ndiswrapper in fedora core 6

[rik_cross]

hi,

is there any reason why ndiswrapper shouldn't work in fc6? i used version 1.27 of ndiswrapper with the .inf file i used before in fc5 but

ndiswrapper -l

gives "invalid driver"

i tried again with an old version of ndiswrapper (1.23), as used with fc5, but typing

iwconfig wlan0 key xxxxxxxxx

causes the kernel to crash.

any ideas would be appreciated.

thanks, rik.

[rik_cross]

ok, so i uninstalled ndiswrapper and started again with version 1.23. it seems to load driver ok, then crashes when i try to set essid.

i turned mode to ad-hoc (iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc), and now i can change the essid without crashing. but now when i try to run

iwconfig wlan0 key open xxxxxxxx

it says invalid argument, interface not recognised or something (can't remember). changing mode back to managed causes kernel to crash.

i have no idea what could be causing these problems, and any help would be appreciated.

thanks

rik.

[IPI]

just intalled it using su -c 'yum install kmod-ndiswrapper' but when i try ndiswrapper it doesn't know the command .... i am using FC6 :) i also checked the /usr/sbin/ and there is no ndiswrapper in there .... :( :confused: i have also tried whereis ndiwsrapper & which indiswrapper and no luck


ok .. i did install kern-devel and did yum install and here is what i get ... :eek:


================================================== ===========================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================== ===========================
Installing:
ndiswrapper i386 1.25-1.lvn6 livna 29 k
Installing for dependencies:
kernel i686 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 core 16 M
kmod-ndiswrapper i686 1.25-1.2.6.18_1.2798.fc6 livna 92 k

Transaction Summary
================================================== ===========================
Install 3 Package(s)
Update 0 Package(s)
Remove 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 16 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Running Transaction Test
Finished Transaction Test


Transaction Check Error: package kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 is already installed
file /boot/System.map-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 from install of kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 conflicts with file from package kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6
file /boot/config-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 from install of kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 conflicts with file from package kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6
file /boot/symvers-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.gz from install of kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 conflicts with file from package kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6
file /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 from install of kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 conflicts with file from package kernel-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6



now i just removed the kern-devel and still getting the same error
Thanks.

[doboy408]

well, looks like fc6 has alot of issues
It sure hasnt made wireless setup any easier
I just downloaded the dvd iso, i guess i'll wait til some of the issues get resolve before installing

[neilloffhagen]

I think you're getting the same problem I am - and from reading around the forums I think it's to do with the installed kernel being an i586 instead of i686 and it's trying to install i686 versions of ndiswrapper? I'm not sure how ee getr round this. Maybe there is a way of installing the right i686 kernel? Anyone know the answer to that one?

Any help much apprecaited.

Neil.

[IPI]

ok guys i got it ... i just removed my i586 and changed it to i686i ..... here how to fix it:

Bugzilla Bug 211941: Anaconda picks i586 kernel on some i686 systems

1) yum remove kernel kernel-devel
2) yum install kernel.i686 kernel-devel.i686
3) yum install (the list of a dozen odd i386 kernel depencies removed in step
#1, such as "gnome-volume-manager" and "compiz")

hope it helps.

[MaxTakeoff]

IPI, this worked for me, well at least the install of ndiswrapper said complete this time! Just got to go get my Belkin wireless card working in this old Fujitsu LifeBook now. Thanks for posting this, only wish I'd seen it a few hours ago!

Just thought I should add, don't know whether it was coincidence but after this the option to boot into Fedora was gone from the grub boot menu. FC6 nearly bit the dust then in favour of Zenwalk 3.0!! Fortunately I must have editted grub.conf before because there was a grub.conf~ file in the grub directory so I was able to get going again quickly thanks to the old Linux System Rescue Disk - man that thing is awesome.

Thanks again, Stu

[IPI]

MaxTakeoff, you are welcome... glad that you managed to survive the grub issue. :)

[neilloffhagen]

It also worked for me. Many thanks.

