Is the Puppy 5.2 kernel configured to use kdump?

Under development: PCMCIA, wireless, etc.
Post Reply
Message
Author
retfar
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon 21 Feb 2011, 06:22

Is the Puppy 5.2 kernel configured to use kdump?

#1 Post by retfar »

Hi
I am using ndiswrapper for my gemtek wl383f mini usb, the prismusb.sys and the oem#.inf don't play nice with puppy 5.2. I can use the card for a while using xchat
and ppm will download and install, after 30 min or less on irc the system crashes.
when a browser (any) crashes immediately or 30 secs later.
Now my question is the generic kernel configured to use the utility kdump,if not are the
kernel source in quickpet have the same configuration as the generic kernel?
All I have is a 2GB flashdrive to run this weird laptop and 607 MB memory. If i can get
a dump file to analyze I might be able to fix the windows drivers.
I did notice a ldlinuxdbg.sys file when I partition the flashdrive to ext3 (did not boot) so now it's fat16. I don't see that file on the flashdrive or cd. I am puzzled about that.
Was not sure where to post this, sorry if in the wrong place.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#2 Post by tempestuous »

retfar wrote:I am using ndiswrapper for my gemtek wl383f mini usb, the prismusb.sys and the oem#.inf don't play nice with puppy 5.2.
No surprise there. ndiswrapper is, and always has been, kludgey software on the ragged edge of reliability.

Your WL-383F wifi device is almost certainly supported by the Linux prism2_usb driver already contained in Puppy 5.1/5.2. Is there some problem with using this driver? If so, it would be far more helpful to the Linux community to debug the proper Linux driver, rather than ndiswrapper.

retfar
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon 21 Feb 2011, 06:22

#3 Post by retfar »

Tempestuous
The prism2_usb.ko is from the staging it apparently has the p80211 built in. the prism2 module uses the mac hfa384x, my card uses mac hfa 3873, this could be the problem i don't know. The present prism2 module won't init the card.
The wlan-ng scripts that come with puppy 5.2 call for modpobe p80211 which there is no p80211 module built for this kernel failure results. The wlanctl-ng commands won't init the card neither. Searched many times and did not find a solution for this therefore
the ndiswrapper has been my next step.
If I can debug the crash I (might) have a chance, that's why I asked about kdump being configed in the puppys' generic kernel. I don't think I can compile a new kernel on this systems resources.
Thank you for your interest.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#4 Post by tempestuous »

retfar wrote:The wlan-ng scripts that come with puppy 5.2 call for modpobe p80211 which there is no p80211 module built for this kernel failure results.
Ah yes, that's a problem. I have an old prism2_usb device, myself, sitting in a drawer. I will pull it out and investigate. This device was working fine in older versions of Puppy.
Since the prism2_usb driver has been included in the official kernel there are probably some changes necessary.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#5 Post by tempestuous »

retfar, I just tested my old prism2_usb device (D-Link DWL-122) in Puppy 5.1, and it works fine.
retfar wrote:The wlan-ng scripts that come with puppy 5.2 call for modpobe p80211
No, the relevant script is /usr/sbin/wag-profiles.sh and it doesn't contain any reference to that old module, but you may, indeed, be getting some error message relating to "p80211".

I suggest some troubleshooting using the basic connection commands:
first disable all encryption at your wifi router, to make sure that encryption is not complicating matters. Now we can try to connect to your router with these commands (I assume the prism2_usb module is already loaded)

Code: Select all

wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
It's very important that the output you see following this command includes "resultcode=success".
If not, see part 2.
If so, proceed to connect to your wifi access point with -

Code: Select all

wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=<YOUR-SSID> authtype=opensystem
Obviously replace "<YOUR-SSID>" with your access point's SSID.
If this all looks OK, finish by obtaining a DHCP address -

Code: Select all

rm /etc/dhcpc/*.pid
dhcpcd wlan0
Part 2
If the interface fails to be brought up with "resultcode=failure", it may be necessary to do a reset as the driver loads. So unload/reload the driver like this

Code: Select all

rmmod prism2_usb
modprobe prism2_usb prism2_doreset=1
then continue with the other commands.

retfar
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon 21 Feb 2011, 06:22

#6 Post by retfar »

Tempestuous
Hi again thanks for going threw the trouble of digging out your usb adapter.
wlan-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate= enable, implementation failure. I have had this problem for years on a variety of distros , it worked once on ubuntu 4.x after compiling a kernel that the wlan-ng latest version which kernel it was tested on,that was 8 years ago
could not compile wlan-ng on later kernels without numerous errors.Since they put it in staging I gave up on it always a implementation failure,whit out it getig a mac address one can not do anythig with it.
The ndiswrapper at lest brought up the card it crashes after I open a browser it does not matter which one I can at least run a irc client for awhile :).
I found the .conf file for the kernel in /etc/modules,kexec is not set so I have to recompile it to use kdump:(. Oh well.
I thank your for your time and effort.
PS wag-profiles.sh from the term gave me an endless loop ERROR **: gtkdiaglog: Error in line 6, near token "</label>": syntax error aborting...

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#7 Post by tempestuous »

I was hoping, for your sake, that the "prism2_doreset=1" module option would be the "magic" that gets your device initialised.
Did you try it?

Alternative solution: go back to a Puppy version for which the old third-party (linux-wlan-ng) driver was available (and included) - Puppy ver 4.1.2

Or ... buy yourself a new wifi adaptor?

retfar
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon 21 Feb 2011, 06:22

#8 Post by retfar »

Tempestuous

Hi
Problem solved with a Actiontec driver .aeiwlnic.inf , aeiwlusb.sys. :D
Two weeks of going threw like 20 drivers finding that many was a chore but worth it.
thanks again for your help and tenacity.

tempestuous
Posts: 5464
Joined: Fri 10 Jun 2005, 05:12
Location: Australia

#9 Post by tempestuous »

That's good, but any time a Windows driver is used in Linux, it's no true solution, just a workaround.

And we still don't know whether you tried loading the prism2_usb Linux driver with the "prism2_doreset=1" option.
This might make a world of difference.

If still no success, then ask the kernel developers to fix the Linux driver. The contact person for the prism2_usb driver is Greg Kroah-Hartman
greg at kroah dot com

retfar
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon 21 Feb 2011, 06:22

#10 Post by retfar »

Tempestuous
And we still don't know whether you tried loading the prism2_usb Linux driver with the "prism2_doreset=1
My previous post stated that I had experience in this matter.
If still no success, then ask the kernel developers to fix the Linux driver. The contact person for the prism2_usb driver is Greg Kroah-Hartman
This is a low priority for of the developers .

Post Reply