How to install your Netgear wg111v2 wireless dongle on Edgy

[linuxusa]

The good...
I had this device working perfectly in edgy eft, with ndiswrapper, as the howto stated.


The bad...
I have recently upgraded to Feisty Fawn 7.04, the netgear wg111v2 no longer works . I have tried Windows98 and XP driver. The system only sees a "usb storage device" when using ndiswrapper.

After many hours of playing around, I have resorted to long wires instead of this device that used to work.



The interesting...
However, the built in driver (rtl8187) seems a little more promising.

After booting into Feisty fawn (even on the live disk) The dongle seems to "almost" work with the rtl8187 driver.
The system is able to see wifi networks, but it wont bind to any. Also the light doesn't light up.

sudo iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Operation not supported

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:95:15:A0:E1
ESSID:"2WIRE388"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz
Quality=53/64 Signal level=21/65
Encryption keyn
Extra:tsf=0000002f1cbba8f6
Cell 02 - Address: 00:18:F8:40:34:47
ESSID:"yellowRose"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz
Quality=3/64 Signal level=38/65
Encryption keyn
Extra:tsf=000000015b143563

Device:
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0846:6a00 NetGear, Inc. WG111 WiFi (v2)

----------------------------------

[misty soul]

I got a similar problem as everyone here : my WG111V2 stopped working after the update to Feisty Fawn.

I finally got it working a few minutes ago

Looking in the supported cards page in the ndiswrapper site at sourceforge, I found a reference to another W98 driver from realtek (not from NetGear). I found the driver here: http://download.opendrivers.com/uplo...221)(0412).zip Note that the round parentheses are really in the file name. I unzipped the file and located the W98 driver path in the directories tree: RTL8187/WIN98/Netrtuw.inf.

Looking at my /etc/ndiswrapper directory, I saw my current driver directory was called net111v2, so I removed it using the ndiswrapper "-r" flag and installed the new driver:

ndiswrapper -r net111v2
ndiswrapper -i /my/download/path/RTL8187/WIN98/Netrtuw.inf

"ndiswrapper -l" showed me the netrtuw driver was installed and the hardware was present.

I unplugged and plugged again the USB dongle and looked at the bottom of the /var/log/messages file for the last messages. I saw a message from ndiswrapper about the netrtuw driver with its complete version number and saw two messages related to mywlan0 device that looked promising.

I finally switched from my current ethernet network to wireless using the NetworkManager applet. Since my access point uses WPA/PSK, I had to enter the passphrase in a popup and the network was up and running.

Well, since I did not use gnome key management before and the applet needed to store the WPA/PSK key, I was prompted for a passphrase for the keystore just after having entered the WPA/PSK key, beware not to mix eveything there! You may choose not to use the networkManager applet and configure your wireless key entirely from /etc/network/interface if you prefer.

Now I am wireless again and secure (yes, WG111V2 does support WPA/PSK).

[phossal]

What device do you actually have? Are you sure it's a V2?

[linuxusa]

I got a similar problem as everyone here : my WG111V2 stopped working after the update to Feisty Fawn.

I finally got it working a few minutes ago

Looking in the supported cards page in the ndiswrapper site at sourceforge, I found a reference to another W98 driver from realtek (not from NetGear). I found the driver here: http://download.opendrivers.com/uplo...221)(0412).zip

Thanks for the insight, unfortunately, it did not work for me. All I see from ndiswrapper activity is:
mike@mike-desktop:/etc/modprobe.d$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
Installed drivers:
netrtuw driver installed, hardware present

From /var/log/messages :
Apr 30 22:34:16 mike-desktop kernel: [ 1722.636799] ndiswrapper version 1.38 loaded (preempt=no,smp=yes)
Apr 30 22:34:16 mike-desktop kernel: [ 1722.639300] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
Apr 30 22:34:31 mike-desktop kernel: [ 1737.113212] usb 3-6: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
Apr 30 22:34:31 mike-desktop kernel: [ 1737.250180] usb 3-6: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

[misty soul]

What device do you actually have? Are you sure it's a V2?

I think so, because it used to work with Edgy and the V2 drivers from NetGear (I don't remember if it was the driver from the CD or an update from their site), using WPA/PSK. It only stopped working when I switched to Feisty. My device ID is 0846:6a00 rather than 0846:4240, I understood this was also a v2, am I wrong ?

Everything was fine tonight when I posted my small contribution, but I was not able to restart it this morning . I had to go back to ethernet and am trying to understand what happens.

I am currently trying to understand the traces in /var/log/syslog (or /var/log/daemon, they are similar). NetworkManager forwards about 500 messages from wpa_supplicant. It seems to start well and then to change back and forth between 4WAY_HANDSHAKE and GROUP_HANDSHAKE states, then it blacklists my access point (Added BSSID 00:0f:b5:d9:ad:20 into blacklist) and tries again AP scan during one minute. However, since it has blacklisted my AP at this time, the following trials just fail. It gives up after one minute.

I think I will try without encryption as for now it is wpa-supplicant that seems to fail for me.

Here is an excerpt of my /var/log/syslog file during an attempt to switch to wireless.

