Wi-fi in Suse 10.3 driving me crazy

[arrow.69]

Hi. I've installed openSuse 10.3 on my core 2 duo laptop recently and I can't get the wi-fi to work. I searched around the net and found that this was a common problem under Suse. I tried a few things but nothing works.

Here's my situation :

1.66 Ghz core 2 duo laptop, 1 gb of ram, no dedicated Vram
not a great computer but its aright for what i wanna do with it

My hard drive is divided in 2 partitions, I dual-boot Suse and XP
Everything works fine in both OS's, except for the wi-fi not working in Suse. My ethernet card seems to be working tho, my internet works when i'm plugged into my router

Windows' device manager lists my wireless card as a Realtek RTL8168/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC #2, but while I was messing around with the windows drivers I saw that the .inf files called it an Atheros AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter.

So form what I've read, there are 2 ways to solve this : using Ndiswrapper or MadWifi. The thing is, I haven't found any clear explanation on how any of these work for someone who's relatively new to Linux like me. I tried compiling MadWifi from source I got this error

Makefile.inc:81: *** Cannot detect kernel version - please check compiler and KERNELPATH. Stop.

The same thing happened when I tried compiling Ndiswrapper. I pointed to the Kernelpath and everything, but I still got that error.

So then I downloaded the .rpms for Madwifi and tried installing those, but all i got in the console was a bunch of text, nothing really happening. There didn't seem to be any errors but I just didn't know what command i needed to type in.

So ya, this is getting pretty frustrating, and I just wish someone could tell me the easiest way to get my wi-fi working

[Dapper Dan]

The hell of it is, RPM based distros are easier for newer users, yet when it comes to compiling, they are not as friendly as say Gentoo or Slackware unless you have all the packages set up to compile from source. Actually, I avoid all SuSE threads because I haven't used it in a long time, and had difficulty with it even when I was running it... BUT... in order to compile, you have to have all the right packages... kernel headers, sources, Gcc and all that. Maybe this will help. If it is an Atheros chipset, you're in luck. I've had very good results from Madwifi drivers and Atheros and am a big proponent of it. To me, Madwifi drivers are easier to install than going with Ndiswrapper.

[burgsprinta]

What brand is the laptop? If it is a Dell, the driver can be found in c:\drivers\network (probably /windows/C/drivers/network in Linux). It may be in a subdirectory, but will likely be a .inf file. You need to run ndiswrapper -i *.inf, replacing the * with the file name. Then you need to run ndiswrapper -m to write file to the configuration to the config directory. I'm assuming the driver will be in the same place regardless of the brand of the computer.
*Make sure you do this as root*

[swerdna]

It's nor necessary to compile anything. Use the Madwifi or Ndiswrapper RPMs. See this:
Madwifi or Ndiswrapper Wireless Network Drivers in a Suse/openSUSE 10.x SOHO LAN -- 32 Bit

Swerdna

[waterhead]

There is a good chance that the madwifi driver is automatically loading. To find out which driver your wireless needs we need to know the chipset of the card. run this command as root, and post the output.

# lspci

You can also look for the driver yourself at the madwifi web site
Compatibility - madwifi.org - Trac

It looks as if the driver you need is the ath_pci module. Enter this command to see if it is already loaded.

# lsmod

If not, try to load it.

# modprobe ath_pci

There are more complete instructions for this driver if you download the driver tar ball. You don't need to compile or install it just to read the files. You can get it from here:
SourceForge.net: Downloading ...

Unpack it with this command (not as root):

> tar xvfz madwifi-0.9.3.3.tar.gz

[Lordshooter]

It may not have anything to do with the driver.

It is not like installing a device to a OS.

Here, you are installing a new OS, and one of your features won't get recognized.

Maybe you would have to do some settings within your wifi configuration/settings.

I know it is often difficult to find, those wifi configurations, but it might be worth searching and having a close look at how it is configured.

It does not make much sense to me, following the driver issue.
You probably have got all you need already, and only have to do some little settings.

