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Thread: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

  1. #121
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    Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    So it appears to be an issue just of making b43 get loaded at boot (assuming that your wireless actually worked after you manually modprobe b43). You should be able to make the system auto-load b43 by adding it to /etc/modules:
    Code:
    echo b43 | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
    If not, you could write a boot script to do it:
    Code:
    echo '#!/bin/bash' > /etc/init.d/load-b43.sh
    echo 'modprobe b43' >> /etc/init.d/load-b43.sh
    sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/load-b43.sh
    sudo update-rc.d load-b43.sh defaults
    I also see that it's whining in dmesg about your having an out-of-date firmware file. If the card doesn't actually work even with b43 inserted, that could be the problem, but you should be able to download a more recent firmware file easily enough and copy it to /lib/firmware.

  2. #122
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    This seems to have my wireless up and running, thanks.

    The only issue left is the System>Administration>Hardware Drivers.

    Is shows the B43 driver, but says its not active. When i click Activate, it says its downloading the driver, and then it shows an error box with an icon, and a cancel button, but no error text.

    Scratch that ^ - I had to install b43-fwcutter. Now it shows a downloading bar that appears to be making no progress.

    dmesg has this to say when the b43 get loaded at boot;

    [ 44.063327] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 351.126 (2006-07-29 05:54:02)
    [ 44.063336] b43-phy0 warning: You are using an old firmware image. Support for old firmware will be removed in July 2008.
    [ 44.063339] b43-phy0 warning: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).

    Should I bother doing anything about that?
    Last edited by cnkbrown; November 7th, 2008 at 03:07 PM. Reason: new info

  3. #123
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    Now it shows a downloading bar that appears to be making no progress.

    dmesg has this to say when the b43 get loaded at boot;

    [ 44.063327] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 351.126 (2006-07-29 05:54:02)
    [ 44.063336] b43-phy0 warning: You are using an old firmware image. Support for old firmware will be removed in July 2008.
    [ 44.063339] b43-phy0 warning: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Dr...devicefirmware and download the latest firmware (version 4).

    Should I bother doing anything about that?
    If your wireless is working reliably and at decent speeds, then I wouldn't worry about any of this. The graphical application for enabling drivers (called 'jockey-gtk') can be buggy; you shouldn't trust what it says as much as what your kernel is really doing. The outdated firmware warning can probably also be ignored as long as the firmware that you have is working.

    If something's still not working acceptably, however, let me know.

  4. #124
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    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    I have a bcm4311 rev 1 card and nothing I do makes it work under Ubuntu 8.10.

    Can someone please help me?

  5. #125
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    [QUOTE=pytheas22;5561757]Introduction

    There are plenty of good how-to's on ndiswrapper out there, but many of them lack thorough troubleshooting sections or omit important information. This guide is intended to diagnose and solve the most common issues that prevent ndiswrapper from working, even after it appears to be successfully installed and configured.

    QUOTE]
    snip

    Or maybe just use Windows. I've never had a problem with wireless cards, they come with installation discs and away you go. Use Linux and away you don't.

  6. #126
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    I have a bcm4311 rev 1 card and nothing I do makes it work under Ubuntu 8.10.

    Can someone please help me?
    You probably won't need to use ndiswrapper for this card, but please post the output of the following commands and I'll try to find instructions on what you need to do:

    Code:
    lshw -C Network
    lspci -nn | grep -i broadcom
    uname -m
    Also, which Ubuntu release are you using (8.04, 8.10...)?
    Or maybe just use Windows. I've never had a problem with wireless cards, they come with installation discs and away you go. Use Linux and away you don't.
    In short, I think that very few people consider wireless drivers above all else when choosing which operating system to use.

    Also, I would point out that for cards that have Free (as in open-source and GPL'd) Linux drivers--which is most popular cards by this point--wireless is simpler in Linux than in Windows: you just plug the card in and go, because the drivers are built into the Linux kernel. If I could have all the hours of my life back that I've spent trying to hunt down obscure wireless drivers (not to mention drivers for every other piece of hardware) after doing a new Windows installation, I'd be much happier with the world (sure, sometimes the drivers come on CD, but sometimes they don't, and in most cases I or the people I'm doing the installation for lose the CDs anyway). At this point a majority of wireless cards 'just work' out-of-the-box in Linux; Windows will never see that.

