Suse 10 wlan problem

[los-tejanos]

Hi ALL,

I've been unsuccessful at obtaining wlan connectivity.

Using YaST, no wlan network card is available from the Suse 10 card selection will permit a wireless connection. I have an HP Pavilion, zd8000. Searching the web led me to conclude that i needed to use ndiswrapper. As a linux newbie, i knew not what i was doing, but eventually downloaded, unzipped it, and even read some of the documentation on the ndiswrapper.sourceforge website.

I believe i'm using kernel 2.6.13 -15 within the /lib/modules/ directory. Also, within the /lib/modules/2.6.13-15-smp directory is a link (/usr/src/linux/2.6.13-15-obj/i386/smp).

On a different linux forum, directions were to execute a 'make uninstall', then 'make'. I did the former until no "removing" messages appear. However, when i execute the latter (within directory /ndiswrapper-1.32) i get the following:
make -C driver
make[1]: Entering directroy '/ndiswrapper-1.32/driver'
Cant find kernel build files in /lib/modules/2.6.13-15-smp/build;
give the path to kernel build directory with
KBUILD=<path> argument to make
make[1]: ***[prereq_check] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory ' /ndiswrapper-1.32/driver'
make: *** [all] Error 2

Can someone help?

signed,

clueless in San Antonio

[AlexK]

Install the kernel sources. Also, instead of compiling from source, you can use the ndiswrapper package provided on the SUSE install media.

[los-tejanos]

I guess i should have stated that i'm a linux nu-bee (see, i cant even spell it correctly). Anyway, after much trial and error (several hours of aggravation) and reading the posts to evilamigo's post, i have the following to report:

ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2
forcing parameter IBSSGMode from 0 to 2

ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 driver installed

ndiswrapper -m
module configuration already contains alias directive

modprobe ndiswrapper
FATAL could not open '/lib/modules/2.6.13-15-smp/extra/ndiswrapper.ko' : No such file or directory

Can someone tell me how to proceed from here? Thanks!

[Oxygen]

You're doing a modprobe for no reason. "ndiswrapper -l" says driver installed but does not say hardware present. Where did you get the .inf file from?

[los-tejanos]

I cant find the website now, but it took a while to locate a site that had the bcmwl5.inf file. My notebook (within the Windows environment) only has the .sys file.

[los-tejanos]

Finally used my head and viewed my browser history.

I found the bcmwl5.inf file. via a zip file from within this site http://www.overclock.net/faqs/106021...802-11b-g.html (ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/note...iver/802bg.zip)

What was strange (at least for novice) was that when i unzipped the file from /ndiswrapper directory, the extraccted files from 802bg.zip ended up in my /windows directory. Why?

Another thread from a different forum indicated that my problem is the lack of the ndiswrapper.ko file in the correct directory. I searched my sysstem and couldnt' find it. Any ideas on where to go from here?

FYI, I downloaded the ndiswrapper-1.32.tar file from http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndiswrapper.

[Oxygen]

Is there not a .inf file on the CD?

[AlexK]

Also remember you need to have more than just the inf file present, there may be *.sys or other such files which are required by ndiswrapper. I think the best place to get the driver would be directly from Broadcom's site.

[los-tejanos]

To recap:
I downloaded ndiswrapper from the sourceforge website when i initially started this effort. I think i've followed the steps advised.

The ftp site i referenced provided the zip file containing both .sys and .inf files. I think i'm good in this area.

The problem: The lack of ndiswrapper.ko in the /lib directory is now the challenge, not the .sys and .inf file.

I've read that maybe the ndiswrapper driver kernel module is the problem. Any ideas on how else i can get the ndiswrapper.ko file?

Thanks again all.

[Oxygen]

Also remember you need to have more than just the inf file present, there may be *.sys or other such files which are required by ndiswrapper. I think the best place to get the driver would be directly from Broadcom's site.

No, ndiswrapper throws a hissy fit about that when you run "nidswrapper -i /path/to/file.inf" not when doing modprobe.

The problem is you've got the wrong .inf file, ndiswrapper DOESN'T SAY HARDWARE PRESENT. This is what my ndiswrapper says.

root@lightside:~# ndiswrapper -l
Installed drivers:
bcmwl5          driver installed, hardware present

Get the .inf file and .sys file from the driver CD.