Wifi troubleshooting in 4.1alpha2

[tempestuous]

Barry is using an alternative firmware loading and associated module loading regime in 4.1. Apparently this has a bug in the startup script, so firmware will sometimes fail to load during boot up. Obviously this will be fixed in the next alpha or beta, but the solution in the meantime is to unload/reload the module, thus -

Code: Select all

rmmod <mywifimodule>
modprobe <mywifimodule>

Of more significant concern; Puppy 4.1 uses the new mac80211 wifi stack, and it seems that there are some "teething" problems with this new system.
Forum member fleamour reports that the p54pci module can establish an unencrypted wifi connection under 4.1alpha2, but fails with WEP encryption -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29313
If anyone has a successful WEP or WPA connection under 4.1alpha2 could you please post your "lsmod" output here.

[BarryK]

tempestuous,
as this new wifi stuff is under heavy development and still immature, I wonder if there are any significant improvements with the 2.6.26 kernel?

[JustGreg]

I am posting this using puppy 4.1 alpha2 with a WPA2 network connection.

Here is the lsmod output:

Code: Select all

Module                  Size  Used by
aes_generic            28712  2 
parport_pc             33092  1 
lp                     13444  0 
parport                37740  2 parport_pc,lp
snd_mixer_oss          17792  0 
arc4                    2944  2 
ecb                     4608  2 
crypto_blkcipher       20868  1 ecb
rt73usb                27904  0 
rt2x00usb              13440  1 rt73usb
rt2x00lib              24704  2 rt73usb,rt2x00usb
rfkill                  8212  1 rt2x00lib
input_polldev           5896  1 rt2x00lib
crc_itu_t               3072  1 rt2x00lib
mac80211              132364  2 rt2x00usb,rt2x00lib
cfg80211               19848  1 mac80211
serio_raw               7812  0 
pcspkr                  4224  0 
fan                     6404  0 
thermal                19740  0 
button                  9104  0 
processor              39052  1 thermal
snd_intel8x0           35100  0 
snd_ac97_codec        101668  1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus                2816  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm                78084  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer              24456  1 snd_pcm
snd                    59556  5 snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               8800  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         11400  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
i2c_i801               10896  0 
i2c_core               25620  1 i2c_i801
intel_agp              27708  1 
agpgart                35016  1 intel_agp
fuse                   50460  0 
unionfs                78180  1 
nls_iso8859_1           4992  0 
nls_cp437               6656  0 
usbhid                 31616  0 
usb_storage            87104  0 
ehci_hcd               35980  0 
uhci_hcd               25740  0 
usbcore               140272  7 rt73usb,rt2x00usb,usbhid,usb_storage,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
squashfs               48776  1 

This is what wpa_cli status outputs:

Code: Select all

elected interface 'wlan0'
bssid=00:1A:bf:84:c9:93
ssid=myssid
id=0
pairwise_cipher=CCMP
group_cipher=CCMP
key_mgmt=WPA2-PSK
wpa_state=COMPLETED
ip_address=192.168.1.101

I thought wpa_cli status would help. I hope this helps, tempestuous
I do have the bug where network wizard says it can not connect to wpa, then wireless test executes and says connection made.

[tempestuous]

Thanks JustGreg. I see that the aes_generic module is loaded, which is what I would expect for WPA encryption, but I thought that the crc32c module would also be required? But it seems that encryption is still a problem with certain drivers.

On the Developer Blog, 14 Jun 2008:

As wifi drivers in Linux are mostly immature, it may be that we should grab a more recent version than that provided with the 2.6.25.x kernel.

So to help troubleshoot the wifi encryption problems that various forum members are experiencing in 4.1alpha2 I have compiled these latest wifi drivers for the 2.6.25.4 kernel, now attached.

BIG FAT WARNING: These new drivers are for temporary testing until Puppy4.1alpha3 is released.
After installing this dotpet, unload the wifi driver in question plus all modules it depends on, because these will be the original modules which still exist in RAM.
Now reload your wifi driver, which now will be the new version.
Once you reboot, the whole process needs to be done again, because Puppy4.1alpha2 apparently restores some of its original modules from the initrd.

