Pls help newb with setting up wireless for WN511TA

[taytong888]

Hi,
Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 P3 laptop with dual boot XP Pro-Karmic Ubuntu. Wireless N is fine under Windows with Netgear WN-511TA PCMCIA card. I recently used the graphical method to install ndiswrapper and the Windows driver into Karmic Ubuntu. The window shows the hardware is present (NMW14X: yes), implying that the INF file is installed. I even blacklisted the Orinoco driver of the existing Orinoco wireless B card in my laptop. However when I click on the button to configure network the screen says it cannot find a network to configure. When I try to connect wirelessly via Network Manager, I cannot see WPA2 Personal passphrase, only WEP and other authentications. Oh by the way, the card lits up under ACT (not LNK) but I still cannot connect wirelessly.

Up until last year, I used madwifi driver to connect a DLink WNA-2330 PCMCIA card and everything was fine. I just used Synaptic Manager to remove "madwifi tools" which is the only term I can find under "Search".

Here's what the terminal shows after I enter iwconfig:

~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s Sensitivity=-200 dBm
RTS thr=2346 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Power Managementff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"" Nickname:"HERMES I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: None
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s Sensitivity:1/3
Retry limit:4 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=0/92 Signal level=-122 dBm Noise level=-122 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:10 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

How do I get rid of eth1 (legacy Orinoco wireless B) and wlan0 (legacy DLink WNA-2330 wireless G) and replace them with the Netgear driver for wireless N?

Could you help me set up wireless connection? Thank you.

[taytong888]

Additional info:
~$ iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID: off/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s Sensitivity=-200 dBm
RTS thr=2346 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Power Management: off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82815 815 Chipset Host Bridge and Memory Controller Hub (rev 11)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82815 815 Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 11)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801BAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801BAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/XP (rev 63)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM/CA/CAM Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
02:0c.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)
02:0d.0 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 31)
02:0d.1 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 31)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88W8361 [TopDog] 802.11n Wireless (rev 03)

~$ ndiswrapper -l
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kernel-nkc, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ipw3945, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/aliases, it will be ignored in a future release.
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist, it will be ignored in a future release.
netmw14x : driver installed
device (11AB:2A02) present

Any suggestion would be much appreciated!!!

[Mrkvonic]

Removing drivers in Linux is done with rmmod or modprobe commands.

To see what drivers are in use: lsmod

To remove a specific module: rmmod <name>

To remove the module and dependencies: modprobe -r <name>

To insert one, insmod <name>

See my linux commands and config tutorial, maybe this should help you get setup. Did you test other distributions? Live CDs? I had a weird issue with a wireless being detected but unconfigurable, while it worked fine in Windows. Turned out to be a bad laptop case!

You can find these articles on my site.

Cheers,
Mrk

[taytong888]

Hi Mrk,
Thanks for your reply. Here's what /etc/network/interfaces give:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp
#address 192.168.10.x
#netmask 255.255.255.0
#gateway 192.168.10.y

#auto eth1
#iface eth1 inet dhcp

#auto eth2
#iface eth2 inet dhcp

#auto ath0
#iface ath0 inet dhcp

#auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp

First of all, should I delete the lines with (Atheros) ath0?

Secondly, how do I configure wlan0, since it appears somehow wlan0 has not been configured yet.

~$ sudo ifdown wlan0
ifdown: interface wlan0 not configured
hoe1@hoe1-laptop:~$ sudo ifup wlan0
Ignoring unknown interface wlan0=wlan0.

Thanks in advance!

[taytong888]

Here's some more info:
~$ sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for hoe1:
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 82801BA/BAM/CA/CAM Ethernet Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:02:08.0
logical name: eth0
version: 03
serial: 00:00:39:8d:b4:2c
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e100 driverversion=3.5.24-k2-NAPI duplex=full firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.146 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=56 mingnt=8 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
resources: irq:11 memory:f7dff000-f7dfffff ioport:df40(size=64)
*-network
description: Wireless LAN Card
product: Version 01.01
vendor: TOSHIBA
physical id: 0
slot: Socket 0
resources: irq:11
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: 88W8361 [TopDog] 802.11n Wireless
vendor: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 03
serial: 00:14:6c:dd:b5:94
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+netmw14x driverversion=1.55+NETGEAR,11/09/2007, 3.0.4.9 latency=240 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
resources: irq:11 memory:34000000-3400ffff memory:34010000-3401ffff
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 2
logical name: eth1
serial: 00:02:2d:26:70:1c
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=orinoco driverversion=0.15 firmware=Lucent/Agere 6.14 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11b
hoe1@hoe1-laptop:~$ iwlist scan wlan0
iwlist: unknown command `wlan0' (check 'iwlist --help').
hoe1@hoe1-laptop:~$ iwlist scan wlan0
iwlist: unknown command `wlan0' (check 'iwlist --help').
hoe1@hoe1-laptop:~$ iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1F:33:B4:E18
ESSID:"snynhatrang"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality:48/100 Signal level:-65 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

eth1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1F:33:B4:E18
ESSID:"snynhatrang"
Mode:Master
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Signal level:-27 dBm Noise level:-93 dBm
Encryption keyn
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:capab=0x0411
Extra: Last beacon: 50848ms ago

hoe1@hoe1-laptop:~$ lsb_release -d
Description: Ubuntu 9.10
hoe1@hoe1-laptop:~$ uname -mr
2.6.31-14-generic i686

Thank you in advance.

[GlobalForce]

Still lurk'in about Taytong?

[taytong888]

Hello everyone!

I solved the problem by replacing Netgear WN511TA with Airlink101 AWLC6080 PCMCIA wireless adapter to work in my triple-boot XP Pro/Ubuntu Karmic/openSUSE 11.2 Toshiba laptop and using the latest Linux driver version 2.3.0.0 dated January 29, 2010 from Ralinktech site. I followed driver instruction in a Ubuntuforums tutorial (Howto: Ralink RT2860(m) PCI(e) RT2860...on Intrepid).

I am wondering if I can use the same Linux driver (RT2860sta) for openSUSE 11.2 on my triple-boot XP Pro/Karmic/openSUSE laptop, ie. copying over instead of building and compiling driver from source again, because I don't quite understand the build instruction given in the README file of Ralink's Linux driver file. Specifically, I don't know how to "define the GCC and LD (?) of the target machine, and define the compiler flags CFLAGS(?), modify your need (?)", etc. I already have gcc, cpp and make installed on the Ubuntu and openSUSE parts of my machine.

I did try ndiswrapper in openSUSE but it doesn't work for the Windows version of the latest Ralink driver (error: invalid driver rt2860.inf).

Look forward to your help and suggestions, and thanks in advance.