/VERSION/build should be a link to the kernel source, where VERSION is the version of the kernel you are running. If there is no link, you'll get an error at the make install step. To create a link, assuming the kernel sources are present, use the command

ln -s /usr/src/linux-<kernel-version> /lib/modules/VERSION/build
Make sure you have started compiling the kernel sources, so needed header files are present. Some vendors ship ndiswrapper in their distributions. Either use it or make sure you remove it before installing ndiswrapper by yourself. Make sure you have the Wireless Tools installed. Again, there is a package that comes along with Red Hat and Mandrake distributions. If you are using Debian you can install the wireless-tools package from the mirror, here

--------------------------
How do I do this? I have tried the instructions without this but it was looking for the above "header files".
Thank you so much for your help.

[MAnix]

yeah i had trouble with this. think it may be how it was pakaged. um i think it easy enough...

firstly try installing it using yum:
if you dont have livna repo type this as root: rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-5.rpm

so with the livna repo enabled do this: yum -y install ndiswrapper.i386

it installs this:
ndiswrapper.i386 1.13-2.lvn5 livna
Matched from:
ndiswrapper
"Ndiswrapper wraps around Windows WLAN drivers within Linux
The ndiswrapper project makes it possible to use WLAN-Hardware
with Linux by means of a loadable kernel module that "wraps
around" NDIS (Windows network driver API) drivers. These rpms contain
just the kernel module and loader. You will also need the Windows driver
for your card."

****only do the below if the above fails do work. however it may be worth posting back before this, as it may be repo error not rpm****
try it and i think that solves it. else do this:

you will have the recent kernel no doubt already. down load the package .rpm and open it rather than installing it. use ark i think. that gives you a directory, and one inside that and so on until you find a module file. you copy this to the same location on the pc. so if the directory was say /usr/src/kernel (version)/so and so/ in the rpm then thats where you copy and make a symbolic link for the pc directory. oh and remember you need to be root to do anything like installs

su (hit return)
<enter password>

then recompile the ndiswrapper doing ./configure;make;make install

AS mentioned the first thing i said gets ndiswrapper most times, but if that fails do the second thing i said. it just puts the symbolic link so the rest of ndiswrapper can extract and install. you MUST try the livna repo first as it most likely will work. i obviously have it on my pc so dont wanna install it again but i think this version works!! post if you have trouble installing as answer is easy.

the guide here (http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_5_installation_notes.html) helps noobs and pros get through an install of just about anything!! stanley finton should rename this The Bible, as it rocks and is so usefull!!

post back if this doesnt work as i can help. may have better instructions!! sorry havent had morning coffee!!

MAniX

[Pippaki]

Stanley Finton.. thats the instructions I used to install Fedora.. they were really good. I'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks

[MAnix]

Stanley Finton.. thats the instructions I used to install Fedora.. they were really good. I'll let you know how I get on.
Thanks

as i said, should be called The Bible!!

i shall consider putting that as a vote on wibble section.

and good luck with wireless. let me know...

[Pippaki]

Hi MANix,
Thanks for the above. I was just looking at this again and found what is possibly causing the trouble with this. As per the first instructions I am supposed to run the following command:
ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp/build
The problem is that /usr/src/linux doesn't exist. The only thing that I can find is /usr/src/redhat/BUILD, RPMS, SOURCES, SPECS, SRPMS. So when running the above command it works but the build is broken because of this. Can I just point this somewhere else? I found the kernel by using the uname -r command, is this correct?
Thanks

[MAnix]

didnt the rpm work??

i have /usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5-i686 as where mine points to. i am trying to find where i p[ut the symbolic link!! sorry. nearly there i guess.

BINGO. right i have a symbolic link between the above folder and here
/lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build

so the command is ln -s /usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5-i686 /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build

then re-run compile. thats what you want!!

sorry for delay, i had to search everywhere to find this. im such an idiot!!

