Linksys AE2500 Install F15

[CutzmanX]

Hello all,

I recently bought a new desktop and have two drives for windows and one for Fedora 15. I bought a wireless usb adapter (since I live in an apartment w/ wireless) and as expected, F15 doesn't detect it. Is there a workaround around this? I'm very much so a beginner at Fedora and the Linux system in general.

The usb adapter is Linksys AE2500 by Cisco

Thanks!

[CutzmanX]

Since no one seems to be helping, I will post more information as to the steps I have taken so far. I have been following this thread for ubuntu since it was the only thing google has provided me:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1805830

I installed ndiswrapper, and installed the drivers on the cd it came with through ndiswrapper and even did the modprobe step as well. I installed the vista drivers since it was the only one that would install w/o error.

More:

$uname -r
3.1.0-0.rc5.git0.1.fc15.x86_64
$ndiswrapper -l
bcmwlhigh6 : driver installed
device (13B1:003A) present
$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

em1 no wireless extensions.


Not so sure what to do next :\

[stoat]

Well, I will try to help, but I can't promise anything. I used ndiswrapper for a long time before Linux drivers became available for my adapters. I did a little searching last night related to this thread but decided that I didn't have much to say then. Anyway, I can tell you this... Make sure you are using a 64-bit Windows driver for that 64-bit Fedora kernel. Next, drivers for Vista and later are well-known not to do so well with ndiswrapper. You can try them, but be prepared for disappointment. I would try to find a 64-bit driver known to make your device work in XP. Remove the Vista driver (ndiswrapper -r [driver]). Install the XP driver. Load the ndiswrapper module with modprobe. Restart NetworkManager and give it some time to react. Check for networks. If that worked, run ndiswrapper with one of the "m" options to make the module load automatically (see ndiswrapper --help). There is more that you may need to know about those "m" options. Later.

[CutzmanX]

Thanks I realized the man pages of ndiswrapper only support windows xp but when I try to install the vista drivers. But when installing I get this error:

# ndiswrapper -i /home/eddie/Desktop/xp/bcmwlhigh5.inf
installing bcmwlhigh5 ...
couldn't find section "Linksys_AE1200.files.NTamd64" -
installation may be incomplete
couldn't find section "Linksys_AE2500.files.NTamd64" -
installation may be incomplete
# ndiswrapper -l
bcmwlhigh5 : invalid driver!


I don't know what it's even referring to, the drivers work perfectly on my Windows 7 64bit. I'm even reconsidering buying a new adapter.

Any thoughts on which work perfectly with Fedora 15 (and F16 since I might be upgrading). [card or usb]

[stoat]

If you haven't already tried it, I would download the XP driver from the Cisco site. Do that in Fedora via a wired connection, or via Windows and transfer it to Fedora. Open a teminal in Fedora and extract it. When I did that, these are the files it contained.

09/16/2011  07:24 PM         1,034,240 AE1200xp.sys
09/16/2011  07:24 PM         1,176,064 AE1200xp64.sys
09/16/2011  07:24 PM         1,034,240 AE2500xp.sys
09/16/2011  07:24 PM         1,176,064 AE2500xp64.sys
09/16/2011  07:24 PM             7,993 bcmh43xx.cat
09/16/2011  07:24 PM             7,179 bcmh43xx64.cat
09/16/2011  07:24 PM            91,448 bcmwlcoi.dll
09/16/2011  07:24 PM            95,544 bcmwlcoi64.dll
09/16/2011  07:24 PM            87,164 bcmwlhigh5.inf

Now change directories to that folder and try installing that bcmwlhigh5 driver.

su
ndiswrapper -i bcmwlhigh5.inf

My thought is that with all that stuff in the folder, maybe it will find what it is looking for. If it fails again, I would try one more time with only bcmwlhigh5.inf, AE2500xp64.sys, and bcmh43xx64.cat in the folder.

P.S.: First undo what you've already done or uninstall the last driver you tried.

P.P.S.: Here is the thread I read through last night at ubuntuforums.org. Not that it helps any, but one post there has those same ndiswrapper error messages from the XP driver. At the end, one person got it working, but I don't know if 64-bit was involved or not.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1805830

[CutzmanX]

I have been following that ubuntu forum quite closely myself and I did everything you told me to do. For sake of just wanting it to work I did it again and still the same error. (Both the first and second attempt you told me to try).

# ndiswrapper -l
#ndiswrapper -i bcmwlhigh5.inf
installing bcmwlhigh5 ...
couldn't find section "Linksys_AE1200.files.NTamd64" -
installation may be incomplete
couldn't find section "Linksys_AE2500.files.NTamd64" -
installation may be incomplete
#ndiswrapper -l
bcmwlhigh5 : invalid driver!

I'm in the directory and everything and have tried just about everything in that ubuntu forum and still end up with that same error. I also tried it with the vista and win 7 drivers but those didn't work at all. I can't seem to find anything else on the web about it either.

I'm just about ready to call it quits. I currently have my laptop getting wireless and sharing it's internet to my desktop. I don't mind pitching the extra money to get a guaranteed card that will work both with F15 and F16. Any suggestions stoat?


P.S. Thanks for the help, you helped me set up my broadcom chipset on my laptop :P

[thagor]

I recently bought the same doggle, haven't gotten it to work yet but perhaps had some incremental success. On fedora 17 64bit, tried with ndiswrapper 1.57 from the repo and 1.58 from source.
in the bcmwlhigh5.inf file add the lines
[Linksys_AE1200.files.NTamd64]
AE1200xp64.sys,,,6
[Linksys_AE2500.files.NTamd64]
AE2500xp64.sys,,,6

install the driver
>sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwlhigh5.inf
load ndiswrapper
>modprobe -i ndiswrapper

and the adapter shows up for me, is able to see 2.4ghz ssid's ( no 5ghz, which was the whole point of the mess ) but connection fails on trying to connect to an encrypted signal.