ndiswrapper module don't work

[Liet]

Binary package hint: linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-23-k7

Since the two last actualizations of the Linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-23k7 package, the "ndiswrapper" module don't work fine if it is automatically loaded (I have ndiswrapper writed in /etc/modules).

I discovered that erasing that entry, and rebooting, if I load it manually (sudo modprobe ndiswrapper) the module works fine again.

But if I start the computer with ndiswrapper writed in /etc/modules my wireless card don't work, and I can't stop the module to try restarting it.

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

What kind of wireless card do you have? If you have a broadcom one, maybe it is due the fact that there is now a native driver. If it is not working well (as for my card), you'll need to blacklist the native one.

[Liet (liet)]

I have a Netgear card. How can I know if there is a bad working native driver for it?

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

What kind of Netgear card? There seem to be several chipsets, so from prism54 over madwifi to some more exotic things nearly everything is possible.
Maybe the native drivers are working better than ndiswrapper, so try out first.

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

After some thoughts about the issue, I've found this in the changelog of the linux-restrictd-modules-package:

---snip---

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15 (2.6.15.10-1) dapper; urgency=low

  * Add madwifi-ng support

 -- Matthew Garrett <email address hidden> Tue, 16 May 2006 13:45:04 +0100

---snip---

Seems to me that your card has a chip which is (or may be) supported by modwifi-ng.

[Liet (liet)]

If I do lspci, says this about my card:

Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88w8335 [Libertas] 802.11b/g Wireless (rev 03)

How can I know if its supported by modwifi-ng?

Anyway, when I manually start ndiswrapper module, works great, so I can't understand the realtion with that native driver. If the problem is the native driver I supose that ndiswrapper sudden't work in any case, oh yes?

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

For clarification: there are similar bug reports - e.g. Bug #41722, where related issues are discussed. The native driver will be preferred over ndiswrapper, so ndiswrapper will not be loaded at boot. To get to know if e.g. madwifi-ng modules are loaded type in a terminal "lsmod | grep new_" (if you want to know how the modules are named, look in /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/madwifi-ng/).

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

Sorry, another comment. Type "lsmod | grep ath_pci" instead of "grep new_", so the older madwifi driver will also be listed, if loaded.
It seems that you have a Netgear WG311v3 Wlan PCI-Card, v1 is supported by the madwifi-driver, v3 due to Marvell-chip is (as far as I know) not. Am I right?

[Liet (liet)]

I f I try those commands, lsmod | ... nothing apears.

Yes, I have that Netgear WG311v3 Wlan PCI-Card, but I don't know what version.

Thank you for trying to help me.

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

> I f I try those commands, lsmod | ... nothing apears.

Can you post the output of lsmod without any further commands?

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[Liet (liet)]

Here is it:

liet@ubuntu:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
ndiswrapper 190996 0
ipv6 287456 20
ip_queue 12512 1
iptable_filter 3392 1
ip_tables 24000 1 iptable_filter
ppdev 10116 0
video 16644 0
tc1100_wmi 7172 0
sony_acpi 5900 0
pcc_acpi 12736 0
hotkey 11812 0
dev_acpi 11652 0
container 4928 0
button 6992 0
acpi_sbs 20556 0
battery 10308 1 acpi_sbs
ac 5508 1 acpi_sbs
i2c_acpi_ec 5440 1 acpi_sbs
af_packet 25224 2
nls_iso8859_1 4544 2
vfat 14976 2
fat 56028 1 vfat
nls_cp437 6208 3
ntfs 114288 1
dm_mod 63640 1
sr_mod 18276 0
sbp2 25540 0
scsi_mod 145736 2 sr_mod,sbp2
lp 12612 0
snd_emu10k1_synth 8384 0
snd_emux_synth 40320 1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_virmidi 8640 1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_midi_emul 8000 1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_dummy 4164 0
snd_seq_oss 37696 0
snd_seq_midi 9888 0
snd_seq_midi_event 8064 3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 58832 9 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
joydev 10688 0
usbhid 41312 0
usblp 14336 0
floppy 65924 0
snd_emu10k1 133348 2 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_rawmidi 27552 3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi,snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_codec 98912 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_bus 2688 1 snd_ac97_codec
tsdev 8320 0
snd_pcm_oss 56352 0
snd_mixer_oss 20800 1 snd_pcm_oss
parport_pc 38340 1
parport 39560 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
i2c_viapro 9364 0
snd_pcm 96772 3 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_device 9548 8 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_timer 27204 3 snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 11592 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem 5184 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
mrv8k 43928 0
analog 12960 0
snd_hwdep 10272 2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
via_ircc 32660 0
nvidia 4553140 12
i2c_core 23168 3 i2c_acpi_ec,i2c_viapro,nvidia
irda 217916 1 via_ircc
pcspkr 2564 0
snd 60068 15 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer,snd_hwdep
psmouse 40196 0
crc_ccitt 2496 1 irda
soundcore 11040 1 snd
serio_raw ...

[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

Did you load ndiswrapper manually before typing lsmod? ndiswrapper seems
to be loaded. Also mrv8k, Marvell wireless driver is loaded, this is a
module included in the dapper packages of linux-image since January, but
there were later changes in a lot of packages that may interact with the
automatic detection of hardware that is responsible for loading the
module at boot. Maybe this is the module conflicting with your
ndiswrapper-setup.

You can test this by adding to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist the following
line "blacklist mrv8k". After this, do a reboot. If this is the
conflicting driver, ndiswrapper should be loaded automatically. If this
resolves your problem, the linux-restricted-modules-package is maybe not
the package responsible for your broken ndiswrapper-setup.

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[Gert Kulyk (gkulyk)]

Excuse me for the advertising in my postings - I have forgotten, that answering to the emails is causing this due to my freemail account.

[Liet (liet)]

Yes, I loaded ndiswrapper manually before typing lsmod and that was the reason of beeing loaded.

I have blaklisted that module, "mrv8k" and know all works fine again thank you.

I thinked that linux-restricted-modules-package was the problem because all started after upgrading it.

Thank you very much fot all the help