3945ABG wireless card woes

[Elachys]

I'm a total linux noob and so far i am loving it. Mandriva is my first linux install and all went in fine.
My only problem is that the wireless card on my sony viao "VGN-C1S" laptop seems to have a busted driver.

When i go to set up the connection in the control center. I am able to select the wireless card. However, when i click next. A prompt is displayed saying "Unable to find network interface for selected device (using ipw3945 driver)".

The "Linux Tools Logs" says

21:47:39 drakconnect[14510]: running: /bin/rpm -q --qf %{name} wireless-tools 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: running: dmidecode 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: Found settings for driver "ipw3945" in category "network::connection::wireless" 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: No kernel_module package for module "ipw3945" is required, skipping 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: Required tools package for module "ipw3945" is already installed, skipping 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: Required firmware package for module "ipw3945" is already installed, skipping 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: Settings for driver "ipw3945" applied 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: Reloading module ipw3945 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: running: rmmod ipw3945 
21:47:49 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe ipw3945 
21:48:00 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe -n ipw3945 
21:48:00 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe ipw3945 
21:48:10 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe -n ipw3945 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: Found settings for driver "ipw3945" in category "network::connection::wireless" 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: No kernel_module package for module "ipw3945" is required, skipping 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: Required tools package for module "ipw3945" is already installed, skipping 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: Required firmware package for module "ipw3945" is already installed, skipping 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: Settings for driver "ipw3945" applied 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: Reloading module ipw3945 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: running: rmmod ipw3945 
21:53:25 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe ipw3945 
21:53:35 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe -n ipw3945 
21:53:35 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe ipw3945 
21:53:46 drakconnect[14510]: running: /sbin/modprobe -n ipw3945

and the other thing i found was

[root@localhost Elachys]# /sbin/modprobe ipw3945
WARNING: Error inserting ieee80211 (/lib/modules/2.6.17-13mdv/net/ieee80211/ieee80211.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
WARNING: Error inserting ieee80211 (/lib/modules/2.6.17-13mdv/net/ieee80211/ieee80211.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
FATAL: Error inserting ipw3945 (/lib/modules/2.6.17-13mdv/kernel/3rdparty/ipw3945/ipw3945.ko.gz): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
FATAL: Error running install command for ipw3945

Does this mean the drivers are just messed up?

All replies are very much appreciated.

[aliov]

the ipw3945 is fully supported under linux ,but your problem is very strange,
try to download the firmware from Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Driver for Linux (the recent version)
extract it and out all the file inside the /lib/firmware/