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix,
I got this NDISwrapper to work. I run the make install and this worked after installing the kernel header. Let's see what is next...

[MAnix]

THats good. wow something i said actually made sense and helped!! sweet.

yeah let me know if ndiswrapper oges well. i dont see you having any troubles from now on. you wont need to restart either when you have run through all the instructions then you can click to open up the internet browser. the guides above have troubleshooters but usually it is just trying on eof the three commands to bring the network up!!

post back with what happens. i am curious if this goes well for you. seems so. i shall be checking the forums all night if u have trouble.
MAniX

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix,

How are you? Hope not to fed up with me? I am trying to install the driver with ndiswrapper and it comes up with the following messages:
Installing w39n51
Couldn't copy etc/drivers/w39n51.inf at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 144

When I run ndiswrapper -l it shows the following:
w39n51 Invalid driver
I have tried to remove the driver and reinstall it but no luck?

Have you got any ideas?
Thanks

[MAnix]

Hey. I am fine, i just hope this works!! You are no pain. It is one of the best things i found about the community is the desire to help and the courtosy of all who help. You will find many helping and giving sugesstions.

It maybe the driver?? Did you use ones provided by the manufacturer (on cd) or website?? If you have the driver on CD try again by copying it to a location. Check if you are root, and also
Couldn't copy etc/drivers/w39n51.inf at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 144 << this line has an error here cos it should be /etc/drivers/w39n51.inf

Also you know you need all the files that come with the driver in the same directory as it installs them. so if it came with a .sys file and some others, they too need to be in the same directory. Try again making sure this is right, else delete them and try with other ones.

Sounds like drivers, so maybe download them from diff source??

copy the files extracted from the .exe or .cab .zip to a directory like /etc/drivers/ and then try as root in same dir as .inf and .sys files:
ndiswrapper -i [driver name].inf

Adam

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix,

I have just had this message:
Installed drivers:
w39n51 drivers installed, hardware present

I can't believe it, thanks so much. Please let me know what is next? Is it the modprobe thing?
I'm so excited...

[MAnix]

Yeah this is good. right you now need to follow these instruyctions pretty much:
As root type these followed by RETURN key:
/sbin/depmod -a
/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
/sbin/iwconfig
/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid ESSID (By the way the essid in upper case should be replaced by the network id like "linksys_54g" or whatever. this can be seen when you type in scan, and the essid is listed next to the access point of choice)
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed

then finally:
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up
or
/sbin/dhclient wlan0 (i do this one, but depends on which you have on system)
or
/sbin/dhcpcd wlan0

Looks like you are in final hurdle. the instructions are given in more detail and in greater depth for errors here http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation#Load_module:

Cos ndiswrapper has loaded the driver this means you are close and simply need to activate the wireless network. the above should work. Again, let me know how this goes. Hope all is well!!

MAniX

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix, its me again..
depmod -a works fine but when I run modprobe ndiswrapper I get the following error message:
FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp/misc/ndiswrapper.ko)
Invalid module format
I checked dmesg and this gave this info:
ndiswrapper: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
I have had a look about these errors but not much luck.

[MAnix]

copy the ndiswrapper.ko module file found in the .rpm accessed by ark. copy it and paste it where it needs it: /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp/misc/ndiswrapper.ko

that works on mine...

the rpm can be downloaded from the net. type it into google and download the file. then open in rather than installing it although that wouldnt hurt either. i mentioned it in earlier post...

have you googled for this problem and searched these forums for similar posts??

not having much luck are you!! you are close i think!!

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix, I don't quite understand. Do you mean I should just download the ndiswrapper.ko file? I have had a look but they don't come individually?

[MAnix]

Hye im back again. Sorry for delay, i was alseep!! Im such a lazy student.

Right, try installing this file:
yum install kernel-devel
then:
yum install kernel-module-ndiswrapper (This file is in dries repo and i think in livna)

Then try it again. It has installed your module it just wont add it too where the kernel needs it so the above may help. Try them and post output...

also yum install wireless-tools

and as for the missing module, here it is, attached in all its glory for the use as you will. Last night i said to copy this to the location it was looking for. well i found mine in this file path...

/lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/misc/

so id try copying there and off we go again. (the path before had smp at the end)

I believe your problem may lie with the stacks (4k for linux but some windows drivers are 8k) This can be solved so try the above and if that doesnt work then i have more up my magic sleave. I shall not give up!!

Yours,

MAniX

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix, thanks I will try this tonight...unfortunatley, I am at work at the moment...
Can I use yum even though I don't have internet access? I have re-installed the ndiswrapper again last night but that didn't make a difference.

[MAnix]

yum needs access to the internet on the local machine you wish to use. it can be used locally with no net to install such things but you can install rpm's using the rpm command. my suggestion if you dont have a direct link you can put in (like the one that goes into your wireless router) then download the file i attached and try copying it to the location. Also try downloading the kernel-devel before you leave the internet connection.


i found this on a google search too. http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-fc5.html
it has good instructions at the end under kernel header and kernel source for such things but simply install the devel which should update your kernel and boom you will be on the net:
the kernel devel is: kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.i686.rpm and is 4.7MB, and can be found on a google search (RPMFind i think is the first one). I have this file, but as said it is 4.7MB. I can email it if you have large enough mailbox and all??

When you are ready to install the rpm do this:
rpm -ivh kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.i686.rpm

then do the same for any other rpm's. If you dont have net no point in using yum to do what this does...

This will be the easiest way to go. But good news is that you are close to wireless, so close as to taste it. lol. and you will probably be more pleased to know that i have yet to find problems as hard to overcome as wireless so everything from here should be dead easy!!

Well i shall be on all day, up until my LUG meeting at 7:30pm. But i shall answer all you need when you post.

Hope London is sunnier than this ****hole (Northants).

Ad

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix, how are you? It is quite cold and windy over here in London.. so not much better than where you are.
I have had no luck. I have tried to do everything from scratch again as follows (I un-installed ndiswrapper with make uninstall, I think). All was done as root.
1. I downloaded the kernel and kernel devel rpm and installed them (didn't work, said they were already installed (kernel-smp-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.stk16.i686.rpm & kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.i686.rpm)) I needed them to get step 2 to work originally.
2. ln -s /usr/src/linux-<kernel-version> /lib/modules/VERSION/build
This was slightly different for mine /usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp
3. I extracted ndiswrapper, version 1.16
4. cd ndiswrapper-1.16
5. make distclean/make/make install (no problems)
6. I had already copied the Windows drivers to CD (from my Intel folder on the C: drive (WINDOWS) and copied the Drivers folder with all files to /etc/drivers/Drivers
7. ndiswrapper -i /etc/driver/Drivers/w39n51.inf (no problems)
8. ndiswrapper -l showed driver installed and hardware present
9. depmod -a (no messages, so assume no problems)
10. modprobe ndiswrapper
FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp/misc/ndiswrapper.ko)
Invalid module format

It is frustrating but I have to admit it.. I quite enjoy it (as long as there is hope). Also tried to download the attachment but it didn't like it, maybe you could email it to me? I would then only have to replace it with my ndiswrapper.ko?
If there is anything else you think I could try, let me know... Thanks Pippaki

[MAnix]

did you extract the ndiswrapper.ko cos i tar.gz'd it?? what files you need me to email??

i spoke to some people at the linux users group and they think smp; shouldnt be used. my file path excludes smp so instead of:
/usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp
/usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5_i686 /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5_i686

hmm. this is getting tricky again!! firstly let me ask are you using a 64bit system or any reason for smp?? and where did you get your install from. nothing wrong with install, just curious.

if you let me know which files you need i shall forward them. if you open up the archived tarball you will find the module that you can dump into the folder it asks for. have you copied the ndiswrapper.ko into the place it is looking like /usr/src/kernels/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp or /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp

the file i attached is the module file that you can put in cos it said it had error inserting it. well puyt this where modprobe is looking.

put ndiswrapper.ko here (for you system) /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp/misc/ndiswrapper.ko

am i making any sense?? sorry, i tired thats all!! i wont give up until this is fixed so as long as you are up for trying, all is well...