On my install of FC6, which was just the default one, had added nothing extra, first I had to install GCC to get make to run okay. I've included the output from the make in case others are interested and other parts of the ndiswrapper install:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# make
make -C driver
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/build SUBDIRS=/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686'
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/hal.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/iw_ndis.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/loader.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/crt.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/ndis.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/ntoskernel.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/ntoskernel_io.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/pe_linker.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/pnp.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/proc.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/rtl.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/wrapmem.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/wrapndis.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/wrapper.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/usb.o
CC [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/divdi3.o
LD [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/ndiswrapper.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
CC /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/ndiswrapper.mod.o
LD [M] /home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver/ndiswrapper.ko
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686'

*** WARNING: This kernel seems to use 4K stack size option (CONFIG_4KSTACKS); many Windows drivers will not work with this option enabled. Disable CONFIG_4KSTACKS option, recompile and install kernel

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver'
make -C utils
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/utils'
gcc -g -Wall -I../driver -o loadndisdriver loadndisdriver.c
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/utils'
[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]#

I did ont worry about the warning message and just ran rhe make install:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# make install
make -C driver install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/build SUBDIRS=/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686'
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6-i686'

*** WARNING: This kernel seems to use 4K stack size option (CONFIG_4KSTACKS); many Windows drivers will not work with this option enabled. Disable CONFIG_4KSTACKS option, recompile and install kernel

echo /lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/misc
/lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/misc
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/misc
install -m 0644 ndiswrapper.ko /lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/misc
/sbin/depmod -a 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 -b /
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/driver'
make -C utils install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/utils'
install -D -m 755 loadndisdriver /sbin/loadndisdriver
install -D -m 755 ndiswrapper /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper
install -D -m 755 ndiswrapper-buginfo /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-buginfo

NOTE: Windows driver configuration file format has changed since 1.5. You must re-install Windows drivers if they were installed before.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/neil/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper-1.27/utils'
mkdir -p -m 0755 /usr/share/man/man8
install -m 644 ndiswrapper.8 /usr/share/man/man8
install -m 644 loadndisdriver.8 /usr/share/man/man8
[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]#

I the ran the ndiswrapper to test it was instaled okay:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l
no drivers installed

Then installed the windows wireless driver:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i /home/neil/wireless/3com-Windows_XP/ZD1211BU.INF
installing zd1211bu ...

Checked it had installed the driver okay. It did give an error, so tried to install it again, but it said it was installed, so ignored the error:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l
couldn't run modprobe: No such file or directory at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper line 835.

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i /home/neil/wireless/3com-Windows_XP/ZD1211BU.INF
driver zd1211bu is already installed

Then carried on with the other steps, which gave no errors and looked at the end of dmesg:

[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# /sbin/depmod -a
[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]# dmesg
Linux version 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 (brewbuilder@hs20-bc2-4.build.redhat.com) (gcc version 4.1.1 20061011 (Red Hat 4.1.1-30)) #1 SMP Mon Oct 16 14:37:32 EDT 2006
.
.
.
ndiswrapper version 1.27 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
usb 4-2: reset full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
ndiswrapper: driver zd1211bu (3COM Corporation,01/17/2006,6.3.3.2) loaded
wlan0: vendor: '3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 54Mbps 11g Compact USB Adapter'
wlan0: ethernet device 00:16:e0:05:8a:60 using NDIS driver zd1211bu, 0ACE:1215.F.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
usbcore: registered new driver ndiswrapper
[root@localhost ndiswrapper-1.27]#

After going through all this added a new network device throuhg the network icon in System -> Administration and all works now. Still get an occasional network drop by the wireless, but it seems to most times reconnect okay.

Hope this is of some help to others.

Neil.

[jdl]

I pretty much did what you did and ndiswrapper works fine on my hp nx6325. However it doesn't stay! Every time I reboot I have to issue the modprobe ndiswrapper command again and none of the suggested methods seems to make the system remember.

Does anyone know how to make this work correctly?

[MaxTakeoff]

JDL, do you have the line

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

in your /etc/modprobe.conf fiile (assuming wlan0 refers to your wireless card, might be eth1)?