[tempestuous]

Barry, I got these updated wifi drivers from -
http://linuxwireless.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/
The souce code is called "compat-wireless-<date>.tar.bz2".
This source code includes both new mac80211 and old ieee80211 subsystems, plus all standard wifi device modules.
But one module which is missing is the ieee80211softmac, which is important for the old bcm43xx wifi module.
There are some interesting extras in the source code; there is a script which handles the choice between the conflicting bcm43xx and b43legacy modules, and a similar script to choose between ath5k and ath_pci modules.

Soon into the compilation I saw this warning -

Code: Select all

"WARNING: You are running a kernel >= 2.6.23, you should enable in it CONFIG_NETDEVICES_MULTIQUEUE CONFIG_NET_SCHED for 802.11[ne] support"

I looked at menuconfig to read the Help information. I don't understand the importance of these 2 settings, so I'm just passing this information on so you may consider it during the kernel configuration for the new 2.6.25.6 kernel.
In menuconfig "CONFIG_NETDEVICES_MULTIQUEUE" is found at:
Device Drivers > Network device support > Netdevice multiple hardware queue support

and "CONFIG_NET_SCHED" is found at:
Networking > Networking options > QoS and/or fair queueing

[tempestuous]

Oops, it appears that since Puppy (4.1alpha2) now restores its modules at each bootup from the initrd (??) it's difficult to overwrite the original modules with new versions.
If anyone can think of a way around this problem, please advise - because it's quite feasible in the future that people will want to install revised/modified modules.

[BarryK]

Oops, it appears that since Puppy (4.1alpha2) now restores its modules at each bootup from the initrd (??) it's difficult to overwrite the original modules with new versions.
If anyone can think of a way around this problem, please advise - because it's quite feasible in the future that people will want to install revised/modified modules.

No, 4.1alpha2 does not do that.
The modules are all in pup_402.sfs.
A small selection are in the initial ramdisk, and are moved to /lib/modules/2.6.25.4/initrd before the switch_root.

The original reasons for keeping a separate zdrv have somewhat disappeared. It was mostly when I was trying to shave off size of the pup_xxx.sfs to get it to loading into RAM on a 128MB system.
But now Puppy is too big for that anyway, so pup_xxx.sfs is not loaded into RAM on a 128MB system.

Puppy can be built with all the modules in the initrd, which will then have the problem that you have stated, which is one reason I have gone away from that idea.

Puppy can be built with a zdrv, but now I have it loading on the '/' unionfs layers before switch_root, so that is also ok for installng modules.

I'm only planning to release 4.1 puppies built with all modules in the pup_xxx.sfs, or a separate zdrv, so you won't have any problem with installing custom modules.

[tempestuous]

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm trying to help some forum members by "remote control" and I'm having to guess what's going wrong, without being able to test myself.
I now have a suspicion that these new wifi modules may be failing to load the modules they depend on.

[JustGreg]

I tried the new modules, specifically rt73usb. It failed to load properly. After removing the pet, the wifi did not work. I had to delete the save file and restart. Wifi work fine with a new save file. Here are the modules used and what dmesg reported:

Here is the order of the WIFI modules installed:
cfg80211
mac80211
crc_itu_t
input_polldev
rfkill
rt2x00lib
rt2x00usb
rt73usb Notified of error with modprobe rt73usb

These modules are needed for encryption but not modprobe due to rt73usb failure:
crypto_blkcipher
ecb
aes_generic

