Comprehensive ndiswrapper troubleshooting guide

[Urgoz]

I appreciate the quick response:

ben@ben-laptop:~S dmesg | grep -e ndis -e wlan
ben@ben-laptop:~S ndiswrapper -l
The program 'ndiswrapper' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common
bash: ndiswrapper: command not found
ben@ben-laptop:~S lshw -C Network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 79c970 [PCnet 32 LANCE]
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 3
bus info: pci@0000:00:03:0
logical name: eth0
version: 40
serial: 08:00:27:16:92:57
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=pcnet32 driverversion=1.35 ip=10.0.2.15 latency=64 maxlatency=255 mingnt=6 module=pcnet32 multicast=yes
*-network DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
logical name: pan0
serial: 16:e0:c7:ad:0d:89
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion:2.3 firmware=N/A multicast=yes
ben@ben-laptop:~S lspci -nn
00.00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] [8086:1237] (rev 02)
00.01.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II] [8086:7000]
00.01.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE [8086:7111] (rev 01)
00.02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Graphics Adapter [80ee:beef]
00.03.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] 79c790 [PCnet32 LANCE] [1022:2000] (rev 40)
00.04.0 System peripheral [0880] InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Guest Service [80ee:cafe]
00.07.0 Bridge [0680]: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI [8086:7113] (rev 08)
ben@ben-laptop:~S sudo iwlist scan
[sudo] password for ben:
lo Interface does not support scanning.

eth0 Interface does not support scanning.

pan0 Interface does not support scanning.

I believe those were all the commands you suggested.
Thank you again.

[pytheas22]

Urgoz: your first problem is that you don't have ndiswrapper installed. You should install it by typing:

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

Second, Ubuntu doesn't seem to know that you have a wireless card attached to your computer at all, which could potentially mean that there's something wrong with the hardware itself. It's an internal device built into your computer, right--in other words, it's not a USB or PCMCIA card? Do you have Windows on this same computer, and does the wireless card work there?

[Urgoz]

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package ndiswrapper-common

No it's not a USB or PCMCIA card. I'm using Windows on my laptop right now and I've never had a problem with my wireless card, so I'm assuming it's not an internal problem. It's a Dell Inspiron 1526 that I bought last July, and the internet's always worked. So it's odd that Ubuntu isn't even recognizing a wireless card at all.

[pytheas22]

Urgoz: I took a closer look at your hardware, and it appears you installed Ubuntu inside VirtualBox (presumably on a Windows host). Is that correct? If that's the case, it explains a lot.

If you have Ubuntu installed inside VirtualBox, there's no way to allow Ubuntu to interact directly with the hardware in your computer; instead, Ubuntu works off of virtualized devices that are the same in every VirtualBox system, regardless of what your physical hardware is.

You should still have networking in virtualized Ubuntu (via the virtualized ethernet interface) as long as it's enabled in VirtualBox. Your output indicates that Ubuntu has an IP address, so it appears to be connected to the Internet. Unless there's a problem with that, I'm not sure why you want to install a wireless driver in Ubuntu.

If I'm missing something, please let me know. Otherwise, the only way Ubuntu will work with your wireless card (and the only reason you'd have a need to make it work) would be if you installed a non-virtualized Ubuntu system, using either wubi or the live CD.

[Urgoz]

Yes, I did install Ubuntu inside VirtualBox. And at first I was worried that that could be the problem, so thank you for confirming that for me.

I will attempt to install in on a live CD or with wubi, and if I have problems then I'll be sure to come back here.
I appreciate the helpful advice.
~Urgoz