[MAnix]

whats your email?? and if above makes no sense i can re-write it. i was very tired and so apologise for that. let me know if you want and i can send some files. i also have noticed that the file you need for linux to see your intel is the same as my intel 2200 so i shall include those drivers in case they have any more joy with you. in total i have near 10MB of data, but will split that into a couple of emails to speed delivery...

and what is with Big Brother. London seems to be sunny all day every day. Not that far away yet it always raining!! must be artifical sun!!

[Pippaki]

Hi MAnix, Finally some good news. I think I am almost there.. I can see the light blinking.. if you know what I mean.
I think the problem was with the kernel. I had the wrong one. I checked again and I needed one as above but with SMP before the number. I installed that and tried ndiswrapper again. When I did the modprobe the system froze up but I read somewhere before that this can happen because they need to be 16k instead of 4k. So I found another kernel and installed that one (can't remember the name but I will let you know in the next message. Modprobe now run just fine. I am now at the setup stages but still have some problems with the iwconfig wlan. It wont show the ESSID as mine even though it finds it when I run iwlist wlan0 scan.

Well, enough for today. I will try tomorrow again. Please let me know if you know why iwconfig doesn't work and thanks again for your help.

[MAnix]

Great news!! Remember to post how you did it as other searching forums always want to see too!!

as for iwconfig, tell it to in the arguements, so you say:

/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid licari

in my above case, in my area the access point is licari so i replace ESSID (Capital Letters) with licari which is my essid. in an area that had one called fred it would read
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 essid fred

If the access point is shown you can get onto it. when you run the iwlist wlan0 scan you are scanning the surrounding areas for signals that are wireless access points. you can connect to these, even if you dont own it, as long as they are not security enabled.

one other problem you may of had is if you have it security enabled and secured using enryption (WEP, WPA, TKIP, PSK) which is set by yourself then that may also explain not being able to access you wireless point. check if you have it security enabled by looking at your router settings to see if it has been secured. Mine is TKIP encrypted for example so i need to specify how to access my access point. instructions are available on the ndiswrapper installation wiki and online.

hope the above is helpful. maybe post what you tried?? and how you tried it. and if you arent sure if you have security enabled, and just want to very quickly see if you can surf, see if there is an unsecured network and set it up to run on that (simply above command just replacing the ESSID with the name or SSID of the other like fred, licari, icaris, etc.

****unsecured networks are however a security risk as all can see what you are doing and can access what you access. with no security all data sent can be viewed in theory inc passwords. worht noting so you can set up WPA or other encryption.****

and hey, great news. good to see you stuck with it. i find everything can work in Linux, it just takes time, effort, and help sometimes. You figured lots out yourself and so this is definatly a baptism into the community of Linux. I hope your experience of Linux is doing you proud??

MAniX

[jacksmash]

This thread has helped me a lot - and I hope it doesn't seem like I'm hijacking it!

I've managed to get the drivers installed and am getting the appropriate message (ie. "driver installed, hardware present"), but when I use 'dmesg' I get:

ndiswrapper version 1.23 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
ndiswrapper (load_wrap_driver:113): loadndiswrapper failed (65280): check system log for messages from 'loadndiswrapper'

Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong here?

[jacksmash]

hmmm... I've managed to get the ndiswrapper loaded with no errors, but now I can't get my card detected by wpa

[jacksmash]

forget that last post - as soon as I restarted the computer i got error messages again. this is getting ridiculous

[yehoshua24]

I loaded the NDIS drivers fine but when I run modprobe ndiswrapper i get "FATAL: Module NDISwrapper not found." Any ideas?