Vmware Edgy Madwifi Ath0 Networking Virtual Machine

[overmetal61]

I am not able to get my vmware working in Edgy with Madwifi Ath0 Wireless card.. Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 keeps failing. When go to run vmware it says re-run vmware-config.pl

1. I have the kernel headers installed

Here is the Log from DMESG
[17217586.196000] bridge-ath0: enabling the bridge
[17217586.196000] bridge-ath0: can't bridge with ath0, bad header length 88
[17217586.196000] bridge-ath0: interface ath0 is not a valid Ethernet interface
[17217586.196000] bridge-ath0: can't bridge with ath0, bad header length 88


Here is Log of Terminal:

Starting VMware services:
Virtual machine monitor done
Virtual ethernet done
Bridged networking on /dev/vmnet0 failed
Host-only networking on /dev/vmnet8 (background) done
NAT service on /dev/vmnet8 done

[krnlpanik]

This behavior is due to the fact that the madwifi drivers are not 100% compatible with the ethernet standard, and the vmware code checks the interface characteristics before allowing itself to bring up the bridge.

It usually shows up in the system logs with:
Bridged wireless: can't bridge with ath0, bad header length 88 ...

The following procedure fixes the issue:

Start a root shell:

sudo bash

Install your kernel headers (if you dont already have them)

apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

and install some needed packages to compile the modules:

apt-get install build-essential bin86 sharutils

Get a recent copy of the source code from http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-ng/

cd /usr/src
wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi...0061027.tar.gz
tar -zxvf madwifi-ng-r1784-20061027.tar.gz
cd madwifi-ng-r1784-20061027

Then, you'll need to edit the file in ath/if_ath.c, I use vi, but gedit seems popular too.
vi ath/if_ath.c

Remove (or comment out) the following code from the file:
---
#ifdef USE_HEADERLEN_RESV
dev->hard_header_len += sizeof(struct ieee80211_qosframe) +
sizeof(struct llc) +
IEEE80211_ADDR_LEN +
IEEE80211_WEP_IVLEN +
IEEE80211_WEP_KIDLEN;
#ifdef ATH_SUPERG_FF
dev->hard_header_len += ATH_FF_MAX_HDR;
#endif
#endif
---
Now, make the modules:

make clean
make
make install

It will build (hopefully) and then ask if you want to do with the old modules. Remove them.

Then, you have to tell the system to use the new modules at boot time.

vi /etc/modules

and add "ath_pci" (w/o the quotes) to the bottom of the file.

Reboot the machine, login again, and start a new shell.

If all went well, the new version will now be running, and will show up at boot time with the version of the code you downloaded earlier.

root@box:/# dmesg | grep ath_pci
[17179585.564000] ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (svn r1784)
root@box:/#

Now, rerun vmware-config.pl, bridge vmnet0 to ath0, and now everything works the way it should.

[overmetal61]

Wonderful! Thanks!!

[stigger]

hi all,

i got a problem compiling the module.
When i compile it, i got the following error:


In file included from /usr/src/madwifi-ng-r1784-20061027/ath/if_ath_pci.c:326:
/usr/src/madwifi-ng-r1784-20061027/ath/../release.h:38:24: error: svnversion.h: No such file or directory
make[2]: *** [/usr/src/madwifi-ng-r1784-20061027/ath/if_ath_pci.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/usr/src/madwifi-ng-r1784-20061027/ath] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic'
make: *** [all] Fehler 2

Any idea to solve it

thanks

stig

[vinboy]

wow.
thanks.
I spent weeks trying to look for an anwer, now I got it right here.
fast and easy.

thank you so much

[davekenny]

thanks!!!
it works if I use the verion for madwifi listed above.
at first I tried to use the lastest list on the site but if doesn't work.

Thanks again

now if I can get the OpenOffice base form wizard to finish...

dkenny

[in_flu_ence]

It works perfect for me too. Thanks for the tips. I think it might be good to put some summarized sticky since many are facing similar problem with vmware. This will give user more options: vmware. virtual box, xen, etc.

Thanks again

[cn4385]

Hi There,

I've used the solution detailed above and it fixed my vmware issues. However it seems that after applying this fix to the madwifi driver my machine freezes when accessing the wireless connection.

For example, if I use email or firefox or access the internet through a vmware installation it works for a minute or two then freezes completely. I can work on the machine for hours without a problem but as soon as I start accessing the internet I get a freeze...

any ideas?

[in_flu_ence]

care to tell what model of ur wireless card?

I have used a netgear wireless card and it seems to work perfectly fine using vmware. I even use it to watch streaming video with no interruption.

[in_flu_ence]

The patch doesn't seem to work on feisty. Did i miss something?
I can make vmware to run very smoothly with eth0 (wired) and I have to run the vmware-any-any patch (otherwise it won't compile properly).

I use the later madwifi file (20070417). Not sure if there is any issue in that for those who try?