Need wifi help, following waterheads instructions

[mannshands]

Hi. I have a Vaio VGN-AR61M, running PCLinux, with WLAN IEEE 802.11a(so says the manual). I ran the commands suggested. Here is result of 'lspci -nn' and 'lsmod' and 'dmesg'...
Kernel ver 2.6.18.tex5

What is the next step?
THX

[waterhead]

Hello, and thank you for the detailed info.

When checking the network cards, I can't tell which is the wireless.

02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller [11ab:4363] (rev 13)
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:4229] (rev 61)

Your system doesn't even recognize one of the network cards. This is because your kernel is rather old, most likely older than the PC that it is installed on.

Kernel ver 2.6.18.tex5

I would first recommend using a newer kernel, and maybe even install a completely new and updated version of Linux. It may not make the wireless automatically work, but your hardware will at least be recognized.

If you must use what you got, you will most likely need to compile the drivers from source. There are some things you need to install before you can do this:

kernel source
kernel headers
gcc (linux c compiler)
make

You will also need to accurately identify the cards, so that you can download the drivers. More info on the network cards maybe can be found in the manufacturers specs.

EDIT: It seems that there may be a way to get your system to correctly identify the hardware. You can install an updated PCIID file. See this link for more info.

The PCI ID Repository

I my Fedora system, the pci.ids file is in the /usr/share/hwdata folder. Yours may be different.

[Charles4809]

The wireless card is the Intel one:

Device 8086:4229
Name: PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection

Don't know which chipset they are using.

[mannshands]

Now I'm lost. Dont know whats next! Can't locate a driver for Intel 4965 Card that OSLinux will recognize. Went and got the ndiswrapper that error message said i needed. Keep getting returned to "Firmware files needed".
I am wasting way too much valuable time on this.
CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE RECOMMEND A LINUX DIST THAT HAS A REASONABLE CHANCE OF wIFI WORKING!! SOLUTIONS LIKE BUYING A NEW EXTERNAL WIFI CARD dont seem reasonable. The forums are full of other folks with same probs. Tons of research and fiddling around with no clear solutions.
Thanks

[Charles4809]

Did you have a look at this site ?

If you don't feel up to create this driverset you'll have to look around for a distro that has kernel 2.6.24 or (better) higher.
Firmware means that your Wifi card needs some extra software that will not be installed inside your OS, but inside the chip on your card. If that is missing it cannot communicate with the driver in your OS.
The newest kernel right now that is used by the newest versions of several distro's is 2.6.28. In there the driver is integrated.
Have a look at distrowatch They are very informative about almost every Linux OS available.

[mannshands]

THX!!Gonna try Dreamlinux new build. Good info my friend!

[Sycolon]

Hi
thanks all !
I need help my wireless is Atheros AR5007EG
in a LG NoteBook R405 and i have the Mandriva Linux Free 2009
i need quick help
my email: alasca2009@yahoo.com OR @hotmail.com

[waterhead]

Hi
thanks all !
I need help my wireless is Atheros AR5007EG
in a LG NoteBook R405 and i have the Mandriva Linux Free 2009
i need quick help
my email: alasca2009@yahoo.com OR @hotmail.com

Please do not piggyback your help request on another thread. Especially when it is about a totally different brand of wireless. START A NEW THREAD!