Wireless Headache
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Bob_Robertson May 10, 2007 2:25 PM EDT |
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I just bought an HP DV6305US for my Mother. Her instructions were to put Linux on it, because she's sick of Windows' instability. She wants something that "just works". I put on Debian Etch, because I'm most literate with how Debian works. Selecting "Whole Disk" was a joy. Bye bye Vista! Although it's a AMD Turion-64x2, I'm using the K7 kernel. Maybe I'll throw all to the wind and pull down the AMD64 install disk, just to see if everything will work that way. I'm only a little concerned, because there's something in my memory about having to use chroot and such for 32bit programs on a 64bit system, but I'm sure it cannot be that hard. It has Nvidia graphics, but the nvidia kernel module doesn't work. I don't know why, it just goes blank, so I put the pointer back to "nv" and it's working just fine. That is something I hope will be resolved, but I'm not holding my breath. Everything software-other-wise is working _except_ wireless. It has a broadcom card, so I followed the instructions for ndiswrapper under Ubuntu that I found with a google search, and the card now shows up perfectly. It even works when I configure /etc/network/interfaces by _hand_. But by _hand_ is just not good enough. I have both KWlan and Wireless Assistant installed, and while both of them look like they should do the job, neither can. KWlan has something going on where it cannot scan for available networks except as root, it cannot configure the interface, and "wpa_supplicant" won't start so it cannot configure encryption at all. Wireless Assistant seems very promising, it does everything I want it to do, ...except work. Each time I try to bring up the interface, in dmesg I see: ndiswrapper (iw_set_wep:927): key 1 is not set The key most certainly is set, copied into the config from a working session, specifically the hard-coded one that works. So that's it. The system certainly runs and runs well, I'm perfectly happy with giving mom 16bit color with the "nv" driver instead of 24bit. I don't mind having a 32bit environment, although I am pulling down the Etch AMD64 DVD#1 right now and I'm going to try that. Everything except wireless is working acceptably. BTW, I did run Windows Vista (which came on it) just long enough to build a system restore DVD. Vista's security asked me, "Recovery Media Builder wants to run. Do you want this program to run? Deny, Permit" |
| Sander_Marechal May 10, 2007 2:53 PM EDT |
Did you try Network Manager? IIRC it's no longer GNOME-specific but can be used in all major desktops. |
| Bob_Robertson May 10, 2007 3:06 PM EDT |
I'll look for it and get back, as soon as my son is finished eating. Two weeks old, he takes some effort. :^) |
| dcparris May 10, 2007 3:13 PM EDT |
> BTW, I did run Windows Vista (which came on it) just long enough to build a system restore DVD. Vista's security asked me, "Recovery Media Builder wants to run. Do you want this program to run? Deny, Permit" Can anyone tell me if it only does that for certain programs, or will it also prompt you to deny or permit when you launch your office suite or text editor? Yeah, I'm actually half serious. Sidenote: The XP environment at work ain't exactly endearing itself to me either. |
| dcparris May 10, 2007 3:16 PM EDT |
Wait til he turns about 2 or 3. I saw what happened when the sitter gave my little brother Spaghettios when he was 2 or 3 years. Definitely not pretty. :-D |
| Bob_Robertson May 10, 2007 4:46 PM EDT |
Sander, unfortunately it did install but I cannot find it. It also conflicted with KWlan, so that's uninstalled. I did find yet another KDE integrated ap, through the Control Center, a wireless manager. Several different configurations, very much the most integrated of the solutions found so far. Unfortunately, it didn't work either. It detected the local WLAN, displayed it, but no matter what I did with the configuration it wouldn't bring the link up. I'm downloading the Etch AMD64 DVD#1 and will be wiping everything anyway, but it would have been nice to find something that worked. DC, I don't know because "Recovery Media Creator" or whatever the %^&* it was called was the one single application I ran before formatting the entire disk in ext3. |
| dcparris May 10, 2007 5:07 PM EDT |
Bob, I kind of gathered that was all you had run. Doesn't make much sense to go installing a bunch of apps on an OS that you're about to blow away. I just thought I would see if someone knew. ;-) I hope you recover nicely from the recovery thingy creator whatever. :-D |
| Bob_Robertson May 10, 2007 5:10 PM EDT |
DC, I was quite pleased, actually, that the recovery media creator would dump to a single DVD-DL. I just happened to have one left over from my experiment trying to make real movie DVDs. It's amazing sometimes what things I have "just left over from...." |
| dcparris May 10, 2007 5:11 PM EDT |
:-) |
| devnet May 10, 2007 5:28 PM EDT |
Would you consider putting SimplyMEPIS on this? It's got excellent wireless support and good driver install routines. |
| Bob_Robertson May 10, 2007 5:38 PM EDT |
Consider? Sure. The "thing" is that they're all the same basic tools. Something is confused, and I want to know what it is. I've been hand-configuring network interfaces for 12 years now, I want something different. ...And I'm extremely well versed in Debian, I've never liked other distributions when I've tried them. |
| dinotrac May 10, 2007 5:48 PM EDT |
Bob - Do you know what wireless chipset you've got? |
| Bob_Robertson May 10, 2007 6:31 PM EDT |
