Netgear WNDA3100

[dupek]

I try to install the usb wireless Netgear WNDA3100 and the PCLOS will not recognize this stick. Windows see it good. Any way to make this stick to recognize. I got windows drivers and plan to use ndiswrapper. It worked fine in Linux Mint, but Mint mess up a lot. Thanks.

[Phil]

Hi Dupek,

I got a wireless stick to work with ndiswrapper, and another machine.

Note ndiswrapper will only work with XP drivers, see wkipedia info.

Its easy, from memory ndiswrapper -i ??.inf
Then set it up in the Control Centre

[Just17]

Have you tried ....

Configure your Computer - Network & Internet - Set up a new network interface - Wireless (WiFi) - Use a Windows driver (with ndiswrapper)

.....  and supply the Win drivers for XP ....

[dupek]

I did, but is not showing my stick. It said that can not find the ndiswrapper interface. Like PCOSL do not see my stick. I have Belkin and works fine.

[Just17]

I did, but is not showing my stick. It said that can not find the ndiswrapper interface. Like PCOSL do not see my stick. I have Belkin and works fine.

Is ndiswrapper installed?

[putz]

I too am getting the same result when trying to use ndiswrapper,  "Error:  unable to find the ndiswrapper interface"

I tried this with a netgear pci card (wg311v2.inf) that I have used successfully in previous versions of PCLinuxOS, and with a Fry's usb adaper which uses the net8192su.inf driver.

On the netgear, I tried the suggestion Configure Network gave to use terminal as root to install.  I got:

[root@localhost rbr]# ndiswrapper -i /home/wg311v2.inf
driver wg311v2 is already installed
[root@localhost rbr]#
 
It says, the netgear driver is already installed, but apparently Configure Network doesn't see it.

I uninstalled ndiswrapper and re-installed thinking it's location may have changed since the 2009 version which is currently listed.  Still no luck.



Any help is appreciated.

putz

[putz]

I don't mean to hyjack this thread, but although the OP was seeking help on a laptop, ndiswrapper should apply to desktops too.

Some additional information:

I started PCC from a root terminal and selected Configure LAN.  Selected Wireless, then selected use windows driver with ndiswrapper for wg311.
Terminal responded with:

ERROR: Module ndiswrapper does not exist in /proc/modules
FATAL:  Module ndiswrapper not found

Where can I go from here?

putz

[putz]

Update:

I restarted using the 2012.02 LiveCD, Configured Wireless Network, selected use windows driver with ndiswrapper, it showed the driver I needed, and the USB wireless device started up!!

Something has changed since the 2012.02 release that has affected wireless network configuration.

Now I need help getting 2012.08 fully updated install to do the same.

Any ideas where to go from here?

putz

[Phil]

Perhaps a quick post to the broken package section?

[sparerep]

Getting back to WNDA3100, here's my story.

I have a WNDA3100v2 USB stick that can work with my desktop and laptop computers. The stick is dual band, but with ndiswrapper only works in 2.4Ghz, although I'm not sure I made much of an effort to get it working in the 5Ghz band.

Also, when it is up and connected, PCC does not show networks and PCC can not be used to connect to my access point. I have net_applet in the systray and see local networks and connect/disconnect there.

First problem: there are Atheros and Broadcom versions of the WNDA3100. Mine is WNDA3100v2 and is Broadcom.
And: I don't think the driver on the disk that came with the unit worked, but I found a driver on some other distro's forum that did:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1933411&page=4
There's a zip attachment to one of the posts. I created and unzipped all six files to:
/usr/lib/wnda3100
Third: Although bcmwlhigh5 exists in the ndiswrapper driver list during setup, that one doesn't work. The stick may be sensitive to the exact driver version used.

I'm running Xfce, updated to the last useable version about a week ago.

Kernel
[tom2@tom1 ~]$ uname -r
2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs

Here's some dmesg info from after installation:
 

Code: [Select]

ndiswrapper version 1.56 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=yes)
 usb 1-4: reset high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
 ndiswrapper: driver bcmwlhigh5 (Netgear,05/05/2009, 5.10.79.30) loaded
 wlan0: ethernet device 2c:b0:5d:70:b4:e3 using NDIS driver: bcmwlhigh5, version: 0x50a4f1e, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: 'NDIS Network Adapter', 0846:9011.F.conf
 wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
 usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
 ndiswrapper: changing interface name from 'wlan0' to 'wlan1'
 <30>udev[1132]: renamed network interface wlan0 to wlan1
 ndiswrapper (add_wep_key:841): adding enc
And lsusb
 [tom2@tom1 ~]$ lsusb
 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0846:9011 NetGear, Inc. WNDA3100v2 802.11abgn [Broadcom BCM4323]

My ndiswrapper version:
ndiswrapper-1.55-1pclos2009


Here's how I did the setup.

In PCC
Set up a new network interface (LAN, ISDN, ADSL, ...)

Wireless (Wi-Fi)

Use a Windows driver (with ndiswrapper)

Install a new driver

Select driver /usr/lib/wnda3100/bcmwlhigh5.inf

The selected device has already ...
Do you really want to use a ndiswrapper driver?
 Yes
 
Scans for networks, then goes to Unlisted - edit manually.
Next
 
Filled in:
Network name (ESSID) scratch47
Encryption mode: WPA/WPA2 Pre-shared Key
Encryption key: P75ZaatcDPGhWgGAdnx1

Then, Next

Automatic IP (BOOT/DHCP) and Next

Get DNS servers from DHCP
Host name: tom1
Next

Check Allow users ...
Start the connection ...
Next

Do you want to start ...
Yes
Next

Problems occured during ... page appeared, however a few seconds later the signal strength was in the systray and hovering showed I was connected to my network. Clicked Finish.

