Netgear WG511 and Puppy4 (solved)

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ieee488
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Joined: Mon 03 Sep 2007, 23:11

Netgear WG511 and Puppy4 (solved)

#1 Post by ieee488 »

prism54 module is loaded, but the card isn't even powered.

cartctl shows no cards in either PCMCIA slot.
Last edited by ieee488 on Sat 02 Aug 2008, 14:10, edited 2 times in total.

tempestuous
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#2 Post by tempestuous »

Try resetting the Cardbus interface, as explained here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1707#31707

ieee488
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#3 Post by ieee488 »

This morning the card is being recognized by cardctl, but still not seeing any networks whatsoever when I use the Network wizard to do a scan.

tempestuous
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#4 Post by tempestuous »

There are 3 forum members all with prism54 problems in Puppy4 at the same time. Spooky!
First I would reload the prism54 module, just in case it loaded incorrectly during boot up.

Code: Select all

rmmod prism54
modprobe prism54
Now run this command to see if the prism54 module has successfully created a network interface

Code: Select all

ifconfig -a
If you already have a LAN interface, the wifi interface is likely to be "eth1". If you see eth1, the problem may simply be that the interface needs to be brought up before running the Network Wizard, so do this -

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ifconfig eth1 up
But if you don't see a wifi interface listed, run dmesg to check to see how the prism54 module loaded. Look especially for messages relating to firmware.
Also check to see if the prism54 firmware is in place in /lib/firmware
These are the 3 firmware files that should be there -
isl3877
isl3880 (symlink)
isl3890

ieee488
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#5 Post by ieee488 »

I was able to get the card working by using ndiswrapper.
Yay!

Why prism54 module will not work -->
per http://linux-wless.passys.nl/language/l ... nglish.php, it appears that there are 2 versions of the WG511 v1 cards not to be confused with the fact that there are WG511 v2 cards as well. These WG511 v1 cards actually only say WG511 and the antenna plastic is white not black. Anyhow, the two versions of the WG511 v1 cards are those made in China and those made in Taiwan. Apparently, those made in China will not work with prism54 module. The relevant section in the linked webpage to read is PrismGT chipset.

tempestuous
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#6 Post by tempestuous »

Yes, there are different variants of the same model number with different chipsets. This is a common situation.
You have the Marvell-based version of the WG511 v1.
ieee488 wrote:prism54 module is loaded, but the card isn't even powered.
Your original post does not explain why the prism54 module was loaded, but we now know that Puppy would not have loaded this module automatically ... because the pci id would not match.
Clearly you attempted to load this module, yourself.
I caution everyone not to assume what driver will work, unless you know the exact variant of your wifi device, or the exact pci id.

I see that forum member Unicav is in a similar situation, and it's likewise unclear whether prism54 is correct in his case.

Hopefully the information I explained above is still relevant to forum member mpierrat25's SMC2835W.

ieee488
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#7 Post by ieee488 »

No, my card does not have Marvell chipset.

According to http://daemonizer.de/prism54/wg511/, I have WG511 v3 (3rd one down from the top) except mine is made in China.

Puppy recognized it and loaded prism54. I wasn't the one to do it. But because it was a "softmac" limited firmware in the card itself versus "fullmac", it does not work with prism54.

I hope this helps those with the WG511 card.

tempestuous
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#8 Post by tempestuous »

I was basing my information on the "v1" in the thread title.
You may be happy to know that Puppy 4.1 will have a native Linux driver for the Prism54-softmac devices. The new driver is called "p54pci" and Puppy 4.1(alpha) contains the correct firmware for it.

ieee488
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#9 Post by ieee488 »

I used v1 to differentiate the WG511 card (white plastic) I have from the WG511v2 card (black plastic).

The proper designation is probably WG511v1 v3.

Is that crazy or what?

Anyway, I look forward to trying out Puppy 4.1 when it comes out.
Thanks for your help. I learned alot.