Below is the information from dmesg after rt73usb fail to install:

cfg80211: no version for "struct_module" found: kernel tainted.
mac80211: disagrees about version of symbol wiphy_register
mac80211: Unknown symbol wiphy_register
mac80211: disagrees about version of symbol wiphy_new
mac80211: Unknown symbol wiphy_new
mac80211: disagrees about version of symbol wiphy_unregister
mac80211: Unknown symbol wiphy_unregister
mac80211: disagrees about version of symbol wiphy_free
mac80211: Unknown symbol wiphy_free
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_register_hw
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_register_hw
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_tx_status_irqsafe
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_tx_status_irqsafe
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_ctstoself_get
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_ctstoself_get
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_start_queues
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_stop_queue
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_stop_queue
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_stop_queues
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_stop_queues
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_unregister_hw
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_unregister_hw
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_rts_get
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_rts_get
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_beacon_get
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_beacon_get
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_register_hwmode
rt2x00lib: disagrees about version of symbol ieee80211_rx_irqsafe
rt2x00lib: Unknown symbol ieee80211_rx_irqsafe
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_add_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_add_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_get_stats
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_get_stats
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_init_rxentry
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_init_rxentry
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_disable_radio
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_disable_radio
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_init_txentry
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_init_txentry
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request_buff
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request_buff
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00lib_get_ring
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_write_tx_data
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_write_tx_data
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_config_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_config_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_remove_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_remove_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_probe
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_probe
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_config
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_config
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00lib_write_tx_desc
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_suspend
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_suspend
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_conf_tx
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_conf_tx
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_start
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_start
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_stop
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_stop
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_disconnect
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_disconnect
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_tx
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_tx
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_req_buff_lock
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_req_buff_lock
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_get_tx_stats
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_get_tx_stats
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_resume
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_resume
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_uninitialize
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_uninitialize
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_initialize
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_initialize
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_bss_info_changed
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_bss_info_changed
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_add_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_add_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_get_stats
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_get_stats
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_init_rxentry
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_init_rxentry
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_disable_radio
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_disable_radio
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_init_txentry
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_init_txentry
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request_buff
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request_buff
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00lib_get_ring
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_write_tx_data
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_write_tx_data
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_config_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_config_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_remove_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_remove_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_probe
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_probe
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_config
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_config
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00lib_write_tx_desc
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_suspend
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_suspend
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_conf_tx
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_conf_tx
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_start
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_start
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_stop
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_stop
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_disconnect
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_disconnect
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_tx
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_tx
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_req_buff_lock
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_req_buff_lock
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_get_tx_stats
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_get_tx_stats
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_resume
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_resume
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_uninitialize
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_uninitialize
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_initialize
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_initialize
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_bss_info_changed
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_bss_info_changed
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_add_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_add_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_get_stats
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_get_stats
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_init_rxentry
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_init_rxentry
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_disable_radio
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_disable_radio
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_init_txentry
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_init_txentry
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request_buff
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request_buff
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00lib_get_ring
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_write_tx_data
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_write_tx_data
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_config_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_config_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_remove_interface
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_remove_interface
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_request
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_probe
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_probe
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_config
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_config
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00lib_write_tx_desc
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_suspend
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_suspend
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_conf_tx
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_conf_tx
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_start
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_start
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_stop
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_stop
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_disconnect
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_disconnect
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_tx
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_tx
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_req_buff_lock
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_vendor_req_buff_lock
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_get_tx_stats
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_get_tx_stats
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_resume
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_resume
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_uninitialize
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_uninitialize
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00usb_initialize
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00usb_initialize
rt73usb: disagrees about version of symbol rt2x00mac_bss_info_changed
rt73usb: Unknown symbol rt2x00mac_bss_info_changed
[/code]

[tempestuous]

JustGreg, the upgraded wifi modules (for Puppy4.1alpha2) fail to load the other modules they depend on.
The solution, as confirmed by forum member ohyes, is to unload/reload all modules in the correct sequence. In your case this would be -

Code: Select all

rmmod rt73usb
rmmod rt2x00usb
rmmod rt2x00lib
rmmod rfkill
rmmod crc-itu-t
rmmod input-polldev
rmmod mac80211
rmmod cfg80211
modprobe cfg80211
modprobe mac80211
modprobe input-polldev
modprobe crc-itu-t
modprobe rfkill
modprobe rt2x00lib
modprobe rt2x00usb
modprobe rt73usb

[JustGreg]

Tried again per tempestuous's instructions. It worked fine on the Classmate (first generation) and connected without problem to my WIFI WPA2 network. Later in the week, I will try with wpa, wep, and open encryption and report the results.