May  1 11:01:41 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Setting scan request: 0 sec 0 usec 
May  1 11:01:41 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING 
May  1 11:01:41 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID) 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:41 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: SCANNING -> ASSOCIATING 
 ...snip ...
May  1 11:01:42 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: ASSOCIATING -> ASSOCIATED 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:42 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: ASSOCIATED -> 4WAY_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:42 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: 4WAY_HANDSHAKE -> 4WAY_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:44 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: 4WAY_HANDSHAKE -> GROUP_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:46 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: GROUP_HANDSHAKE -> 4WAY_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:46 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: 4WAY_HANDSHAKE -> GROUP_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:46 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: GROUP_HANDSHAKE -> 4WAY_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:48 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: 4WAY_HANDSHAKE -> GROUP_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:48 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: GROUP_HANDSHAKE -> 4WAY_HANDSHAKE 
 ... snip ...
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: 4WAY_HANDSHAKE -> GROUP_HANDSHAKE 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Wireless event: cmd=0x8b15 len=20 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Wireless event: new AP: 00:00:00:00:00:00 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Added BSSID 00:0f:b5:d9:ad:20 into blacklist 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): CTRL_IFACE monitor send - hexdump(len=40): 2f 76 61 72 2f 72 75 6e 2f 4e 65 74 77 6f 72 6b 4d 61 6e 61 67 65 72 2f 77 70 61 5f 63 74 72 6c 5f 35 33 37 34 2d 37 00 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 
May  1 11:01:50 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): wpa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 
May  1 11:01:51 localhost upsmon[6158]: Poll UPS [ellipse500@localhost] failed - Driver not connected
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): pa_driver_wext_set_key: alg=0 key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: GROUP_HANDSHAKE -> DISCONNECTED 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT) 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: External notification - EAP success=0 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'wlan0' added 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID) 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Authentication with 00:00:00:00:00:00 timed out. 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): CTRL_IFACE monitor send - hexdump(len=40): 2f 76 61 72 2f 72 75 6e 2f 4e 65 74 77 6f 72 6b 4d 61 6e 61 67 65 72 2f 77 70 61 5f 63 74 72 6c 5f 35 33 37 34 2d 37 00 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Added BSSID 00:00:00:00:00:00 into blacklist 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: SCANNING -> DISCONNECTED 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT) 
May  1 11:01:52 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5 
May  1 11:01:58 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwlan0: link timed out. 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373):  
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Setting scan request: 0 sec 0 usec 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID) 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Scan timeout - try to get results 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Scan results: -1 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Failed to get scan results 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Failed to get scan results - try scanning again 
May  1 11:02:00 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Setting scan request: 0 sec 0 usec 
   ... snip ...
May  1 11:02:32 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID) 
May  1 11:02:32 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Scan timeout - try to get results 
May  1 11:02:32 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Scan results: -1 
May  1 11:02:32 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Failed to get scan results 
May  1 11:02:32 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Failed to get scan results - try scanning again 
May  1 11:02:32 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^Iwpa_supplicant(26373): Setting scan request: 1 sec 0 usec 
May  1 11:02:41 localhost NetworkManager: <information>^IActivation (wlan0/wireless): association took too long (>60s), failing activation.

[phossal]

I just installed Feisty this morning. I installed build-essential using apt-get, and then ndiswrapper from source. It's version 1.43, or greater. One thing I notice right off, is that blacklisting the drivers doesn't work. If you use ndiswrapper -l, it will still show (rtl8187 alternative driver) unless you manually remove them.

I did this:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Removing rtl8187..."
sudo rm -r /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15/ubuntu/wireless/rtl8187
sudo rm -r /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15/ubuntu/wireless/rtl8187/Kconfig
sudo rm -r /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15/ubuntu/wireless/rtl8187/Makefile
sudo rm -r /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/rtl8187.h
sudo rm -r /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/kernel/ubuntu/wireless/rtl8187
sudo rm -r /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/kernel/ubuntu/wireless/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko

Then I installed the driver as I would using the Edgy tutorial.

[misty soul]

I also got the message displaying "(rtl8187 alternative driver)", so I completely removed the files as suggested and recompiled ndiswrapper 1.43 from source. The message disappeared, but my device still doesn't work

I turned off encryption, to no avail.

I tried several drivers (realtek, NetGear 1.3.0, NetGear 2.0.1 beta), none worked.

I am sure it worked last night with some configuration. I think I have screwed things a lot now, so I need to first understand all the errors I did and then do some cleanup. Unfortunately, I have no time for now, so I go back to wire and will try again later.

Thanks for your help.

[phossal]

I suspect the 'Buntu developers will have to clean up their mess - they've apparently screwed ndiswrapper - or the ndiswrapper gang will have to catch up. I suspect the latter, because the former can't do anything right, really. Screw free CD's. This is redhat repainted.

[FritzBrown]

This helped tremendously! I followed the procedures (except: substitute vi for gedit, and a different path for the .inf file), and got my troublesome WG111v2 (not really) runing on xubuntu 6.06.1 Dapper! Huzzah!

[smoocat]

Hi. Relative newbie here. I too have been trying to get my WG111v2 to work properly under Kubuntu Feisty.

The native RTL8187 driver worked fairly well for me at the beginning, despite the light on my dongle not lighting up. My main issue was that it would sporadically drop the connection, forcing me to reestablish the connection or unplug/replug the dongle. (I checked to make sure it wasn't an ISP issue, as the PC connected directly to the DSL modem works perfectly fine. This problem also didn't occur under XP.)

I decided to try out the ndiswrapper approach to see if it would resolve the issue. I tried the XP, which ended up not working. Then I tried both the Win98 and ME drivers from my Netgear cdrom, which showed up with the "device present" message. The lights began blinking (yay!), but the KNetworkManager status bar never moved past "configuring device" status (around 20%), and never reached connectivity. Now I'm left with no choice but to use Windows until I can resolve this issue (grrr..).

I'm tempted to revert back to RTL8187, but the situation there was far from ideal. That, and I sorta kinda deleted the files instead of backing them up/renaming them (I know, bad move), to avoid the "alternate driver:.." message in ndiswrapper.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Good weekend to you all--