Kind regards,
Alexander

[arrow.69]

Thanks for all the quick replies

Ya I did try installing madwifi with the .rpm packages but it didn't work. Anyways, I'll try out all that stuff and let you know what happens

[arrow.69]

Hi

I tried running ndiswrapper -i *.inf, and got this error :

ndiswrapper : command not found

I guess that means ndiswrapper isn't installed

To waterhead : I tried all the commands you told me, this is what i got

lspci :

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)
08:09.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
08:09.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
08:09.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
08:09.3 Generic system peripheral [Class 0805]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

lsmod :

ip6t_LOG 23424 7
nf_conntrack_ipv6 38400 4
xt_pkttype 18688 3
ipt_LOG 23040 8
xt_limit 19840 15
snd_pcm_oss 67456 0
snd_mixer_oss 34176 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq 74992 0
snd_seq_device 25620 1 snd_seq
ip6t_REJECT 22272 3
xt_tcpudp 20096 4
ipt_REJECT 21504 3
xt_state 19328 8
iptable_mangle 19712 0
iptable_nat 24580 0
nf_nat 37420 1 iptable_nat
iptable_filter 19840 1
ip6table_mangle 19584 0
nf_conntrack_ipv4 28816 6 iptable_nat
cpufreq_conservative 24968 0
nf_conntrack 84188 5 nf_conntrack_ipv6,xt_state,iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_c onntrack_ipv4
cpufreq_userspace 23680 0
cpufreq_powersave 18560 0
nfnetlink 23224 4 nf_conntrack_ipv6,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conn track
acpi_cpufreq 28040 0
ip_tables 37848 3 iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter
ip6table_filter 19584 1
ip6_tables 31944 3 ip6t_LOG,ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter
x_tables 37000 11 ip6t_LOG,xt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,ip6t_REJECT,x t_tcpudp,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables ,ip6_tables
ipv6 372344 19 nf_conntrack_ipv6,ip6t_REJECT,ip6table_mangle
microcode 31256 0
apparmor 58672 0
fuse 62512 2
loop 36356 0
dm_mod 77152 0
pcmcia 58136 0
firmware_class 27520 2 microcode,pcmcia
joydev 27904 0
iTCO_wdt 28624 0
yenta_socket 43916 1
iTCO_vendor_support 20740 1 iTCO_wdt
rsrc_nonstatic 28288 1 yenta_socket
i2c_i801 25628 0
pcmcia_core 58660 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
i2c_core 43648 1 i2c_i801
sr_mod 33444 0
cdrom 52392 1 sr_mod
ohci1394 51272 0
tifm_7xx1 24960 0
rtc_cmos 25016 0
ieee1394 115800 1 ohci1394
tifm_core 28424 1 tifm_7xx1
rtc_core 38156 1 rtc_cmos
rtc_lib 19968 1 rtc_core
sdhci 34828 0
mmc_core 46856 1 sdhci
r8169 48392 0
serio_raw 24068 0
usbhid 58160 0
hid 43776 1 usbhid
ff_memless 22536 1 usbhid
snd_hda_intel 368804 4
snd_pcm 108680 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer 42632 3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 84984 13 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,s nd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer
container 22400 0
intel_agp 44064 1
soundcore 25360 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 27280 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
battery 28552 0
button 26400 0
ac 23048 0
sg 53304 0
ehci_hcd 50572 0
sd_mod 45824 4
uhci_hcd 42144 0
usbcore 155560 4 usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
edd 26760 0
ext3 156688 1
mbcache 26248 1 ext3
jbd 89192 1 ext3
fan 22792 0
ata_piix 37508 3
libata 164096 1 ata_piix
scsi_mod 176536 4 sr_mod,sg,sd_mod,libata
thermal 34576 0
processor 59592 2 acpi_cpufreq,thermal

when I tried modprobe ath_pci, i got this error code :

FATAL : Module ath_pci not found

and alexander, I did try configuring my wi-fi card in YaST. I configured it to connect to DHCP, operating mode : managed, put the right ESSID and WEP, and set it up to activate device at boot time. But it really doesn't seem to be installed.

I'm gonna retry installing madwifi and see what that does
thanks 4 ure help

[Lordshooter]

If you already had a wifi card, before you installed your new OS, than the configuration or whatever should already be installed as default installation of your previous OS.

Sorry: But it looks like a simple issue, and all the information you provide us, only does confuse me at the moment, so I do not read all in detail, I try to keep a distance, and overlook the basics of your problem.

Thank you.

Please enjoy your weekend, and don't get too tied up with your problem.


Cheers,

Alexander

[bigtomrodney]

You are running SUSE10.3, and have an Atheros chipset in your wireless device. The simplest way to go about running this is to :-

• Launch YaST
• Go to Community repositories and enable the MadWifi repository
• Go to Software Installation/Management
• Install madwifi and madwifi-kmp
• Launch the YaST Network module and enable your device, it should be seen now
• Make sure you choose the Network Manager option for managing your connectivity

At worst you may have to run the following as root before you go into the Network module of YaST

modprobe ath_pci