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Terryphi
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#10 Post by Terryphi »

I am trying to get a WG511 version 3 (China) working on eth1. I have pointed ndiswrapper to the Windows Netgear driver (netwg511.inf) but the network wizard shows prism54 associated with eth1, probably because Puppy tried it first.

How can I unload prism54 and stop it loading on boot?
Last edited by Terryphi on Fri 01 Aug 2008, 06:40, edited 1 time in total.

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#11 Post by Terryphi »

Here is a bit more info in case it is relevant. I have got a WG111 working on wlan0 and its driver is also linked with ndiswrapper.

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ndiswrapper -l
netwg111 : driver installed
netwg511 : driver installed
               device (1260:3890) present (alternate driver : prism54)
iwconfig produces this response:

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 iwconfig
eth1 NOT READY!
ifconfig eth1 up produces this response:

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 ifconfig eth1 up
ifconfig : SIOCSIFFLAGS : Timer expired

ieee488
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#12 Post by ieee488 »

I was seeing that message too.

Search on this message board for 'blacklist' module.

Also, what files are in your /lib/firmware/ directory?

Also, try dmesg command.

I tried all sorts of things and gave up. Then tried the ndiswrapper a few days later, so my memory is a bit hazy.

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#13 Post by Terryphi »

Thanks for the pointers, ieeee488.

I have found the thread on how to blacklist a module here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 35&t=31883

I will also look at your other suggestions when I have time. I have the WG111 working OK but I don't like being defeated by the WG511!

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#14 Post by Terryphi »

I did this:

Open /etc/modprobe.conf and enter:

alias prism54 off

save and reboot.

The WG511 then flashes its lights at bootup and the network connection icon appears on the desktop. However, my browser connects only briefly to a web page and then the connection becomes inactive. The network connection freezes, but still identifies itself as having a signal and being connected. When I do dmesg it appears that there is a problem with process ntos-wq/0. After a lot of code I see:

Code: Select all

 note: ntos_wq/0[3323] exited with preempt_count 3
A Google search suggests that this a widespread problem reported in other distros including Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/136814
There has been discussion whether this is a ndiswrapper bug or a Linux kernel bug. Either way this is unlikely to work until the bug is fixed in a later version.

I have gone back to using the WG111 for now as it works perfectly. However, I would like to get the WG511 working because it is WPA capable and the WG111 is not.
Last edited by Terryphi on Sun 03 Aug 2008, 17:12, edited 2 times in total.

ieee488
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#15 Post by ieee488 »

Network connection icon on the desktop? I don't have that.
Which version of Puppy are you using? I am using Puppy 4.

I don't use any encryption so hopefully someone else can assist.

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Terryphi
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#16 Post by Terryphi »

ieee488 wrote:Network connection icon on the desktop? I don't have that.
Which version of Puppy are you using? I am using Puppy 4.

I don't use any encryption so hopefully someone else can assist.
Yes, Puppy 4. I mean the 2 monitor icon in the bottom bar. (App called Blinky?)

ieee488
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#17 Post by ieee488 »

Ah, Blinky...

You might want to post a separate thread about getting WPA to work, because it does sound like you are connecting, but your router is kicking you off.

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#18 Post by tempestuous »

Terryphi wrote:I have found the thread on how to blacklist a module here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 35&t=31883
There is now a better way to tell Puppy to use one module instead of another; by modifying /etc/rc.d/MODULESCONFIG
http://puppylinux.com/blog/?page=10

But I wouldn't bother struggling with ndiswrapper, your best bet is the new p54pci module in Puppy 4.1alpha5
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... 4.1alpha5/

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#19 Post by Terryphi »

Thanks for the advice, tempestuous. I'll give it a try when I have time.

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#20 Post by Terryphi »

tempestuous wrote: But I wouldn't bother struggling with ndiswrapper, your best bet is the new p54pci module in Puppy 4.1alpha5
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... 4.1alpha5/
Puppy 4.1alpha5 with p54pci is no better.( I used the IDE kernel version as I thought that was probably best for my system.)

I'll stick with the WG111 which does work very well with ndiswrapper.

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