[jdl]

JDL, do you have the line

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

in your /etc/modprobe.conf fiile (assuming wlan0 refers to your wireless card, might be eth1)?

Yes I do. That was the first thing I checked. :confused:

[MaxTakeoff]

Can you access the card setup in Network Device Control? There is an option in there to activate on boot, you could try that.

Otherwise I think on my Zenwalk installation I made a script to issue the command on boot that was called from the scripts that run on boot. You cuold just add the line to one of the start up scripts, I don't remember what the start up scripts are called /etc/init.rd or something like that - google will help with that.

[speedboy]

Hi I am stuck.. just after I ran this comand # dmesg.. I am trying to install a Lan-Express wireless card. I dowloaded the last version of ndiswrapper. Here is the message that I got.. Could you please help me..?

[root@vaio LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g miniPCI Adapter]# ndiswrapper -i oem8.inf
installing oem8 ...
[root@vaio LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g miniPCI Adapter]# /sbin/depmod -a
[root@vaio LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g miniPCI Adapter]# /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
[root@vaio LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g miniPCI Adapter]# dmesg
Linux version 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 (brewbuilder@hs20-bc2-4.build.redhat.com) (gcc version 4.1.1 20061011 (Red Hat 4.1.1-30)) #1 SMP Mon Oct 16 14:37:32 EDT 2006
device-mapper: ioctl: 4.7.0-ioctl (2006-06-24) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com
device-mapper: multipath: version 1.0.4 loaded
EXT3 FS on hda6, internal journal
SELinux: initialized (dev tmpfs, type tmpfs), uses transition SIDs
Adding 1052216k swap on /dev/hda7. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1052216k
SELinux: initialized (dev binfmt_misc, type binfmt_misc), uses genfs_contexts
ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.
ip_conntrack version 2.4 (3579 buckets, 28632 max) - 228 bytes per conntrack
process `sysctl' is using deprecated sysctl (syscall) net.ipv6.neigh.lo.base_reachable_time; Use net.ipv6.neigh.lo.base_reachable_time_ms instead.
SELinux: initialized (dev rpc_pipefs, type rpc_pipefs), uses genfs_contexts
Bluetooth: Core ver 2.10
NET: Registered protocol family 31
Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: L2CAP ver 2.8
Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.8
Bluetooth: HIDP (Human Interface Emulation) ver 1.1
SELinux: initialized (dev autofs, type autofs), uses genfs_contexts
SELinux: initialized (dev autofs, type autofs), uses genfs_contexts
mtrr: 0xf0000000,0x8000000 overlaps existing 0xf0000000,0x4000000
mtrr: 0xf0000000,0x8000000 overlaps existing 0xf0000000,0x4000000
mtrr: 0xf0000000,0x8000000 overlaps existing 0xf0000000,0x4000000
mtrr: 0xf0000000,0x8000000 overlaps existing 0xf0000000,0x4000000
mtrr: 0xf0000000,0x8000000 overlaps existing 0xf0000000,0x4000000
agpgart: Found an AGP 2.0 compliant device at 0000:00:00.0.
agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 0000:00:00.0 into 4x mode
agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 0000:01:05.0 into 4x mode
[drm] Setting GART location based on old memory map
[drm] writeback test succeeded in 1 usecs
8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.27
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNK1] enabled at IRQ 3
PCI: setting IRQ 3 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:12.0[A] -> Link [LNK1] -> GSI 3 (level, low) -> IRQ 3
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xdcc5cc00, 08:00:46:cf:29:a7, IRQ 3
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8100B/8139D'
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x41E1
eth0: no IPv6 routers present
ndiswrapper version 1.25 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
ndiswrapper: driver oem8 (LAN-Express,04/18/2004,3.1.1.54) loaded
PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:09.0 (0000 -> 0002)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNK3] enabled at IRQ 11
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:09.0[A] -> Link [LNK3] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:09.0 to 64
ndiswrapper (NdisMAllocateMapRegisters:855): invalid request: 256
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:237): log: C000009A, count: 4, return_address: dd0a8ab4
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 3642144804
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 35
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 3540320256
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:240): code: 3540320256
ndiswrapper (miniport_init:269): couldn't initialize device: C000009A
ndiswrapper (pnp_start_device:426): Windows driver couldn't initialize the device (C0000001)
unregister_netdevice: device eth%d/d916b000 never was registered
ndiswrapper (miniport_halt:326): device d916b400 is not initialized - not halting
ndiswrapper: device eth%d removed
ACPI: PCI interrupt for device 0000:00:09.0 disabled
ndiswrapper: probe of 0000:00:09.0 failed with error -22
usbcore: registered new driver ndiswrapper