From "lspci" "Broadcom Corporation Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-PCI Card (rev 01)" In an HP, no less. Dell is pervasive. I have already seriously considered replacing the card with something else. For instance, the one I have in my Vaio is a -g upgrade from the -b that came with it. It uses the Madwifi driver, Atheros chipset. The AMD-64 install disk has finished downloading and writing, I'll start that install tonight. It's not like I'm losing any data, just failed attempts. |
| bigg May 10, 2007 7:16 PM EDT |
Bob: I've got the same card. I tested it with Debian; it connected to a WPA network automatically from GNOME (I'm not a KDE person). It works out of the box in Mepis as well, even running off the Live CD. |
| Sander_Marechal May 10, 2007 10:39 PM EDT |
Gnome on Debian uses Netwok Manager as well. Bob: Network Manager is supposed to replace KWLan so it's no surprise it conflicts. Perhaps give it another shot but now remove KWLan before you install Network Manager? |
| Bob_Robertson May 11, 2007 5:29 AM EDT |
Ok. The Ubuntu message board that I got the hints from said "Blacklist the useless bc43xx kernel driver", but if you two had it work with that driver so easily then I'll give it a shot. I put the AMD64 architecture on the machine last night, and for some reason X won't run in the 1280x800 (or whatever) wide-screen. It defaults back to 1024x768, so everything is rather _w_i_d_e_. :^) I'll try the network and see if it works, but I guess I'll be going back to the i386 architecture if X won't behave. |
| devnet May 11, 2007 5:39 AM EDT |
Bob, I should have recommended that as well...I had to do it with PCLinuxOS as well...but I figured since it was an rpm distro and debian is...well, debain....that it wouldn't be applicable. Guess I was wrong. I've had to blacklist that driver also with the 2.6.18 kernel. I *think* in the .20 latest it's fixed? I could be mistaken though. |
| bigg May 11, 2007 6:07 AM EDT |
> if you two had it work with that driver so easily then I'll give it a shot I guess I didn't say that, but yes, you need to blacklist the other driver and install the bcmwl5 driver with ndiswrapper. On gnome, as soon as I was done with ndiswrapper, I clicked on the network connection icon and chose my network. Fedora 7 has the same problem. |
| Bob_Robertson May 11, 2007 7:41 AM EDT |
Here's the status: I ran through the ndiswrapper install, blacklisting the bcm43xx driver, and now the wlan0 interface doesn't come up at all. ndiswrapper -l lists the driver, hadware exists, _but_ it also says the bcm43xx driver is a secondary driver. I checked lsmod but the bcm driver is not loaded. This is different from the i386 install. Anyway, I'm ready to go back to the i386 and try again. I'm also going to check ebay and find a different wireless card. It would be worth while to find something native, or at least that uses the madwifi driver. I'm used to that. I just remembered I still have the -b mini-pci card from the Vaio, I can swap that in and try it. Hmmm. Slow is better than nothing, and it's a good test to see if a different card will make any difference. More on that later, I guess. I fixed the X problem. For some reason the AMD64 install didn't recognize and populate xorg.conf with Nvidia information the way the i386 install did. I changed the driver to "nv" from "vesa" and it works. I'll also try the native (and non-free) nvidia driver under AMD64 to see if it works better than it did under i386. I get the feeling that this video card is one of the ones that "isn't supported". The "nv" driver is good enough most of the time, but 16bit color is just not as nice as 32(24) bit color is once one gets used to it. I guess I'll be keeping my Vaio for a while. It may only be one CPU, but everything works and works well. |
| Bob_Robertson May 11, 2007 9:32 AM EDT |
Well push my buttons! It's not a "mini-pci", it's some other even smaller card type. Argh! So much for recycling leftovers. Hopefully the ebay descriptions will be clear enough to figure out w-t-f this thing is called now. "Micro-mini-pci"? Edit: No, it's called Mini PCI-E At least the cards aren't particularly expensive. Edit2: Intel 3945ABG card, I'll update in a couple of days when it arrives. There was also an Atheros card available, but the Intel seems to have strong Linux support. Intel even puts their own Linux drivers on their web site. I like it when a manufacturer doesn't pretend Linux doesn't exist. |
| Bob_Robertson May 13, 2007 4:53 PM EDT |
On the software side, I reverted to i386 and the Debian precompiled kernel for -K7, after running into enough confusion and trouble with 3rd party software on AMD64. "Enough is enough". So, still waiting on the wireless card. |
| Bob_Robertson May 15, 2007 1:51 PM EDT |
So I put in the Intel 3945abcdefg card, power up the machine, load the 3945 drivers that are in Debian non-free, and.... squat. Turns out the card doesn't show up on the lspci list. We'll see if the guy who sold it to me is going to give me "satisfaction", or if I have to buy another card from someone else. |
| Sander_Marechal May 15, 2007 1:59 PM EDT |
I *always* tell the store owner or clerk that I am a Linux user and that I expect a full refund if the hardware doesn't work. If they don't give me that guarantee I don't buy it. Simple. |
| Bob_Robertson May 15, 2007 5:40 PM EDT |
It was cheap, and used. His store does have a complete refund policy, so there should be no problems. |
| Bob_Robertson May 20, 2007 2:52 PM EDT |
