[SOLVED] Wireless modem

[Father Shaggy]

I'm a total newbie, obviously, but I got a new laptop and thought I'd give linux a try. The laptop is second hand, and there is an ethernet card, but there was no internal wireless modem. I picked up a D-link WUA 2340 wireless adapter, and managed to use ndiswrapper to adapt the driver for linux. It worked well, and I was able to connect to the wireless connection at work.

However, now that I've turned off the computer and restarted it, I can't get the OS to even notice that I've got a wireless modem installed, much less find and connect to wireless connections.

Do I have to uninstall and reinstall the driver? How would I uninstall it? Can I use ndiswrapper again? Is there something I'm not seeing? is there anyone who can help?

It's been a long time since I had to work in a command line interface, but I've found I've been picking it up again quickly, so I'm not afraid of entering the system prompt.

Thanks.

[Fire_Chief]

Hi Father Shaggy and welcome to Linux! Sorry to hear it's not quite working as expected but no worries. Since you didn't specify which version of Ubuntu Linux, I'll assume it is either Hardy Heron (8.04) or Intrepid Ibex (8.10).

Have a look at this page which directly addresses setting up the Dlink WUA 2340 in Ubuntu Hardy (instructions should work the same for Intrepid).
http://onlyubuntu.blogspot.com/2008/...-wireless.html

It's very likely that while the wireless actually does work, NetworkManager is not able to use it properly. the link above addresses this and how to work around it.

Cheers!

[prshah]

Do I have to uninstall and reinstall the driver? How would I uninstall it? Can I use ndiswrapper again? Is there something I'm not seeing?

If it works once, there's no need to [un/re]install the driver.

Just load the ndiswrapper module

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

and your wireless should be active again. If it isn't see

dmesg | tail

for details on why it has failed.

To automatically load ndiswrapper module on boot, add it to the end of your /etc/modules file; just the word ndiswrapper, on a line by itself, at the end. Remember to leave a blank line at the end of the file.

[Father Shaggy]

Fire_ Chief: Thanks. That blog post is how I got it to work in the first place.

prshah: Thanks to you, as well. I'll give it a shot in a bit, and let you know the results in this thread.

[Father Shaggy]

prshah:

Thanks for the help. The driver start took care of it. However, I can't change the "modules" file. It says I don't have permission. I tried just opening it through the file tree on the desktop, and it wouldn't let me save changes. Do I need to edit it through the command line? How can I get permission?

[prshah]

Do I need to edit it through the command line? How can I get permission?

There are various ways, but the simplest is to press Alt+F2 and give this command

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

Be careful when editing this file. Make your change, save and quit. If you want a closer look at the file, repeat the above command but without gksudo; then it will open as read-only and you can look through it at your hearts' content.

[Father Shaggy]

Thanks. I appreciate the help. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Father Shaggy]

We're all good. Thanks a bunch!

[prshah]

We're all good

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