wireless problem on dell inspiron 1525 with fedora 9

[davef]

Hi,

I have installed fedora 9 64 bit on an inspiron 1525

output from uname -a

Linux smeg 2.6.25.14-108.fc9.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Aug 4 13:46:35 EDT 2008 x86_64 x8
6_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I have installed ndiswrapper.
output from nsidwrapper -v
version: '1.9', utils version needed by module: '1.9'
module details:
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.25.14-108.fc9.x86_64/extra/ndiswrapper/ndiswrap
per.ko
version: 1.53
vermagic: 2.6.25.14-108.fc9.x86_64 SMP mod_unload
[dave@smeg ~]$

and the bcmwl5 driver from Dell that comes in
Dell_multi-device_A17_R174291.exe

Instalation of the driver appears to have been successful and

ndiswrapper -l outputs

bcmwl5 : driver installed
device (14E4:4315) present

If the ndiswrapper module is not loaded the light for the wifi
is a bit faint but on.

and output from iwconfig is

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

If I load the ndiswrapper module (sudo modprobe ndiswrapper)
the blue light for wifi immediately goes out.
and iwconfig now produces


lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 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

and ifconfig produces
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:44:82:31:57
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:17 Memory:fe7fc000-fe800000
The output from dmesg for ndiswrapper is

ndiswrapper version 1.53 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
ndiswrapper (link_pe_images:575): fixing KI_USER_SHARED_DATA address in the driv
er
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,09/20/2007, 4.170.25.12) loaded
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:0b:00.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:0b:00.0 to 64
ndiswrapper: using IRQ 17
wlan0: ethernet device 00:16:44:82:31:57 using NDIS driver: bcmwl5, version: 0x4
aa190c, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: 'NDIS Network Adapter', 14E4:4315.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP w
ith WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

However the command
iwlist wlan0 scan
produces the output
wlan0 No scan results

and network manager does not "see" the inferface.
I have another wireless Linux system which sees my AP
so the AP is not the problem.

Any suggestions?


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[bbfuller]

Hello davef

Welcome to the forum.

It was too late when I came across your post last evening to do anything about it. This morning, I've fired up my machine with a broadcom card and ndiswrapper on it to make a comparison.

The combined output from my dmesg on wlan0 and ndiswrapper is here:

[bbfuller@dell ~]$ dmesg |grep ndis
ndiswrapper version 1.53 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,03/23/2006, 4.40.19.0) loaded
ndiswrapper: using IRQ 16
usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
[bbfuller@dell ~]$ dmesg | grep wlan0
wlan0: ethernet device 00:11:50:0d:50:ee using NDIS driver: bcmwl5, version: 0x4281300, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: 'NDIS Network Adapter', 14E4:4320.5.conf
wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

and as you can see, it's not a great deal different from yours given that I have a 4306 card as opposed to your 4310 (I assume) and that I am using a different version of the bcmwl5 driver..

At that stage my card is not connected to anything.

When I use NetworkManager to connect two extra lines appear in the output from dmesg:

ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present

It's a further oddity that even with my card not connected, my iwlist output identifies my wireless access point.

Can I assume that you've checked and that you do have a 4310 based card. Different broadcoms can benefit from different versions of the bcmwl5 driver, and although you've used a version I've recommended for the 4310 before I'm not sure how universal it is.


We are talking about your wlan0 not showing in NetworkManager here for certain are we? A lot of people confuse "Gnome System Menu - Administration - Network" with Network Manager and they are two totally different programs. NetworkManager lives on the top Gnome Panel in the notification area to the left of the clock and is a totally different method of controlling wireless cards.

It's not ususual in Fedora 9 for wireless cards not to appear in the former, whereas, when iwconfig identifies a card it's very unusual for it not to be listed in NM as well.

NetworkManager and the other method, identified as Network Configuration on its title bar, can mutually interfere with each other. NetworkManager being the default in Fedora 9.

[davef]

Thanks for the response. I believe it is a 4310.


The output of lspci -nn is

0b:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4310 USB Controller [
14e4:4315] (rev 01)

If I try to connect using wpa_supplicant
wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -D ndiswrapper
-d

I get the following output Note that is states that WPA is not supported.
Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' dr
iver 'ndiswrapper' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_suppli
cant/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
ctrl_interface_group='wheel' (DEPRECATED)
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='Fournier'
Initializing interface (2) 'wlan0'
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=22 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Own MAC address: 00:16:44:82:31:57
Driver does not support WPA.
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
RSN: flushing PMKID list in the driver
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
ctrl_interface_group=10 (from group name 'wheel')
Added interface wlan0
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b06 len=12
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Starting AP scan (specific SSID)
Scan SSID - hexdump_ascii(len=8):
46 6f 75 72 6e 69 65 72 Fournier
Trying to get current scan results first without requesting a new scan to speed
up initial association
Received 0 bytes of scan results (0 BSSes)
CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
Try to find WPA-enabled AP
Try to find non-WPA AP
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 0 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
Scan requested (ret=0) - scan timeout 5 seconds
EAPOL: disable timer tick
Scan timeout - try to get results


My asus eee connects to Fournier without any
problem so the AP is OK.






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[bbfuller]

Hello davef

I'm not sure about the response from wpa_supplicant. All I can say about that is that if it is the standard installed with Fedora it's unlikely to be a problem. It doesn't cause me any with about five various wireless cards and it certainly hasn't caused any problem for the other 4310 users I've spoken to.

I'd still like to be sure though that you are using NetworkManager to try to connect as my previous post, any other way will fail from NetworkManager interference unless you disable it.

This thread:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/...6&page=1&pp=15

was the first where I had talked someone through ndiswrapper with a 4310 and as you can see 'dckrinke' had complete success in post #16.

I didn't think to ask him what encryption level he was using, but you might want to send him a personal message and ask.

Can you try using NetworkManager to connect to your access point with all encryption removed temporarily and see if that works.

I'm getting confused here with this talk of wpa_supplicant as to whether the fault is ndiswrapper not being able to connect, or encryption.

[davef]

Yes I am uisng network manager. It automatically connects the wired network,
but does not "see" the wireless.

I found a post which said to use -Dwext with wpa_supplicant and that got rid of the complaint about WPA not being supported. However still no joy.

However wireless used to work for me so I supposed I will have to try
reinstalling from scratch. Thanks for your efforts.

[davef]

Yes I am uisng network manager. It automatically connects the wired network,
but does not "see" the wireless.

I found a post which said to use -Dwext with wpa_supplicant and that got rid of the complaint about WPA not being supported. However still no joy.

However wireless used to work for me so I supposed I will have to try
reinstalling from scratch. Thanks for your efforts.

[davef]

Good old windows. I rebooted it in windows and it told me that the
wireless was switched off! Two days wasted!