suse 10.3 wireless help

**prc292** · 10-09-2007

i just installed suse 10.3 and im following a guide i found for using ndiswrapper. i downloaded the windows driver for my card and moved it to a folder i created /lib/windowsdrivers. the file name for my card is called sp36542.exe. the guide is telling me to move to /lib/windowsdrivers and in terminal as root type.

tar -zxvf sp36542.tar.gz I suppose this is supposed to open the file. i cant seem to get it to work. i get errors like "no such file exists" and "child returned" never saw that one before. ive done this before under ubuntu and it worked fine. anyone have any ideas. let me know if you need more info.

thx

**waterhead** · 10-09-2007

That file is a windows executable file, it is an installer program that contains the files that you need.

Don't use a folder in the /lib section, make one in your home folder.

There are two methods in linux that may extract those files. One is to use the cabextract command:

Code:

# cabextract sp36542.exe

If there are no cab files in it, that may not work. You then could run it with wine.

Code:

# wine sp36542.exe

It will run the installer, make sure that you direct it to a folder in your Linux install. That is where it will "install" it. Don't use the default folder location.

If both of those fail, you will have to either use windows to extract the contents, or use a driver from a different card, but with the same chipset.

**waterhead** · 10-09-2007

I just downloaded the sp36542.exe file, and both methods worked.

After you have the needed files extracted you then can run NDISwrapper (as root) to install them. I will use this as your folder where the files are in: /home/prc292/sp36542/

Code:

# ndiswrapper -i /home/prc292/sp36542/bcmwl6.inf

Then check if it installed:

Code:

# ndiswrapper -l

It should say that the driver is installed and that the hardware is present. It may also list an alternative driver. Make note of this, because it needs to be removed. If it is bcm43xx, then do this:

Code:

# modprobe -r bcm43xx

Now do this:

Code:

# modprobe ndiswrapper

If no errors, do this:

Code:

# ndiswrapper -m
# ndiswrapper -ma
# ndiswrapper -mi

If this works you should be able to setup your wireless. I sometimes had to reboot before it would work.The bcm43xx driver will reload at boot, so you need to prevent this. Open this file in a text editor: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and add this to the bottom of the file:

Code:

blacklist bcm43xx

**prc292** · 10-11-2007

well i got the driver loaded and im getting a message invalid driver.

im going to try a different driver. ive bcmwl6 for vista. going to try xp driver. i actually got this to work under Ubuntu i don't understand what im doing wrong. i did blacklist the bcmw43xx driver too so i no it's not that. let me know if you have any more ideas.

**waterhead** · 10-11-2007

I think that NDISwrapper was developed using WinXP drivers. This is not to say that a Win2000 driver wouldn't work. I don't know how much different a Vista driver is, better off staying with a WinXP driver.

**prc292** · 10-11-2007

so i finally got the driver to install right. it gives me the device id and all that. it also says alternate driver bcm43xx

did modprobe -r bcm43xx
hit enter
kwrite /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
scroll to bottom and type blacklist bcm43xx and save
reboot
ndiswrapper -l and alternate driver still is still there. i think this is all that is holding me up! any ideas

**waterhead** · 10-11-2007

It will always list it as an alternate driver. You can verify that it is not loaded, and that NDISwrapper is, by using this command.

Code:

# lsmod

You should now be able to set up the card in YaST. I chose NetworkManager to handle the connection. I then use the KNetworkManager GUI to handle my connections. It works every time. I am using WPA-TKIP, so it asks for a password before it will connect.

**prc292** · 10-12-2007

well...it's still not working. when i go into hardware information i see the card and under driver it says that it is not active. with lsmod i can't seem to find any reference to the wirless card although i do see ndiswrapper listed. im still trying to use the vista driver though because i cant figure out how to open the .exe file for the xp driver. cabextract and wine are not working. The xp driver is R151517.exe. This sucks. i really wanted to mess around with the 10.3 but without wireless it's kinda pointless. i gotta keep swithching back and forth between windows and suse to get info and instructions on the web. Thanks alot for your help so far, but anymore suggestions would be cool.

thanks!

**waterhead** · 10-12-2007

Have you tried any commands, to see if anything will work?

Code:

# ifconfig
# iwconfig
# ifup eth1 (or wlan0)

Look for the wireless and the name of it. It is usually wlan0 or eth1.

When you use the lsmod command, it will only show the loaded modules. Since ndiswrapper is the driver module for the wireless, it is loaded.

As for the WinXP driver. The next time you boot into windows, run the .exe and extract it to a folder. Cancel it before it installs. The files that you need should then be in that folder. You should be able to access the windows partition when booted up in Suse. Copy the files into your home directory, don't try installing them from the windows partition.

**waterhead** · 10-12-2007

I just read a Ubuntu how-to that says to unpack the R151517.exe driver with the unzip command.

Code:

unzip -a R151517.exe

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