[SOLVED] openSUSE USB wireless

[blnl]

Hello, I have installed openSUSE 11.0 on my desktop computer, but I'm struggling with my wireless configuration. I'm relatively new to Linux and I would appreciate some expert help.
My hardware description:

MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU mainboard
AMD Athlon 1.4GHz processor
SpeedTouch 120 USB wireless adapter

So far I have tried to configure ndiswrapper to use Windows drivers, but without success (see Need help with ndiswrapper! - openSUSE Forums)

In the meantime I have found orinoco_usb driver, which works for my wireless adapter. To install the orinoco_usb driver I have followed the installation steps as described here: Lucid Tips Wireless using W200 on openSUSE 11.0
I can connect to wireless and everything works fine, but for a limited time. Actually, each time I'm online my system freezes within 5 minutes.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

My system gets installed with PAE kernel. At first I always changed to DEFAULT kernel (which is also installed on my notebook) after installation, but now I stick to PAE kernel. Anyway, I didn't notice any difference in the system stability related to the kernel type.
Which kernel type should I use to improve wireless stability?
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

A part of the installation steps concerns the kernel configuration.
This is the procedure that I followed as described in Lucid Tips Wireless using W200 on openSUSE 11.0

cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/
su
(root password)
cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
make oldconfig
make prepare

Still the developer (Linux driver for Lucent/Agere ORiNOCO USB devices) of the orinoco_usb suggests the following steps to configure the kernel:

$ cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/
$ rm build
$ ln -s source build
$ cd build/
$ su
(root password)
$ make mrproper
$ make cloneconfig
$ make prepare-all

Important: You must change

make prepare-all

to

make prepare scripts

Since I have no clue what these steps are actually doing I would appreciate if someone can explain these procedures so I can make some choices here.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

I suppose that these two procedures prepare totally different kernel source since the built link is changed.

This is the content of the /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ folder

lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     40 2008-06-11 05:54 build -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root   4096 2008-06-11 05:54 kernel
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 396878 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.alias
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     69 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.ccwmap
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 421347 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.dep
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    813 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.ieee1394map
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    375 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.inputmap
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  22378 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.isapnpmap
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     74 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.ofmap
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 303857 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.pcimap
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   1177 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.seriomap
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 173824 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  33411 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.unsupported.blacklist
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 480201 2008-06-11 06:05 modules.usbmap
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     27 2008-06-11 07:25 source -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

So far I have tried both procedures and the result is following:
The first procedure gets my wireless working. The green led is on. I can connect to the Internet, but my system freezes within 5 minutes.
The second procedure also gets my wireless working. The green led is on. The card detects several wireless broadcast signals in the neighborhood, but I can't connect to my wireless modem (it keeps trying). The system does not freeze.

At this time I can only try some combinations of both procedures hoping to get lucky but at some point make prepare keeps reporting an error and I get stuck.
Since I don't know how to undo the previous steps, I always have to reinstall Linux.
Is there a way to cleans the result of make oldconfig/mrproper/cloneconfig/prepare so I can start from fresh?
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Can someone help me debug this problem?

Thanks in advance!

[waterhead]

Before anyone can even attempt to help, you must supply system and device details. Read this post (that you should have read first) and give us the details it asks for.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/wir...tart-here.html

[blnl]

Hello Paul, thank you for the suggestion.
You are right I should give more information.

I have reinstalled my system, and I'm going to install orinoco_usb again.
This text describes the complete installation procedure:

First I'll give the snapshot of the situation before the orinoco_usb driver is installed.
The output of lsusb, lspci, lsmod, dmesg and uname can be found here: orinoco_usb/procedure1/clean_system
My wireless adapter is USB device and it is listed in the lsusb output.

Now I'm going to install required packages from the openSUSE 11.0 DVD.
cpp43, curl, gcc, kernel-source, linux-kernel-headers, make, subversion
The release details of the installed packages can be found here: zypper_output.txt

Now I'm going to configure the kernel as follows:

boris@linux-396d:~> cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/
boris@linux-396d:/lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/build> su
Password: 
linux-396d:/lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/build # cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
linux-396d:/lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/build # make oldconfig > make_oldconfig_output.log
scripts/kconfig/lex.zconf.c:1647: warning: ‘input’ defined but not used
linux-396d:/lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/build # make prepare > make_prepare_output.log

make_oldconfig_output.log
make_prepare_output.log

Now I'm going to install orinoco_usb driver as follows:

