Wireless WPKG Install

[eXDee]

Hey there,
I'm running Mythdora 4.0 which is based on FC 6
I have a Gigabyte GN-WPKG with a ralink 2500 chipset.
I tried the ra2x00 drivers, but Mythdora's kernel seems a bit odd and messed with, as the links to build which is needed by make is all broken.

So i'm trying ndiswrapper which apparently works with this card
I've installed the .inf file as instructed on the ndiswrapper website from the latest windows drivers, however iwconfig doesn't show any wireless devices.
[mythtv@localhost Desktop]$ ndiswrapper -l
rt2500 : driver installed
device (1814:0201) present

I don't have a clue what to do next.

Please help.

[ppesci]

I guess you are having conflicts with drivers. The 2 lines shows you have rt2500 ndiswrapper compiled, but there is another drive for the same card. It must be the first compiled driver i guess.

As root user type:

lsmod

to list the modules, you must recognize your old module for the first drive, and remove it with something like:

rmmod mod_name

replace mod_name with the proper name. Then remove and install ndiswrapper

rmmod ndiswrapper
modprobe ndiswrapper

then check if there are problems loading ndiswrapper using the command:

dmesg

and checking the lasts lines
If all goes well, try to use iwlist or iwconfig as needed, and probe the network to see if all is working fine. In that case, you must to remove the first module to avoid conflicts. How to do that?. Well, all depends on how you installed it.

HTH

[eXDee]

The first driver didn't even make, let alone install, due to the build issue.

[root@localhost ~]# rmmod ndiswrapper
ERROR: Module ndiswrapper does not exist in /proc/modules
[root@localhost ~]# modprobe ndiswrapper
FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.

I installed ndiswrapper through yum.
Then i ran ndiswrapper -i rt2500.inf
And that's all i've done i think.

[ppesci]

May be you installed with another kernel or not installed the module, try

yum install kmod-ndiswrapper

and do

modprobe ndiswrapper

HTH

[eXDee]

Restarted, and now a few things are different
I have wmaster0 whatever that is, but it wasnt there before the wifi card was in, and it doesn't start properly, and detected as an ethernet card.

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 22
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 20.
Some things may be broken...

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Channel:0 Access Point: Not-Associated
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Modprobe ndiswrapper has no output, so seems to work.

Dmesg:
ndiswrapper version 1.47 loaded (smp=yes)
usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper

system-config-network doesn't pick up ndiswrapper.

based on http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29659
i should run
[root@localhost ~]# /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -m
adding "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" to /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper ...

Still nothing in system-config-network, so time to restart again.
edit: restart did nothing. For some reason wmmaster0 is the wireless card, which is picked up as an ethernet card - still nothing under wireless in network config.
modprobe.conf has
alias wmaster0 rt2500pci

edit: I added alias wlan0 ndiswrapper in modprobe.conf and now its picked up.

[eXDee]

Okay ive installed wpa_supplicant and the gui for it, but the GUI is broken, it says it cannot get status from wpa_supplicant, and all the instructions ndiswrapper wiki gives doesnt work, and now its complaining about wlan0 already existing, so i don't have a clue what i've done. I don't even know if the wireless card is setup properly.
If i disable WPA it can't connect anyway, it says determining IP information and does nothing.

It's true! wifi in linux is a headache!

edit: Sorry for the multiple posts

[ppesci]

Sorry by not to respond, because was late here.

I think you must blacklist the drive rt2500pci. To do this, as root edit you /etc/modeprobe.conf and delete or comment the line:

alias wmaster0 rt2500pci

you must to blacklist the driver because is causing conflict and doesn't work, in the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist add the line:

blacklist rt2500pci

and restart.
Now wmaster0 must dissapear.

May be then, wpa can work propperly, and yes, wireless is a headache in linux with some cards (your card included).

HTH

[eXDee]

Removed the alias and blacklisted rt2500pci
Restarted
Now it doesn't start on boot, but it seems ndiswrapper doesn't work at all now:
ndiswrapper device wlan0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization.
on attempting to activate it.

EDIT:
Okay wmaster0 is gone now
and it now says:
Determining IP information for wlan0... failed; no link present. Check cable?

So i assume thats better than before. How do i use wpa_supplicant? The GUI still doesn't work.
[mythtv@localhost ~]$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 22
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 20.
Some things may be broken...

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:off/any Nickname:"localhost.localdomain"
Mode:Auto Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:20 dBm Sensitivity=-131 dBm
RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


[root@localhost ~]# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd
Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'wext' ctrl_interface 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Failed to read read or parse configuration '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'.
Failed to add interface wlan0
Cancelling scan request
[root@localhost ~]#

Cotents of wpa_supplicant.conf:
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=wheel

network={
ssid="REMOVED"
psk="REMOVED"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
}

[ppesci]

type the command:

lsmod

to see if ndiswraper appear now.
If it appear, check the output of the command:

dmesg

to se if there has been a problem loading ndiswrapper or not. The output will be large, only check for ndiswrapper lines

About wpa_suplicant, put another thread saying what is your problem with it

[eXDee]

[root@localhost ~]# lsmod | grep ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper 165020 0
[root@localhost ~]# dmesg | grep ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper version 1.47 loaded (smp=yes)
ndiswrapper: driver rt2500 (Ralink Technology, Inc.,02/23/2005, 3.00.02.0000) loaded
ndiswrapper: using IRQ 12
usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
[root@localhost ~]#

[root@localhost ~]# dmesg | grep wlan0
wlan0: ethernet device 00:14:85:1b:ad:99 using serialized NDIS driver: rt2500, version: 0x20001, NDIS version: 0x500, vendor: 'IEEE 802.11g Wireless Card.', 1814:0201.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[root@localhost ~]#

[ppesci]

Ok, ndiswrapper is loaded propperly, but there is a problem with:

Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

output in your wlan0. May be is because you don't have configured wpa. I don't now because i do not use it. Put a new thread with wpa problem

[eXDee]

I removed the WPA temporaliy, activated the Wireless and Deactivated eth0, and i still have net access, so i guess that its worked.
Thanks very much!!

Thread Continued Here (http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=169582)
(as requested)