[MaxTakeoff]

speedboy, it looks like you have incorrect drivers for your card (but I'm no expert). What do you get if you type

ndiswrapper -l

after you have used ndiswrapper -i oem8.inf?

Check the compatible card list section of the ndiswrapper website
http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List
and see if there are any other driver options/recommendations on there.

Hope this helps.

[crab_com]

Make sure that you have the correct drivers for your card... makes a difference if you do...

[speedboy]

MaxTakeoff... Thanks for ur response.. Regarding ur questiong I got this output
# ndiswrapper -l
installed drivers:
oem8 driver installed, hardware (168C:0013) present
...

My wireless card is a Lan-Express intalled in a VAIO-PCG-15.. could someone help me with this..? BTW, I didnt find my wireless card in the web page u sent me.. :(

[speedboy]

How can I get the right Driver for a Lan-Express.. For the one the I am using right now, I got it with My Driver...

Thanks 4 ur help

[MaxTakeoff]

Speedboy, do you have the win drivers for your card? Does the card work at all - like do you get lights flashing?

What happens when you do a

modprobe ndiswrapper

Cheers, Stu

[speedboy]

Hi MaxTajeaOff, My Wireless card works normarlly on Windows XP, however I am not sure about the driver I got it using the tool My driver? Could you maybe suggest me, use another tool for extact the driver..?

Lan-Express is my Wireless card in Vaio-PCGK-15..

You can see the output of modprobe ndiswrapper, in my previous posts.

Thanks

[MaxTakeoff]

speedboy, lets jsut clarify a couple of things,

What version of Fedora are you using?

Did you see whether Fedora found your card in Network Device Control before trying ndiswrapper?

Sorry, I wasn't clear, when I asked about what happened when you did modprobe ndiswrapper, I was wondering whether the lights were coming on on the card but your card is built-in right?

You need to find out what chipset is in your wireless card, what do see about the card if you do

lspci

One site from google suggests that a driver file called NetWlan.INF from the Orinoco driver might work, maybe you could search your win partition for that file or find the file from the installation disk if you have it. Then try removing the previous driver using,

ndiswrapper -r oem8.inf

and install the new driver

ndiswrapper -i NetWlan.INF

then check dmesg as you did before.

You shouldn't need any fancy software to 'extract' the driver file unless you need to unzip a compressed file or something.

[speedboy]

Hi again,

Fedora version 6.0..

My WLAN is built in

I tried to look for this driver in my windows partion, but I could't find it NetWlan.INF :confused: .. So, I have been trying to find out how to get the right driver from my windows partion but so far just that tool that I told you before worked My driver..

This is my WLAN card: LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g miniP

[MaxTakeoff]

I found another site on google that suggested the driver might be called neti2220.inf, try searching for that in your win partition. You could try searching the win partition for *.inf and then seeing if you can see anything that looks like it might be your wireless driver.
Can you track down the driver from within the Device Manager in win?

[robli99]

I removed the i586 kernel, reinstalled i686 kernel, but forgot to edit the grub.conf. I lost the FC6 option in the grub menu now.

Can anyone tell me how to recover the grub menu? If I use the FC6 live cd to reinstall grub, will it recongonize the i686 kernel?

thanks

[MaxTakeoff]

robli99, do you have a system resuce boot CD? If not I'd recommend you get one, they're invaluable in situations like this.
Good question about re-installing grub from the live CD, I don't know whether it would work or not but you don't need to re-install grub, just re-configure it.
Can you access the FC6 partition? You just need to edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file, unless you have a backup like I had. Mine was called /boot/grub/grub.conf~ in which case you can just copy that file over the original file (hmm so maybe it would work if you used the live CD but I think I checked that grub was picking up the right image files and stuff). If you don't have the backup file you just need to edit the file and add back in the instructions for booting FC6 that I don't have right now but can send you later on tonight (when I'm at my FC6 machine) if you're struggling.