linux-396d:/lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/build # exit
exit
boris@linux-396d:/lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/build> cd /home/boris/Software/orinoco/
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco> tar -zxf orinoco.tar.gz 
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco> cd orinoco/branches/usb/
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb> make > make_output.log
In file included from /home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.c:90:
/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.h: In function ‘orinoco_spin_unlock’:
/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.h:188: warning: ‘__raw_spin_unlock’ is static but used in inline function ‘orinoco_spin_unlock’ which is not static
/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.h:188: warning: ‘raw_local_irq_enable’ is static but used in inline function ‘orinoco_spin_unlock’ which is not static
In file included from /home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco_usb.c:70:
/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.h: In function ‘orinoco_spin_unlock’:
/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.h:188: warning: ‘__raw_spin_unlock’ is static but used in inline function ‘orinoco_spin_unlock’ which is not static
/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.h:188: warning: ‘raw_local_irq_enable’ is static but used in inline function ‘orinoco_spin_unlock’ which is not static
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb> sudo make install
root's password:
make -C /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae M=/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb KERNELRELEASE=2.6.25.5-1.1-pae modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae'
make -C /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae/. modules
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 2 modules
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae'
make -C /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae M=/home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb KERNELRELEASE=2.6.25.5-1.1-pae modules_install \
		INSTALL_MOD_DIR=kernel/drivers/net/wireless
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae'
make -C /usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1 O=/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae/. modules_install
  INSTALL /home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco.ko
  INSTALL /home/boris/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb/orinoco_usb.ko
  DEPMOD  2.6.25.5-1.1-pae
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.25.5-1.1-obj/i386/pae'
/sbin/depmod -ae
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb>

make_output.log

Now I'm going to copy firmware (which is already downloaded) to appropriate location:

boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco/orinoco/branches/usb> cd ../../..
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco> sudo cp orinoco_ezusb_fw /lib/firmware
root's password:
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco>

Now I'm load driver into the kernel:

boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco> sudo /sbin/modprobe -v orinoco_usb
root's password:
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/orinoco.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/kernel/drivers/base/firmware_class.ko 
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.25.5-1.1-pae/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/orinoco_usb.ko 
boris@linux-396d:~/Software/orinoco>

My wireless led is on.

Now I'm going to configure my wireless card in (the screenshots reflect my current settings)
1. Start Control Center -> Network Settings
Network_Settings-YaST-1.png
Network_Settings-YaST-2.png
Network_Settings-YaST-3.png
Network_Settings-YaST-4.png
2. In the Overview tab select "Wireless USB Card" and click the "Edit" button
Network_Card_Setup-YaST-1.png
Network_Card_Setup-YaST-2.png
Network_Card_Setup-YaST-3.png
3. Click on "Next" button
Wireless_Network_Card_Configuration-YaST.png
4. Click "Next" button
Network_Settings-YaST-5.png
5. Click "Finish" button

Now I'm connected to Internet but can't open Firefox (or any other application).
I'm going to reboot to see if it gets better. (The system does not shut down. I have to press the power button.)

After reboot wireless gets connected automatically.




I manage to start Firefox and surf a few pages. Then the system freezes.
After reboot the same repeats, again and again. Wireless gets connected and a few minutes later system freezes. When I prevent wireless to connect the system does not freeze.

I have made the snapshot of the current situation (after the orinoco_usb driver is installed).
The output of lsusb, lspci, lsmod, dmesg and uname can be found here: orinoco_usb/procedure1/orinoco_usb_installed

Please help me! I have no clue what is happening here,
(I'll also try to document the other procedure with different kernel configure steps.)

Thanks,

Boris

[waterhead]

I'm not too sure that I can be of much help, but here's some things that I noticed.

First, the errors in the compile . They may not be important, but who knows. I don't kn ow how you got your source files. But I got a tarball fron the CVS /branches/usb folder. The tarball link is at the bottom.

SourceForge.net Repository - [orinoco] Index of /branches/usb

When I look for the source of the error in the orinoco.c file, I cannot find any _raw_spin_unlock statement. It's not in my orinoco_usb file either.

The other thing is the firmware virsion. dmesg repots that you are using Lucent/Agere 8.10. The only reference that I have is for PCMCIA cards, but it says to use at least version 9.42:
orinoco - Linux Wireless

There is a lack of information regarding the USB driver, even in the driver README files. I hope that I provided some help.

[blnl]

Thanks, I'll download the tarball from the link that you gave and give it a try.

I found my tarball at http://orinoco.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/orinoco.tar.gz
There is also another source that I know: https://orinoco.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/orinoco/
These two seem to be identical!

I don't understand the firmware part. Is this firmware hardware related or are you referring to the orinoco_ezusb_fw file?

This is also puzzling for me. On the web I found two procedures to configure the kernel.
This one I just did:

cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/
$ su
(root password)
$ cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
$ make oldconfig
$ make prepare

The other one goes as follows:

$ cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/
$ rm build
$ ln -s source build
$ cd build/
$ su
(root password)
$ make mrproper
$ make cloneconfig
$ make prepare-all

Important: You must change 
$ make prepare-all
to 
$ make prepare scripts

Do you know what the essential difference between these two is?
Or is this maybe showing two different ways for doing exactly the same thing?