[rarsa]

I'll try this as this is the first version of Puppy that does not load the wireless drivers properly.

I even tried the rmmod/modprobe to no avail but I didn't try removing all related modules and reloading them.

I'm using a bcm43xx

[tempestuous]

With the 2.6.25.x kernel the bcm43xx module is deprecated in favour of the new b43 and b43legacy modules. Try those.

[wolfwatcher51]

I have tried the wizard for wireless connection, but no love.

I have read quite a bit, but am quite confused as to where to start. Wireless from the command line? Or?

If y'all would be so kind, could you first clear up some puppy 4 nomenclature, please.

I see that this dot pet is only for puppy 4.1alpha2. Is that the same as puppy 402? I am reasonably sure that that is what I am using.

Conky shows linux 2.6.25.4 on i686.

So, have I given you enough information to answer the question, or is there more needed? I also saw where some members were asked to run certain inputs in a terminal and post the results. I would be extremely willing to do whatever you say to get you the information we need to get this going.

If you could please list what I should run in the console and look up in files, etc, so that you can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Puppy network wizard said Eth0 is wireless ipw2200 pci intel PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 net driver.

I am using a Linksys wrt54g v2 wireless router with wpa2 and have changed to a broadcasted ssid. I am pretty sure the wrt54g v2 has a Broadcom BCM4712 chip. I have been and am using the linksys to hookup 3 wired and one wireless windoze boxes so they can get to the internet via my hughes net satellite isp.

The computer is an Acer TravelMate 8100, a couple of years old.

Thanks in advance, Chris.

[tempestuous]

The wifi modules from the 2.6.25.4 kernel have problems, especially with encryption.
You would be best to wait for the next release, which will probably have the 2.6.25.10 kernel.

[wolfwatcher51]

tempestuous,

Thank you for the honest and quick reply.

You are the expert, have helped many, and I will follow your advice and wait for the 2.6.25.10 kernel.

Do you happen to know what the release will be called so I can watch for it?

Any best guess on a realistic range of dates for the release target?

Have you been given an advanced version of puppy with the new kernel, so that you can/have done any testing?

Thanks for all your work; past, present, and future, Chris.

[tempestuous]

Since 4.1alpha2 there has been 4.1alpha3 and 4.1UniPup-alpha1. Keep your eye on the Developer Blog
http://puppylinux.com/blog/

[sue]

Barry posted 4.0.4 last night. iwl4965 works fine out of the box.
I use a script, not the GUIs.

[peterw]

I am not an expert on these things but thought that I should contribute an observation that might help the developers. I hope that this is the right place for me to post this comment.

With the latest alpha release (4.1.06), I have tried a PCMIA card with rt2500 chips, a usb r73 device and an internal atheros ar5005g device on puppy and none of them can connect with wpa. The wizard says the rt2500 does not support wpa. The rt73 allows an attempt at wpa but does not connect.

I know that the ralink drivers in the kernal have supported wpa since 2.6.24. Indeed, I find that the later distros with a KDE window such as Pardus, Mandriva and Kubuntu connect up via these devices with wpa but Ubuntu with Gnome does not. I find this puzzling and presume that they must have different network managers.

Hope this observation can help.

[tempestuous]

The wizard says the rt2500 does not support wpa.

Actually the rt2500 driver (the old "legacy" driver) does support WPA, but only via special iwpriv commands, not via the normal wpa_supplicant utility which the Network Wizard uses. So that message really means that the Wizard cannot be used to configure WPA with the rt2500 module.

But hold on a minute, Puppy 4.1alpha6 has the new rt2500pci driver, which has replaced the old rt2500 driver found in older kernels (pre 2.6.23) and older Puppy versions. You should not be seeing that error message in 4.1alpha6 because it does not contain the rt2500 module.
The rt2500pci module in 4.1alpha6 fully supports WPA via wpa_supplicant, so the Network Wizard should at least allow you to attempt a WPA connection.

We're getting sketchy and confusing reports about WPA connections with the 4.1alphas, and since your report refers to a module which shouldn't even exist in alpha6 I think it's wise to reserve comment about the RT73 and Atheros.