[ntos]

hello having problems geting wifi to work. here's some info hope you can help? me@me-desktop:~$ sudo lshw -c Network
*-network:0
description: Ethernet interface
product: SMC2-1211TX
vendor: Accton Technology Corporation
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:10:b5:82:f9:6a
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.101 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 module=8139too multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
*-network:1
description: Wireless interface
product: AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: d
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 01
serial: 00:1e:e5:fb:c4:46
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+net5416 driverversion=1.53+Linksys, A Division of Cisc latency=128 link=no module=ndiswrapper multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
*-network DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
logical name: pan0
serial: 82:0f:41:af:8c:60
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes
me@me-desktop:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 22)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 10)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 10)
00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 10)
00:07.4 SMBus: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 30)
00:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
00:09.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 07)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX (rev 10)
00:0d.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV6 [Vanta/Vanta LT] (rev 15)
me@me-desktop:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:10:b5:82:f9:6a
inet addr:192.168.1.101 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::210:b5ff:fe82:f96a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:43874 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:27215 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:57425729 (57.4 MB) TX bytes:2965453 (2.9 MB)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0xe800

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:116 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:116 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:4960 (4.9 KB) TX bytes:4960 (4.9 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1e:e5:fb:c4:46
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:9 Memory:febe0000-febf0000

me@me-desktop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Power Managementff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

pan0 no wireless extensions.

me@me-desktop:~$ sudo ndiswrapper -m
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
module configuration already contains alias directive

module configuration already contains alias directive

me@me-desktop:~$ sudo config files /etc/modprobe,d/ndiswrapper
sudo: config: command not found
me@me-desktop:~$ sudo /etc/modprobe,
sudo: /etc/modprobe,: command not found
me@me-desktop:~$ sudo /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper/config files
sudo: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper/config: command not found
me@me-desktop:~$ uname -mr
2.6.28-11-generic i686
me@me-desktop:~$ ndiswrapper -l
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
net5416 : driver installed
device (168C:0023) present (alternate driver: ath9k)
me@me-desktop:~$ sudo conf:/etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
sudo: conf:/etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper: command not found
me@me-desktop:~$ sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
update-jaunty jackalope -k all -u

blacklist ath9k
blacklist ath_pci
blacklist b43legacy hope this is a nuff info thank you for help in advance ps. using jaunty jackalope 9.04 beta the driver i have in stalled 32bit

[pytheas22]

ntos: all of the output you posted suggests that the card should be working. What's wrong? Are you able to see wireless networks but can't manage to connect to them? Or can you not see networks at all? What is the output of:

sudo iwlist scan

And what's the name of the network you're trying to connect to?

[ntos]

me@me-desktop:~$ sudo iwlist scan
[sudo] password for me:
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results

pan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

me@me-desktop:~$

here's the out put you asked about. yes I can see the network on a cold boot for about two and can't connect then its gone. restart nothing there card is linksys router linksys can get on the network with windows .

[pytheas22]

ntos: I'm not sure why the device can't see networks consistently. It may help to use a different Windows driver with ndiswrapper. But first, let's see if you can't make the card work using the ath9k native driver instead of ndiswrapper. According to this page, ath9k supports this card, at least on Debian.

To get ath9k working, you need to remove the line that reads 'blacklist ath9k' from your /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file. Then reboot, run the following commands and post the output so I can see what ath9k is doing:

sudo rmmod ath_pci
sudo rmmod ath9k
sudo modprobe ath9k
sudo iwlist scan
dmesg | grep -e wlan -e ath

[ntos]

pytheas22 hey thanks for the help .so this what i got [sudo] password for me:
ERROR: Module ath_pci does not exist in /proc/modules
me@me-desktop:~$ sudo rmmod ath9k
ERROR: Module ath9k does not exist in /proc/modules
me@me-desktop:~$ sudo iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results

pan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

me@me-desktop:~$ dmesg | grep -e wlan -e ath
[ 4.637395] device-mapper: multipath: version 1.0.5 loaded
[ 4.637402] device-mapper: multipath round-robin: version 1.0.0 loaded
[ 14.753910] wlan0: ethernet device 00:1e:e5:fb:c4:46 using serialized NDIS driver: net5416, version: 0x60000, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: 'NDIS Network Adapter', 168C:0023.5.conf
[ 14.805662] wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
[ 27.932861] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 306.804096] ndiswrapper (mp_reset:64): wlan0 is being reset
me@me-desktop:~$
here's a copy of the black list
blacklist ath_pci
blacklist b43legacy should I have removed ath_pci from the black list