[blnl]

Maybe another clue can be found in /var/log/messages log_messages.log
(please don't mind the dates, it is not set correctly)

I notice the following pattern

Jun 12 11:58:35 linux-396d avahi-daemon[2305]: Registering new address record for 10.0.0.252 on eth1.IPv4.
Jun 12 11:58:35 linux-396d dhclient: bound to 10.0.0.252 -- renewal in 1584 seconds.
Jun 12 11:58:36 linux-396d nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/autofs' exited with error status 1.
Jun 12 11:58:36 linux-396d if-up.d/21-dhcpcd-hook-samba: No dhcpcd info nor dhclient leases file found for eth1.
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d kernel: eth1: no IPv6 routers present
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: Setting up rules from /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 ...
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: using default zone 'ext' for interface eth0
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: batch committing...
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: Firewall rules successfully set
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/nfs' exited with error status 2.
Jun 12 11:58:38 linux-396d nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/smbfs' exited with error status 6.

that repeats several times in the log file and it's always followed by this log entry

Jun 12 12:03:34 linux-396d syslog-ng[1713]: syslog-ng version 1.6.12 starting

indicating that the system is booting again.

I believe that nm-dispatcher.action's are probably causing the problem (or somehow related to the problem).
Do you know what's the meaning of these nm-dispatcher.action errors?

[waterhead]

I don't understand the firmware part. Is this firmware hardware related or are you referring to the orinoco_ezusb_fw file?

The firmware is what usually sets the cards parameters.Things such as frequencies used and signal strength. In the USA it is mandated that this cannot be changed by the end user, that is why it is a binary file.

According to my Linux Wireless link, the firmware is renamed after you download it. If you have a working WinXP driver, you can actually extract the firmware from it.

This is also puzzling for me. On the web I found two procedures to configure the kernel.
This one I just did:

cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/
$ su
(root password)
$ cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
$ make oldconfig
$ make prepare

The other one goes as follows:

$ cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/
$ rm build
$ ln -s source build
$ cd build/
$ su
(root password)
$ make mrproper
$ make cloneconfig
$ make prepare-all

Important: You must change 
$ make prepare-all
to 
$ make prepare scripts

Do you know what the essential difference between these two is?
Or is this maybe showing two different ways for doing exactly the same thing?

Those look like commands to prepare the kernel modules before re-compiling the kernel. Most wireless drivers are compiled as kernel modules, and don't require a full kernel compile.

Maybe another clue can be found in /var/log/messages log_messages.log
(please don't mind the dates, it is not set correctly)

I notice the following pattern

Jun 12 11:58:35 linux-396d avahi-daemon[2305]: Registering new address record for 10.0.0.252 on eth1.IPv4.
Jun 12 11:58:35 linux-396d dhclient: bound to 10.0.0.252 -- renewal in 1584 seconds.
Jun 12 11:58:36 linux-396d nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/autofs' exited with error status 1.
Jun 12 11:58:36 linux-396d if-up.d/21-dhcpcd-hook-samba: No dhcpcd info nor dhclient leases file found for eth1.
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d kernel: eth1: no IPv6 routers present
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: Setting up rules from /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 ...
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: using default zone 'ext' for interface eth0
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: batch committing...
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d SuSEfirewall2: Firewall rules successfully set
Jun 12 11:58:37 linux-396d nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/nfs' exited with error status 2.
Jun 12 11:58:38 linux-396d nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/smbfs' exited with error status 6.

that repeats several times in the log file and it's always followed by this log entry

Jun 12 12:03:34 linux-396d syslog-ng[1713]: syslog-ng version 1.6.12 starting

indicating that the system is booting again.

I believe that nm-dispatcher.action's are probably causing the problem (or somehow related to the problem).
Do you know what's the meaning of these nm-dispatcher.action errors?

Disable the firewall!
If you are behind a router, you really don't need it. If this is a laptop that you will connect to possibly un-secure networks with. Then don't share any files or folders.

[waterhead]

There is one message that I found in your log files:

eth1: Lucent/Agere firmware doesn't support manual roaming

This may be why it doesn't "see" any available networks. Try manually connecting, by using NetworkManager, and selecting "Create New wireless Network".

[blnl]

Hi Paul, Thanks for the help!

I have looked at the /var/log/messages on my notebook, where I'm also running openSUSE 11.0. There I see the same messages

nm-dispatcher.action: Script '/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/*' exited with error status *.

but the notebook never freezes. So, I conclude that this is not an issue. Something else is causing my desktop to freeze and that is not being logged.

I'll have to figure out how to extract the firmware from the windows driver.

Unfortunately, I can't do much now since the dog ate the keyboard cable. So I have to fix that first.

[blnl]

The problem is solved.

Buying a new wireless adapter helped.
I have chosen for D-Link DWL-G510 AirPlus G PCI adapter.
It works ‏out of the box with OpenSUSE 11.1.