No firmware for mrv8k

[Fabio Silva]

I'm an owner of an Asus WL-138G (Marvell W8300) wifi card. I hadn't problems with it in Breezy+ndiswrapper+XP CD driver.

But in dapper the system tries to load (unfortunately) the mrv8k module, as you can see:

-------------------------------------
4294685.511000] mrv8k: Marvel 8xxx Wireless driver, 0.0.2
[4294685.511000] mrv8k: Copyright(c) 2005 Luc Saillard <email address hidden>
[4294685.511000] mrv8k: mrv8k_init_one: enter
[4294685.511000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:08.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 177
[4294685.511000] mrv8k: bar1 (0xdfff0000) relocated at 0xe0f80000
[4294685.511000] mrv8k: bar2 (0xdffe0000) relocated at 0xe0fa0000
[4294685.593000] 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.27
[4294685.698000] mrv8k: Firmware 'mrv8k-b.fw' not available or load failed.
[4294685.698000] mrv8k: mrv8k_init_one: return -2
[4294685.698000] mrv8k: Command SET_RADIO. len=12 state=off preamble=auto
[4294685.698000] mrv8k: queue command (dbde4200)
[4294685.698000] mrv8k: kickoff command (dbde4200)
(...)
[4294686.705000] mrv8k: mrv8k_init_one: return -2
[4294686.705000] mrv8k: probe of 0000:00:08.0 failed with error -2
------------------------------------

So I 'blacklisted' the module and installed ndiswrapper-utils. The .INF driver loaded successfully, but when I do 'modprobe ndiswrapper' the system freezes some seconds later :-(

I hadn't this problems in Breezy... Isn't this a downgrade?

Thank you!
Fábio Silva - PORTUGAL (EU)

[duck (kcypers)]

Need to confirm this bug, have the same problem with a different card (Tomcom, forgot which type, but uses the same driver)

[Alistair Crust (alistair.crust)]

I have also a Asus WL-138G. I struggled with this and stumbled across this.

I got it working by blacklisting mrv8k, and following the instructions on the ndiswrapper installation wiki.

sudo ndiswrapper -i /media/cdrom0/Driver/Win2k/mrv8k51.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -l
sudo ndiswrapper -m
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sudo iwconfig

then using the graphical network config tool in System>Administration>Network.

This does use the 2k driver and not XP driver. But it worked for me.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Unfortunately, according to /usr/share/doc/linux-doc-2.6.15/Documentation/networking/mrv8k.txt.gz the firmware is only available by extracting it from the Windows driver, which we cannot redistribute

[Fabio Silva (woldpt)]

I did the extraction and put the firmware in /lib/firmware. But now, when I do 'modprobe mrv8k' I get this in dmesg:

-----------------------------------------------
(...)
[4294847.104000] mrv8k: Marvel 8xxx Wireless driver, 0.0.2
[4294847.104000] mrv8k: Copyright(c) 2005 Luc Saillard <email address hidden>
[4294847.105000] mrv8k: mrv8k_init_one: enter
[4294847.105000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:08.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> I RQ 201
[4294847.106000] mrv8k: bar1 (0xdfff0000) relocated at 0xe1420000
[4294847.107000] mrv8k: bar2 (0xdffe0000) relocated at 0xe1440000
[4294847.120000] eth1 (WE) : Driver using old /proc/net/wireless support, please fix driver !
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: Command GET_CONFIG. len=44 macaddr=ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: queue command (cf6fc600)
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: kickoff command (cf6fc600)
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: mrv8k_interrupt: eth1
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: mrv8k_irq_tasklet: eth1
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: Interrupt Event fired
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: mrv8k_irq_tasklet_events
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: Received an event message CONFIG len=002c
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: Packet configuration:
[4294853.611000] 00000000 03 80 2C 00 A0 9A 00 00 07 00 00 00 01 00 00 11 .., ..... ........
[4294853.611000] 00000010 D8 47 B6 B0 30 00 02 00 06 00 03 02 24 A2 00 C0 .G. .0... ....$...
[4294853.611000] 00000020 28 A2 00 C0 2C A2 00 C0 00 60 0F 0E (.. .,... .`..
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: firmware_version = 33751046/02030006
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: macaddr = 0:11:d8:47:b6:b0
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: revision = 0007
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: model = 0030, modeltype = 0002
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: addr1 = c000a224/ tx_buffer = 0000a224
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: addr2 = c000a228/ rx_buffer0 = 0000a228
[4294853.611000] mrv8k: addr3 = c000a22c/ rx_buffer1 = 0000a22c
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: check_macaddr. macaddr=0:11:d8:47:b6:b0
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Command SET_RADIO. len=12 state=on preamble=auto
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: queue command (cf6fc600)
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: kickoff command (cf6fc600)
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Command SET_ANTENNA. len=12 antenna=rx power=0xffff
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: queue command (cf6fc610)
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: command already pending
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Command SET_ANTENNA. len=12 antenna=tx power=0x0002
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: queue command (cf6fc620)
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: command already pending
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Command SET_RTS_TRESHOLD. len=12 threshold=2347
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: queue command (cf6fc630)
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: command already pending
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: mrv8k_init_one: return 0
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: mrv8k_interrupt: eth1
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: mrv8k_irq_tasklet: eth1
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Interrupt Event fired
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: mrv8k_irq_tasklet_events
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Received an event message type=801c len=000c
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Command SET_RADIO. ACK len=12 state=on preamble=auto
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: kickoff command (cf6fc610)
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: mrv8k_interrupt: eth1
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: mrv8k_irq_tasklet: eth1
[4294853.612000] mrv8k: Interrup...

[knarf (launchpad-ubuntu-f)]

The mrv8k driver does not seem to be ready for prime time yet. It needs more testing before it can be enabled in a production setting. It should not be enabled in Dapper final as it a) does not work yet and b) causes ndiswrapper (which does enable the use of Marvell-equipped wireless cards) to fail.

[Fabio Silva (woldpt)]

Finally I resolved 'my' problem. It was so simple... I deleted the module from '/lib/modules/2.6.15-23-k7/kernel/drivers/net/wireless' and the 'blacklist mrv8k' line from '/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist' file.

Now ndiswrapper works very fine and doesn't freeze the system like in Breezy =)

Please!!! If the driver isn't ready, remove it and let ndiswrapper work in peace!

[Nicolas Melay (nmelay-deactivatedaccount)]

This driver is a work in progress.
It's still unfinished, it just does NOT work and should never have made it into Ubuntu's kernel.
Even the author told me so, and now his web page says it's alpha work (and he means it).
Please remove it.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Beginning with the Hardy Heron 8.04 development cycle, all open Ubuntu kernel bugs need to be reported against the "linux" kernel package. We are automatically migrating this linux-source-2.6.15 kernel bug to the new "linux" package. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we make this transition. Also, if you would be interested in testing the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release, it is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing . Please let us know your results. Thanks!

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Mehall (mehall)]

This is still a problem even in 8.10 (Intrepid)

I have the same card as OP: Asus WL138-G with the Marvell Libertas chipset.

I can report that, with ndiswrapper, the card works fine in other distros. (Puppy, DSL, Arch) but no amount of hacking at it can I seem to get it working in Ubuntu.