    But if you're content with Windows, more power to you.

  7. #127
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    Quote Originally Posted by pytheas22 View Post
    You probably won't need to use ndiswrapper for this card, but please post the output of the following commands and I'll try to find instructions on what you need to do:

    Code:
    lshw -C Network
    lspci -nn | grep -i broadcom
    uname -m
    Also, which Ubuntu release are you using (8.04, 8.10...)?


    In short, I think that very few people consider wireless drivers above all else when choosing which operating system to use.



    But if you're content with Windows, more power to you.
    Thank you, but I'm not content using Windows, it's simply that my wireless card in a Dell laptop (so there must be quite a few about)doesn't work out of the box. It does however using Vista.
    My installation of Ubuntu 8.10 in an Acer laptop doesn't boot properly at all, and my attempt at installing Ubuntu 8.10 on a work PC failed because of insufficient memory. This PC runs XP without problem.

  8. #128
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    Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    Thank you so much for writing this! I was actually considering dropping Ubuntu untill I found this guide.
    Thank you again
    > Intel® Pentium® Dual Core T3200 2.0GHz | Running Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex
    > Currently learning the ins and outs of Ubuntu Server
    > The difference between Windows and a virus? Viruses rarely fail...

  9. #129
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    Thank you, but I'm not content using Windows, it's simply that my wireless card in a Dell laptop (so there must be quite a few about)doesn't work out of the box. It does however using Vista.
    My installation of Ubuntu 8.10 in an Acer laptop doesn't boot properly at all, and my attempt at installing Ubuntu 8.10 on a work PC failed because of insufficient memory. This PC runs XP without problem.
    I'm sorry you have such bad luck with Ubuntu. I can assure you that my experience with it has been much more positive, although admittedly hardly perfect.

    I don't want to continue a conversation here about Windows vs. Ubuntu--this isn't the appropriate section of the forums for it--but because I think that some of your criticisms of Ubuntu are unfair, I will point out that: 1) most Broadcom-based wireless cards (which is probably what's in your Dell) work out-of-the-box in 8.10 if you simply go to System>Administration>Hardware Drivers to enable them (they're not enabled by default because of licensing issues with the firmware); 2) if the card works out-of-the-box in Vista, it's only because your OEM configured it that way...if OEMs configured Ubuntu for you too, all of the hardware-support problems that you experience would not exist; 3) there are some known issues with booting problems on certain Acer laptops which probably include your issue; you can find instructions through Google for working around them; 4) yes, machines with < 256 megabytes of memory will have trouble running the live CD to install Ubuntu (although they can run Ubuntu itself fine once it's installed); in this case you should use the alternative CD to install.

    I encourage you to start threads about your various problems with Ubuntu if you can't find them answered already; I'm confident that you'll find helpful answers here if you commit a little time to asking for help.
    Thank you so much for writing this! I was actually considering dropping Ubuntu untill I found this guide.
    I'm really glad it helped, and thanks for letting me know

  10. #130
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    Re: Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

    Quote Originally Posted by pytheas22 View Post
    I'm sorry you have such bad luck with Ubuntu. I can assure you that my experience with it has been much more positive, although admittedly hardly perfect.

    I don't want to continue a conversation here about Windows vs. Ubuntu--this isn't the appropriate section of the forums for it--but because I think that some of your criticisms of Ubuntu are unfair, I will point out that: 1) most Broadcom-based wireless cards (which is probably what's in your Dell) work out-of-the-box in 8.10 if you simply go to System>Administration>Hardware Drivers to enable them (they're not enabled by default because of licensing issues with the firmware);

    I encourage you to start threads about your various problems with Ubuntu if you can't find them answered already; I'm confident that you'll find helpful answers here if you commit a little time to asking for help.

    Thank you for that advice - I have managed to get the wireless card to work.

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