WLAN0 Device Not Recognized, Wireless AP Invalid and Other Unexplainables

[scottmc9]

I should accentuate the positive. As a long-time Windows user seeking to extend the life of an old PIII SONY Vaio with 256MB RAM max-d out, I installed VL 5.9 standard (Gold) and in dual-boot config with Windows using lilo. The desktop experience is much faster.
However, my Belkin PCMCIA Wireless adapter FSD-7010 isn't seen as WLAN0 nor is it able to communicate with the access point--much less get the desired dhcp addrress.
I first used ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.sys then followed by the correct ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf in the location where both the driver and .inf file lived. bcmwl5 was installed...bcmwl5.sys was not. I followed the excellent instructions by Granny Geek including creating the alias wlan0 ndiswrapper in the modprobe.conf file in both deprecated /etc location and preferred /etc/modprobe.d locations.  Ran depmod -aq and modprobe ndiswrapper commands.

Here are error msgs:
ifconfig wlan0:  error fetching interface information: device not found
iwlist wlan0 scan:  wlan0: Interface doesn't support scanning
iwconfig wlan0:  No such device

Pls help this n00b ease his Excedrin headache.
Thanks,
Scott

[bigpaws]

iirc ndiswrapper should not be needed since it is a broadcom
chipset. The firmware for the kernel should already be installed
so all you should have to do is run vlwifi.

Bigpaws

[hata_ph]

pls provide the lspci, lsmod output......thanks...

[scottmc9]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

First, I had tried running vlwifi. It found eth0 as the wireless interface and offered to set it up. After I entered the SSID, WEP key, and cofigured with dhcp to run at startup, the response was 'failed - could not obtain an address for wireless interface eth0.'

Here is the output from lspci and lsmod:

root:# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)
00:08.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Sony Corporation CXD3222 i.LINK Controller (rev 02)
00:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Yamaha Corporation YMF-744B [DS-1S Audio Controller] (rev 02)
00:0a.0 Communication controller: Rockwell International HCF 56k Data/Fax Modem (rev 01)
00:0c.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c478 (rev 80)
00:0c.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c478 (rev 80)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Neomagic Corporation NM2380 [MagicMedia 256XL+] (rev 10)
02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)


frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
arc4                    2816  2
ecb                     3712  2
blkcipher               6148  1 ecb
cryptomgr               3584  0
ieee80211_crypt_wep     5120  1
freq_table              4768  0
ndiswrapper           186372  0
sony_laptop            23232  0
snd_seq_dummy           3716  0
snd_seq_oss            32128  0
snd_seq_midi_event      7168  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                48720  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss            38048  0
snd_mixer_oss          15232  1 snd_pcm_oss
3c574_cs               12552  1
bcm43xx               426784  0
ieee80211softmac       27392  1 bcm43xx
ieee80211              31560  2 bcm43xx,ieee80211softmac
ieee80211_crypt         5504  2 ieee80211_crypt_wep,ieee80211
serio_raw               6276  0
snd_ymfpci             56640  2
gameport               12296  1 snd_ymfpci
snd_ac97_codec         98084  1 snd_ymfpci
ac97_bus                2944  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                69764  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_ymfpci,snd_ac97_codec
snd_opl3_lib            9600  1 snd_ymfpci
snd_timer              19972  4 snd_seq,snd_ymfpci,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib
snd_hwdep               7812  1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_page_alloc          8712  2 snd_ymfpci,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart         7808  1 snd_ymfpci
firewire_ohci          16000  0
snd_rawmidi            20128  1 snd_mpu401_uart
firewire_core          36928  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t               2816  1 firewire_core
snd_seq_device          7692  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
ohci1394               32432  0
snd                    45796  18 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_ymfpci,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_timer,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
ieee1394               82360  1 ohci1394
intel_agp              22164  1
agpgart                28108  1 intel_agp
soundcore               7008  1 snd
i2c_piix4               8332  0
i2c_core               20992  1 i2c_piix4
shpchp                 30228  0
pci_hotplug            28616  1 shpchp
evdev                   8704  0
joydev                  9152  0

[hata_ph]

oh....sorry....if your using a PCMCIA device pls post the output of lspcmcia......

[scottmc9]

root:# lspcmcia
Socket 0 Bridge:        [yenta_cardbus]         (bus ID: 0000:00:0c.0)
  CardBus card -- see "lspci" for more information
Socket 1 Bridge:        [yenta_cardbus]         (bus ID: 0000:00:0c.1)
Socket 1 Device 0:      [3c574_cs]              (bus ID: 1.0)

[bigpaws]

Did you do any updates?