[robli99]

Hi, MaxTakeoff: I have the live DVD to start it up. but the kernel in the live cd is different from the harddisk. So it prompted to UPGRADE the system. I let it upgrade. But when I restart the pc, there is no changes on the grub menu: only 'others' (WinXP) option is available. Someone told me, it can be startup by editting the grub menu:

rootnoverify(hd0,4)
chainloaded+1
boot

It will lead to FC6. I have not tried. I believe the grub.conf file is still there, but the part about FC6 may not be there. Would you pls copy your grub.conf here for my reference to edit the grub.conf?
Thanks!

[MaxTakeoff]

robi99, here's my grub.conf below. Obviously you'll need to make sure that you have Logical Volumes set up and your linux root partition is on hd0,1 (win partition will be hd0,0 I expect). When I lost mine I just had to add back in the lines between title Fedora and title Windows. Hope this helps ...

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.18-1.2798.fc6)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.18-1.2798.fc6.img
title Windows 2000
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

[robli99]

Thanks a lot, MaxTakeoff.
My linux is on (hd0,5) and I also have the logical volume set up.
I just need to check the kernel version before I edit the grub.conf. it may be different from yours because I upgrade it. I remeber it is 2.6.18-1.279.fc6 instead of ***-1.2798.fc6. Need to check tonight.

[robvnl]

ok guys i got it ... i just removed my i586 and changed it to i686i ..... here how to fix it:

Bugzilla Bug 211941: Anaconda picks i586 kernel on some i686 systems

1) yum remove kernel kernel-devel
2) yum install kernel.i686 kernel-devel.i686
3) yum install (the list of a dozen odd i386 kernel depencies removed in step
#1, such as "gnome-volume-manager" and "compiz")

hope it helps.

It helped, thank you. But: please copy grub.conf first because the entry is lost. I did the following:
cd /boot/grub
cp grub.conf grub.conf.org
yum remove kernel kernel-devel
yum install kernel.i686 kernel-devel.i686
cp grub.conf.org grub.conf

reboot

rpm -q --qf '%{ARCH}\n' kernel
now it should report i386
uname -a

[carlospro7]

It also worked for me. Many thanks.

On my install of FC6, which was just the default one, had added nothing extra, first I had to install GCC to get make to run okay. I've included the output from the make in case others are interested and other parts of the ndiswrapper install:

I did ont worry about the warning message and just ran rhe make install:

I the ran the ndiswrapper to test it was instaled okay:

Then installed the windows wireless driver:

Checked it had installed the driver okay. It did give an error, so tried to install it again, but it said it was installed, so ignored the error:

Then carried on with the other steps, which gave no errors and looked at the end of dmesg:

After going through all this added a new network device throuhg the network icon in System -> Administration and all works now. Still get an occasional network drop by the wireless, but it seems to most times reconnect okay.

Hope this is of some help to others.

Neil.

neilloffhagen,

You are my hero. I finally got my wireless network working. I have had a long and hard battle against the lack of support for my wireless card. I was close to coming to the conclusion that my laptop just wasn't one of those to make it. I pretty much followed your instructions and that's all. thank you for taking the time to post your results (first page of this thread). After so much pain in the ass, it's a relief to get this out of the way.

Oh one extra thing i had to do was add this line

alias wlan0 ndiswrapper

in the /etc/modprobe.conf fiile
for the device to appear in the network configuration

[Improperfaction]

hello

im new to linux and having a similar problem with installing ndiswrapper.

when i say make it comes up with an error

Can't find kernel build files in /lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6xen/build;
give the path to kernel build diretory with
KBUILD=<path> argument to make
make[1]: *** [prereq_check] Error 1


someone please help me


thanks a bunch