HP replied. Short answer: We broke the mini-pci-e interface so nothing other than the card we shipped will work. Here's the long answer: ---------------- Dear Bob, Thank you for contacting HP Total Care. I see that you would like to know more information regarding wireless cards. Regarding the mini-PCI wireless card, only broadcom card that comes bundled with your notebook is compatible for your notebook. Only OEM version mini-PCI wireless LAN card can be installed and compatible in your notebook, other mini-PCI wireless LAN cards does not work in your notebook. Bob, according to specification of your notebook, only Mini PCI 802.11b/g HS embedded wireless LAN (WLAN) card with Bluetooth (Broadcom, Most-of-world) will be compatible. However regarding using Linux in the notebook, I suggest that HP does not recommend that customers install Linux on their Pavilion notebooks; however, we understand that some customers may wish to change operating systems for their personal needs. HP does not support Linux on any models of HP Pavilion PCs at this time. Information about Linux can be located at the following Web site: http://h10018.www1.hp.com/wwsolutions/linux/index.html NOTE: Clicking the link may give an error indicating it is invalid. If this occurs, copy the portion of the address on the remaining line(s) and paste it at the end of the address showing in your browser until the complete address is displayed in the Address box. HP pre-installed the latest version of the Microsoft Windows operating System (98, Me, XP) on your Pavilion PC. The Warranty on your Pavilion system does not apply to software not provided by HP and does not apply to defects or errors in hardware resulting from software not provided by HP with that system. Please review your PC documentation to identify the supported operating system. If you need further assistance, please reply to this message and we will be happy to assist you further. Sincerely, Shawn HP Total Care Our advice is strictly limited to the question(s) asked and is based on the information provided to us. HP does not assume any responsibility or liability for the advice given and shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the use of this information. Always back up your data. For more information, including technical information updates, please visit our Web site at http://www.hp.com/support. --------------------------- So that's it. Either the Broadcom card works, or I'm SOL. |
| bigg May 20, 2007 4:54 PM EDT |
> So that's it. Either the Broadcom card works, or I'm SOL. It should work, but if it doesn't, WalMart stocks (I've seen it in at least three stores) the Belkin F5D7050 ver. 4000 USB. I had to use ndiswrapper to get it working in Etch, but in distributions with a newer kernel, such as Ubuntu 7.04 and Fedora 7, it works out of the box. Plug it in and you have wireless service. No messing with drivers or anything. Less than optimal, but it works. |
| Bob_Robertson May 20, 2007 8:37 PM EDT |
Thanks, Bigg, I may very well have to go that route. I am trying to stay with Etch, just because it's a completely known quantity. I'm making this separate because it is a separate issue. The Broadcom card works with all the command line tools. If I put the network configuration in /etc/network/interfaces, the links comes up and everything works fine. Yippi Yahooi! But... Kwlan doesn't work. Wireless Assistant doesn't work. They report what essid's are seen, but they _will_not_connect_. Even the built-in KDE wireless through the control center can see the nets, but nothing will convince it to connect to any of them (mine or the neighbors). So there seems to still be one thing left that is just plain broken. I tried Knoppix on my wife's work laptop, and Wireless Assistant came up and worked flawlessly on the first try. Hmmm... |
| Sander_Marechal May 20, 2007 10:15 PM EDT |
If all else fails, it it too late to return the laptop? It's only three days until the Dell Linux laptops come out. And if that's too long, the Dimensions work pretty well with Etch too. They use Intel for graphics and wireless. |
| Bob_Robertson May 30, 2007 9:31 AM EDT |
Sander, yes, unfortunately it is too late. Sorry for the delay in updating, but such is having a one month old baby. :^) Looking up Wireless Assistant specifically led me to its SourceForge site, https://sourceforge.net/projects/wlassistant/ and their forum https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=455252 that someone suggested that it was a problem with waiting for DHCP. So I "returned to GO" by uninstalling the foreign package ndiswrapper, and installed instead the "older" version in Etch, along with all the ndiswrapper utilities. On a reboot with the Etch ndiswrapper module autoloading, it correctly detected the card and installed the bcml5 windows driver. However, it did not quite work. So I took the advice from the Ubuntu forum and pulled down the latest bcml5 driver from Dell, and the connection came up just fine using a hand edited /etc/network/interfaces file. I edited the config file in /root/.wlassistant/ to change the dhcp timeout from 15 seconds to 30, and that has taken care of the problem way back at the start where wlassistant kept reporting that it "cannot connect". It does not solve the fact that the same problem was occurring with all the other Wifi GUIs, but the one that seems most concise and easy for a less-than-geek computer user is now working. Unfortunately, after running for a while, when I turn the network activity up by doing something like running Google Earth or copying a media file, it will randomly completely lock up the machine. This doesn't happen when using the wired network, so the problem could be an ndiswrapper problem, but a hardware problem is not out of the question. We shall see. At this point, I guess the issue is closed. Thanks for all the suggestions, I hope this might be of help for others haiving trouble. |
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