Please check the version number on udev. You can check /usr/doc for
udev version number.

Bigpaws

[rbistolfi]

Your lsmod shows both, ndiswrapper and bcm43xx modules loaded. You need to use one or the other.
Try modprobe -r ndiswrapper or rmmod ndiswrapper and see if that helps, or viceversa.

ndiswrapper           186372  0
sony_laptop            23232  0
snd_seq_dummy           3716  0
snd_seq_oss            32128  0
snd_seq_midi_event      7168  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                48720  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss            38048  0
snd_mixer_oss          15232  1 snd_pcm_oss
3c574_cs               12552  1
bcm43xx               426784  0

[scottmc9]

Reran the vlwifi utility after running modprobe -r ndiswrapper, but no luck. Still not able to create dhcp address on the eth1 wireless interface. Interestingly, the LED's on the pcmcia wireless card illuminate during the vlwifi setup process, but snuff out after the dhcp error message. Just out of curiosity, isn't the wireless interface supposed to be wlan0 ? Why is VL seeing it as eth1 ?

How do you perform updates?

[M0E-lnx]

Try unloading the broadcom module
rmmod bcm43xx
modprobe ndiswrapper

Then use either VLWifi or wifi-radar to set it up

The legacy broadcom module is known to to be troublesome.

I'd recommend the 6.0 RC1 version, because it has better support for this sort of thing.. I have a broadcom 4318 in my laptop, which works out of the box with no extra fidling needed.

[newt]

Reran the vlwifi utility after running modprobe -r ndiswrapper, but no luck. Still not able to create dhcp address on the eth1 wireless interface. Interestingly, the LED's on the pcmcia wireless card illuminate during the vlwifi setup process, but snuff out after the dhcp error message. Just out of curiosity, isn't the wireless interface supposed to be wlan0 ? Why is VL seeing it as eth1 ?

How do you perform updates?

The wireless device can be one of several device names: eth#, wlan#, ath#.  I believe that devices setup using ndiswrapper will become wlan# devices; however, this is not always the case.  Atheros-chip devices are often identified as ath# devices; however, this is not always the case.  And often times wireless devices are simply an eth# device.

I also use a broadcom-based pcmcia wireless adapter on VL 5.9 STD with WPA security, and have never needed to use anything but the bcm43xx driver and wpa_supplicant.  I use static ip addressing so I'm not overly familiar with dhcpd, but it's pretty standard and should be able to handle ip addressing without many problems.

You've been given lots of advice on different directions to travel so I won't throw in another, but as bigpaws has stated, you shouldn't have needed to add anything to your base system to get your adapter working.

[scottmc9]

I ran the rmmod and modprobe commands you suggested then tried vlwifi. It asked if I wanted to use Win driver. I pointed it to the directory containing both the bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5.inf files. However, it didn't recognize the card. Same with wifi-radar.

What are the steps to obtain and load the 6.0 RC1 module?

Any other suggestions?

[caitlyn]

You can't just obtain the module from Vector Linux 6.  You basically have to upgrade your entire OS.  The newer module requires a newer kernel which is built against newer libraries with a newer compiler.  You get the picture.

Download the iso and reinstall.  This isn't the only improvement in the new version of VL.  It's a big step forward.

[rbistolfi]

I ran the rmmod and modprobe commands you suggested then tried vlwifi. It asked if I wanted to use Win driver. I pointed it to the directory containing both the bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5.inf files. However, it didn't recognize the card. Same with wifi-radar.

What are the steps to obtain and load the 6.0 RC1 module?

Any other suggestions?

If you attempt a connection from the cli instead the VLWifi graphic user interface, we could get some useful error messages.
Please do this from a terminal as root:

Code:

rmmod ndiswrapper
rmmod bcm43xx
modprobe bcm43xx
ifconfig eth1 up
dhcpcd eth1

Please paste the output of those commands here if any. You can highlight text with the mouse in the terinal and paste in the browser with mid-button click.
Also please post the output of

Code:

ls /var/log/packages/udev*

and

Code:

dmesg|grep firmware

I know is a lot of typing, but this troubleshooting could give some clues if we have luck

[scottmc9]

I don't mind the typing if it will result in a fix. Here's the output...meager though it is:

root:# rmmod ndiswrapper
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# rmmod bcm43xx
ERROR: Module bcm43xx does not exist in /proc/modules
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# modprobe bcm43xx
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# ifconfig eth1 up
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# dhcpcd eth1
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# ls /var/log/packages/udev*
/var/log/packages/udev-116-i486-1
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:# dmesg|grep firmware
frenchcorner://home/scottmc9
root:#