Problem using ndiswrapper to install drivers

[Emu of Doom]

Hey all. I'm running FC5 on a laptop (Asus z96j) with an integrated Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG wireless card. I'm following these (http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/ndis-yum-livna/) directions in order to install the driver with ndiswrapper. I got through step 12 ok: 'ndiswrapper -l' yields 'Installed drivers: w39n51 driver installed, hardware present'. So these instructions tell me to then load the kernel module with 'modprobe ndiswrapper' but when I input that, my computer freezes! ctrl + c doesn't exit it, and the mouse and system clock are frozen. I let it sit for about 10 minutes, giving it the benefit of the doubt (maybe it's just working really hard). After a restart, everything boots up fine, it still doesn't detect my wireless card, and 'ndiswrapper -l' still says the same thing. However, 'modprobe ndiswrapper' just doesn't work.

Any ideas?

[KaySE]

From the wiki for NdisWrapper:

Recent 2.6 kernels have an option to enable/disable 4k stack size. However, Fedora kernels disable this option altogether and use a 4k stack size, which is not enough for some windows drivers. If you are running a Fedora 2.6 kernel and your machine freezes after runningmodprobe ndiswrapper as described in the Installation page, you are probably using a driver that requires a stack size greater than 4k. Try installing the 16k stack kernel update of Linuxant:

http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/wlan/full/downloads-fc5-kernel-i686.php

Or, as I am currently doing, you can update your kernel version.

[Emu of Doom]

My Kernel is 2.6.17. I ran yum update yesterday and it didn't need to update the kernel. I'll try the stack kernel update thing. Thanks.

[SDUMD]

Hey ppl

I am a new linux user and I have FC5 2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 and am trying to install Ndiswrapper for my Dell MiniPCI Wireless 1350 card. The first step of installation gave me error and so I installed kernel sources, but even after installing kernel sources its giving me the same error. Error looks something like this:
make -C driver

make[1]: Entering directory `/root/nsextra/wlandriver/ndiswrapper-1.21/driver'

Can't find kernel build files in /lib/modules/2.6.15-1.2054_FC5/build;

give the path to kernel build directory with

KBUILD=<path> argument to make

make[1]: *** [prereq_check] Error 1

make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/nsextra/wlandriver/ndiswrapper-1.21/driver'

make: *** [all] Error 2

Now I have couple of questions here
1) On one of the mailing list it said, install kernel-devel, but I tried doing it and it doesn install. Rather I dont know what is the way to install kernel-devel? Is it yum? And if you dont have internet does yum work?? I am not sure how yum works and what I need to do.
2) Some quotes also say, that 2.6.15 is not stable,so you should install the latest kernel when installing Ndiswrapper,is that true? Did anyone try with 2.6.15? And if I need to upgrade the kernel??How to go about that?some places it says it will affect the booting too??Is that true?

Your help will be appreciated as I am trying since 3 days to make this work and have not got a workaround.

Thanks in advance.

[partha]

Hey ppl

Now I have couple of questions here
1) On one of the mailing list it said, install kernel-devel, but I tried doing it and it doesn install. Rather I dont know what is the way to install kernel-devel? Is it yum? And if you dont have internet does yum work?? I am not sure how yum works and what I need to do.

You probably have a wired connection on your laptop. Attach that to your AP (access point) and then do the following:
yum install kernel-devel
While you are at it, you could also run yum update
This should clear matters up.


2) Some quotes also say, that 2.6.15 is not stable,so you should install the latest kernel when installing Ndiswrapper,is that true? Did anyone try with 2.6.15? And if I need to upgrade the kernel??How to go about that?some places it says it will affect the booting too??Is that true?

Your help will be appreciated as I am trying since 3 days to make this work and have not got a workaround.

Thanks in advance.
See the answer above. Once you update eveything, then go to the ndiswrapper directory and just run make; make install
After that install the broadcom driver for your wireless card. Make sure that the driver and hardware are present by runningndiswrapper -l Now you can use dhclient to obtain and IP address by doing dhclient wlan0

HTH,
Partha
www.partha.com

[SDUMD]

HEy partha

thnx much!! will do so..and let u know..also wanted to know...what will yum upgrade do??
Will it upgrade my kernel ?? to latest kernel??sorry but m new to linux..so ....such basic doubts!!

thnx again in advance....hope it works for me after your suggestions.

[partha]

Hey all. I'm running FC5 on a laptop (Asus z96j) with an integrated Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG wireless card. I'm following these (http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/ndis-yum-livna/) directions in order to install the driver with ndiswrapper. I got through step 12 ok: 'ndiswrapper -l' yields 'Installed drivers: w39n51 driver installed, hardware present'. So these instructions tell me to then load the kernel module with 'modprobe ndiswrapper' but when I input that, my computer freezes! ctrl + c doesn't exit it, and the mouse and system clock are frozen. I let it sit for about 10 minutes, giving it the benefit of the doubt (maybe it's just working really hard). After a restart, everything boots up fine, it still doesn't detect my wireless card, and 'ndiswrapper -l' still says the same thing. However, 'modprobe ndiswrapper' just doesn't work.

Any ideas?
I think Intel supports Linux pretty well by providing open source drivers. Ndiswrapper is probably conflicting with the driver already loaded. Before you load ndiswrapper, what does modprobe show? Also, you may have to load the firmware for your card.

Partha
www.partha.com

[partha]

HEy partha

thnx much!! will do so..and let u know..also wanted to know...what will yum upgrade do??
Will it upgrade my kernel ?? to latest kernel??sorry but m new to linux..so ....such basic doubts!!

thnx again in advance....hope it works for me after your suggestions.
That should be yum update not upgrade. :)
Hopefully it will upgrade your system. If kernel-devel is not installed after the update, then do yum install kernel-devel

HTH,
Partha
www.partha.com

[Emu of Doom]

I think Intel supports Linux pretty well by providing open source drivers. Ndiswrapper is probably conflicting with the driver already loaded. Before you load ndiswrapper, what does modprobe show? Also, you may have to load the firmware for your card.
So far, Fedora hasn't been able to see my wireless card. Under the network control panel, it only shows eth0 which works fine. it shows nothing else. So I don't think there are any drivers already installed.