Ndiswrapper Module Not Found

[Edd]

Hey all,

I just installed Mandrake/Mandriva linux in a dual boot with Windows XP home edition. Everything is working great in way of the operating system but no matter what I do I cannot get ndiswrapper to work with my Belkin F5D7010 Wireless Notebook network card. This is what I have done:

I have installed version 0.9 using the software installer in Mandrake

I have then added the driver and when I say "ndiswrapper -l" it does say that the driver is installed and that my hardware is present.

I type "ndiswrapper -m" and that adds the extra bit of a code successfully.

My problem is, when I type "modprobe ndiswrapper" it says: FATAL Module Ndiswrapper not found.

And then if I do iwconfig, it does not bring up my connection.

 

Few other things you will probably need to know to help me:

I am typing the commands in as root

It is a Toshiba Equium A60 Notebook P4 3.06Ghz 256MB RAM

The card does work fine, I have booted back to XP numerous times and it works fine.

I have searched, but no one seems to hit the problem like I have, sadly.

 

Thanks in advance :)

[ianw1974]

You may want to try and download ndiswrapper 1.1 and see if this helps, it may require a later version to help resolve issues. I think earlier versions of ndiswrapper wouldn't work with LE2005 (assuming you're using that).

[Havin_it]

Hi Edd, and welcome to teh MUB!

 

The first thing you can do is check whether the module is really not there. It lives at

 

/lib/modules/<your-current-kernel-version>/kernel/3rdparty/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper.ko.gz

 

There should always be a module there (although initially it tends to be an old one that comes preinstalled with the distro).

 

Do you have the kernel-source package installed for your current kernel? You can check this in Software management. There also needs to be a link to this kernel-source from inside the modules directory - read more about these requirements at

 

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/phpwiki...hp/Installation

 

Hope this gets you started. If you have problems or don't understand anything, just ask.

[Edd]

You may want to try and download ndiswrapper 1.1 and see if this helps, it may require a later version to help resolve issues.  I think earlier versions of ndiswrapper wouldn't work with LE2005 (assuming you're using that).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I did try installing it but when I type "make install" it gives an error, saying that the Kernal Sources cannot be found. So I am a bit stuck really

[Havin_it]

Yep, that would be yer problem then. Fix:

 

1 - If you don't know your current kernel version, hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 from inside KDE to get a console screen. This'll have your kernel version at the top. Jot it down and hit Ctrl+Alt+F7 to return to KDE.

 

2 - Go to System > Configuration > Configure your Computer. In the Control Centre, go to Software > Install and search for kernel-source. Select and install the appropriate package matching your kernel version from step 1.

 

3 - Ensure there is a link /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/build that points to /usr/src/linux-<kernel-version>. If not, open a console as root, and run this command

ln -s /usr/src/linux-<kernel-version> /lib/modules/VERSION/build

 

4 - Now (after uninstalling old version) install new ndiswrapper. That should do it

[Edd]

Right, first off, thank you SO much, It has installed and the light on the card has come on, but I still have a problem. Even though the lights are on I cannot connect to the net still. I have added the WEP key, is there a tutorial anywhere to help me finish off configuring?

[ianw1974]

Have you ran iwconfig to see if an IP has been assigned? Also when you run it, does it show the card as being up?

 

If not, you might need to add this to modprobe.conf

 

alias net-pf-10 off

 

this disables IPV6. Then try doing nslookup to see if it can resolve DNS, or browse. If you're using Firefox and having probs, you can disable IPV6 in Firefox by typing about:config in the url bar, and then filtering by IPV6 and setting the value to True by double clicking.

 

Hope this helps.

[Edd]

I did as you said and sadly, nothing :(

 

When I run iwconfig, it says:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID: off/any Nickname:"Localhost"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462GHz Access Point 00:00:00:00:00:00
bit rate=54Mb/s Tx-power: 25dBm
RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:<my key here> security mode:restricted
power management:off
link quality 100/100 signal level -10dBm Noise Level: -256dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid Misc:2516 Missed beacon: 0

 

I ent really sure what to look for, so can you see anything wrong there?

Thanks for all your help and fast replies, means a lot :)

[ianw1974]

OK, you can also type "ifup wlan0" to see if the link is up OK.

 

I'd normally expect it to show an IP address. Are you receiving over DHCP or have you allocated a static IP address to the card?

 

If dhcp, and you can't ping the router/wireless interface, then try allocating a static ip address to the wireless card, and then see if you can ping. Rerun iwconfig as well, to see if it's showing the static ip address afterwards.

 

The only items you need to worry about configuring, or at least what I normally configure for are hostname, ip address, subnet mask, default gateway, dns servers. I leave search domain and zeroconf blank.

 

Have a go with this, and post back, I'll also have a think in the meantime, to see if there is anything else I can come up with.

[Edd]

Well "ifup wlan0" fails when trying to get the IP information. I did try a static and DHCP IP but it seemed to not stay? I'll try it again later, see if it makes a difference, I may have just pressed the wrong thing! Thansk for your continued support :)

[ianw1974]

OK, keep us informed of how you get on. I should hopefully have a wireless access point soon, so I can then try sorting mine out! :P

[Edd]

Yay! I got it to work. I set the IP - my problem was that my ESSID was wrong! So I changed that and it worked great! Thanks for all your help :)

[ianw1974]

Hi Edd,

 

Not quite sure what you're issue is, you say it's losing the settings? Is it losing the IP address details, etc? Or is it that you have to modprobe for the module each time.

 

If it's the module that you have to run modprobe for each time, you can just add the name of the module to /etc/modprobe.preload (no need to put modprobe before it, just the module name).

 

Then when you reboot, it'll automatically run the modprobe for it.

[Havin_it]

Edd, you don't mention whether you've created a config file for the wireless connection. This isn't done automatically (unless you used MCC), so I'll assume the answer is no.

 

Basically you put your configs into a text file called (assuming the interface is called wlan0): /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0

 

For information about the format of this file, type in a console:

 

man ifcfg

 

(there are wireless-specific items near the bottom) The main things you should have are

 

DEVICE=wlan0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=<MAC address of router>
WIRELESS_ESSID=<your ESSID>
WIRELESS_ENC_KEY=<your WEP key>
WIRELESS_MODE=Managed
MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=Yes
DHCP_HOSTNAME=<your computer name>
NEEDHOSTNAME=Yes

 

I think that's about it - did I miss any?

[Edd]

Thanks for that, it DID help to a degree, but I still have one problem. Everytime, I have to run this command:

setpci -s 0:14.4 subordinate_bus=03

 

If I don't it refuses to work. That subordinate_bus thing keeps defaulting to 02. Anyway I can fix that/add it to automatically just run that command?

Thanks :)