Right click net_applet in systray and Wireless networks; shows other access points in my area.

Shutdown and removed the stick, reinserted the stick and rebooted. The wireless came up: I did that a couple of times.

I'm pretty sure I tried other encryption modes and was only successful with WPA/WPA2 Pre-shared Key. But, I don't use the stick very often and I think I didn't test much (it's good enough).

Finally, I'm connected with my WNDA3100 for this posting. My access point is a Buffalo WHR-G54S running DD-WRT. I'm going to try to break out a couple of more access points tomorrow, since I seem to remember the stick didn't work with one or more.

That is all.

Tom

[keltonix]

Hmmmm? Interesting.

I can't go any further than choosing the /usr/lib/wnda3100/bcmwlhigh5.inf step, which causes the notification:

No device supporting the bcmwlhigh5 ndiswrapper driver is present!

I have the same ndiswrapper version as the one you mentioned: ndiswrapper-1.55-1pclos2009

Of course, I'm using a different kernel than yours: 3.2.18-pclos2.pae.bfs and I'm using PCLinuxOS KDE 2013.02.

[sparerep]

keltonix, I do have a 2012.2 Xfce with 3.2.18-pclos2 and setting up the WNDA3100 was as easy as my main system with 2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs.

Tomorrow, I will remove it in PCC and start again with ndiswrapper not loaded and see if I can duplicate your problem when I reinstall.

Tom

[sparerep]

Is your adapter WNDA3100, or, WNDA3100v2? My instructions are for the v2. The versions have different chipsets: Atheros vs. Broadcom. If I try to install the WNDA3100 driver, I get a "No device supporting the arusb_xp ndiswrapper is present!". If yours is in fact a WNDA3100 that could explain why you are getting the "bcmwlhigh5" error.

Look at the adapter's label, if it reads WNDA3100v2 with the v2 in smaller letters, you need the bcmwlhigh5 driver. If it is just WNDA3100, it uses the other driver. You can download the other driver, then substitute the name in the instructions.

The system I tested is a not-fresh-install of 2012.2 Phoenix. I doubt it is up to date as I don't normally use it.

I have the driver in a different directory, but that shouldn't matter.

Here's the system:

Code: [Select]

# uname -r
3.2.18-pclos2.pae

# rpm -qa | grep ndis
dkms-ndiswrapper-1.58rc1-2sparerep2012
ndiswrapper-1.58rc1-2sparerep2012

# rpm -qa | grep wpa
wpa_supplicant-0.7.3-1pclos2011

# ls -l Downloads/wnda3100-small
total 2396
-rwxrwxrwx 1 tom2 tom2   7427 Jun  8  2009 bcmh43xx64.cat*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 tom2 tom2   7450 Jun  8  2009 bcmh43xx.cat*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 tom2 tom2 747008 May  5  2009 bcmwlhigh564.sys*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 tom2 tom2 167298 May 15  2009 bcmwlhigh5.inf*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 tom2 tom2 632576 May  5  2009 bcmwlhigh5.sys*

My starting point was:

WNDA3100v2 not connected to USB.

# modprobe -r ndiswrapper
#

In PCC, removed existing wifi (wlan0) (WNDA3100) connection.

Reboot

Then,

# lsmod | grep ndis
#

Connected WNDA3100v2.

In PCC, Set up a new network interface.

Followed procedure in reply #9.

The driver installed and the wireless connected. (To my Buffalo/dd-wrt G router.)


A few things that may be of interest.

First, if the WNDA3100v2 appears to set up, but won't connect, do not try to connect again. Remove the connection (in PCC), unload ndiswrapper (# modprobe -r ndiswrapper), then start the set up again. Once it sets up and connects it is reliable and connects on reboots.

Second, when I removed the connection in PCC, then tried to do the new connection again, it failed with the "can not find" error. I had to unplug the WNDA3100v2 and unload the ndiswrapper module to get it to set up.

Third, I have a different Windows driver that I got from the CD, or, possibly from the Netgear site. That one seems to set up OK, but won't connect. For reference, here's the files in the second driver; note the size differences:

Code: [Select]

# ls -l Downloads/WNDA3100
total 2608
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2    7612 Dec 22  2011 bcmh43xx64.cat
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2    7584 Dec 22  2011 bcmh43xx.cat
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2   95544 Mar 28  2011 bcmwlcoi64.dll
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2   91448 Mar 28  2011 bcmwlcoi.dll
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2 1176064 Dec 12  2011 bcmwlhigh564.sys
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2  245734 Dec 12  2011 bcmwlhigh5.inf
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tom2 tom2 1034240 Dec 12  2011 bcmwlhigh5.sys
And, if you haven't seen my other comments on this USB adapter, you might check out:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,112895.msg963900.html#msg963900

If you need the other driver, it's ndis_wnda3100.zip. You can download it at:
http://www.ubuntubytes.com/ubuntu/ndis_wnda3100.zip
(replace "another distro" with the distro name (you know what it is)).
or:
http://tinyurl.com/7o9arte
The files are:

Code: [Select]

$ ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom2 tom2  38502 Sep 25  2008 arusb_xp.inf
-rw-r--r-- 1 tom2 tom2 421376 Sep 25  2008 arusb_xp.sys

I don't know if I can do any more with this.

Tom