Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

My computer is a IBM T30 and running Ubuntu Hardy Heron, 8.04.
Here is what I did after trying for quite some time to get my wireless card to work. I found this on some Linux website, and it WORKS !!!!!!
In my T30, I had to remove my internal WiFi card.

1. Plugged in my netgear WPN511 card. It started flashing 2 light alternately.
2. (Applications, Assessories, Terminal) Typed in:
sudo iwconfig atho essid <your ssid here>
sudo iwconfig ath0 key <your hex key here> restricted
sudo iwpriv ath0 mode 3
sudo iwpriv ath0 authmode 2
sudo dhclient ath0
3. After the second iwconfig, both lights started blinking together.
4. I could login to my website.

I had another Netgear card, WG511U and that works too.

!!!At the moment I have to write these instructions everything time the computer is booted. I have a question, where do I put these instructions to automatically when booted it is included. Any help is appreciated.

-Jan

Jan: you can write a boot script to run these commands automatically each time your computer turns on. To do that, follow these instructions:

1. type:

Code:

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sudo gedit /etc/init.d/wifi-fix.sh

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A blank file will open. Add these lines to it:

Code:

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#!/bin/bash

sudo iwconfig atho essid <your ssid here>
sudo iwconfig ath0 key <your hex key here> restricted
sudo iwpriv ath0 mode 3
sudo iwpriv ath0 authmode 2
sudo dhclient ath0

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Make sure you fill in the information about your hex key and essid, of course.

2. save and close the file
3. run these commands:

Code:

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cd /etc/init.d
sudo chmod +x wifi-fix.sh
sudo update-rc.d defaults

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This should take care of it. If not, let me know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pytheas22

Ex Amigan: it looks like you were not typing in the name of the ndiswrapper packages correctly--you were typing 'ndiswrapper-1.53' and 'ndiswrapper-utils', but these are not quite the exact names. Try running these commands instead; they should install ndiswrapper for you:

Code:

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 ndiswrapper-common

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That should do it. If not and you get errors, please post the terminal output.

Also FYI: I think that the Netgear WPN111 won't really work with WPA under ndiswrapper (it *might* be possible to make it sort of work with WPA if you try really hard, but don't count on it being reliable). It also won't work on 64-bit Ubuntu because there are no 64-bit Windows drivers available. So hopefully your router doesn't use WPA and you're using 32-bit Linux.

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I found the reply below on another Linux help web site and this guy seems to have had no problem with making ndis wrapper do its stuff with the WPN111. I am not at my computer at the moment but I will let you know how it goes. Thanks

Quote:

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WPN111 works well using ubuntu feisty and ndiswrapper
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...u-6.06-515914/
I found it easy to get up and running with ndiswrapper doing the following:

1. make sure ndiswrapper is installed (use synaptic if its missing)

2. put the driver disk in and cd to /media/cdrom0/ndis5

3. run: sudo ndiswrapper -i netwpn11.inf

4. run: sudo ndiswrapper -m

5. run: sudo modprobe ndiswrapper (this will happen automatically when you reboot)

6. put the device in the USB slot (if it wasn't there already).

Now click on the network icon and you will see the wireless connections it detected.

I hope this helps.

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P.S. What is "feisty"

Hi Pytheus - I tried compiling latest drivers as suggested, but no change on Netgear connection. Am now officially giving up and sticking with Dlink! Many many thanks again for all your help,
Vive La Revolution!

Ex Amigan: those instructions should work, provided you have the Windows driver CD for your card. The only thing I'd point out is that in step 2, the path to your CD-ROM might be a little different; if the line given there doesn't work, try /media/cdrom1/ndis5, for example.

Also, the reason I think that the WPN111 has issues with WPA is because I spent a long time last summer trying to help someone connect to his WPA network on one of these cards. He eventually managed to do it after a lot of hacking, but even then, the connection was not that stable. There are other people who report total failure with the WPN111 and WPA too if you google around.

You might have better luck, but I just wanted to warn you. The card should work fine with WEP, just not WPA.

Quote:

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P.S. What is "feisty"

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Ubuntu 7.04 was named 'Feisty Fawn' (like Ubuntu 8.10 is named 'Intrepid Ibex'). But those instructions should still work for 8.10.

etherealethel: sorry we couldn't get it working with encryption, but I'm glad you found a card that works.

La révolution est incroyable parce que vraie!

"La révolution est incroyable parce que vraie!"

Yes, we can!!! because it's real (true)!!!

Happy New Year!!!

:D

P.S. Hi pytheas22, my wife gave me a new laptop with an intel 5100 wifi card. What driver does Ubuntu use as default or one must do this ndiswrapper for win-intel driver again!!!

I' m kind of lost with all this information, just arrived @ Ubuntu, is there anyone capable of telling me how can I configure my onda usb modem to make work internet from my computer anywhere? If so I will be very pleased to know how, thanks everybody!!!

polauster: with your USB modem plugged in, please open a terminal from the Applications>Accessories menu, then run the following commands and post the output here:

Code:

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lsusb
lshw -C Network
uname -mr

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With that information, I can hopefully find instructions for you on how to make your modem work.

husky55: the Intel 5100 cards should use the iwlagn driver, which should be included in Ubuntu 8.10, meaning that these cards should work out-of-the-box there (if yours isn't, let me know). In 8.04 you would have to compile the iwlagn driver manually; I can give you instructions if you like. Intel has great Linux support for its wireless cards so you should not need ndiswrapper; I also seem to recall it not working with the newer Intel cards due to various bugs.

I hope you can help me.

I need to uninstall and reinstall my ndiswrapper drivers ever time I restart my computer. I'm using a Dlink DWA-542 pci card. Chipset: 168c:0023 (rev 01), and a net5416.inf driver file.

Once I get the driver reinstalled after about two-three tries the internet works fine, that is, until I have to restart my computer.

Please tell me there's a fix for this.

I knew it was too good to be true - moved the PC upstairs and it did connect on boot up - but only for about 20 mins... then reverted to the usual 'page not found' even though still said connected... the signal is weaker up here though - today it is working quite a bit longer - any idea why it would drop out? Is it the signal?

"Lisez moins, vivez plus" !!!