Module b44 interfering with ndiswrapper upon startup

[2k3autococker]

Release: Hardy Heron 8.04 Beta
Ndiswrapper version 1.52
Network Card: Dell Wireless 1470 Dual Band WLAN Mini-PCI Card

I've always had trouble with getting the wireless working in this computer since I started experimenting with Ubuntu, so I guess this problem could have been happening since the 6.04 release.

Basically, I used ndiswrapper to set up the wireless card, however, it's a little problematic, so I've had add b43, rfkill_input, and mac80211 (along with bcm43xx, which came blacklisted in this release). However, I also tried blacklisting b44, which gave me wlan0 but took away my eth0. So I unblacklisted b44, and it switched back to giving me eth0 but not wlan0. Since I've been told that ndiswrapper sometimes likes to work itself as a usb module (or something to that effect), I tried blacklisting ehci_hcd and uhci_hcd but this had no effect. The only thing that gets both eth0 and wlan0 working at the same time is to unload both ndiswrapper and b44 (using "sudo modprobe -r") and then reload them, following:

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
sudo modprobe b44

This leads me to believe that b44 is somehow interfering with ndiswrapper, by loading before it or in some other way. By inserting this sequence:

modprobe -r ndiswrapper
modprobe -r b44
modprobe ndiswrapper
modprobe b44

Into "/etc/rc.local" I'm able to get both devices to work when the computer boots.

Also as a side note: please pre-install ndiswrapper with further releases. It is difficult to even get started on this stuff when you don't have a reliable wired internet connection.

Thanks.

[Larry Finger (larry-finger)]

The b43 and b44 drivers both utilize the ssb driver. As you noticed, if ssb loads, then it owns the bcm43xx PCI Id's and ndiswrapper will not load.

If you want to use b44 for eth0 and ndiswrapper for the wireless interface, then you need to blacklist ssb and bcm43xx. YTou will then need the modprobe b44 in /etc/rc.local.

[Mark Edgington (edgimar)]

According to
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4881538&postcount=6 (and confirmed in my own case), blacklisting ssb and b44 are not sufficient to prevent them from loading. They will be loaded anyway -- this occurs for me with the 2.6.24-19-generic kernel.

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[2k3autococker (foshizzletheestablishmentizzle)]

Upgrading to the 8.10 has not worked, it my edits to
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist where erased, and it appears that my
wireless is again not working (I re-edited the blacklist, but not
luck). I may trying formatting soon and doing a direct install with
8.10.

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for trying with the upgrade.

It may be beneficial to attach outputs of the following, after which there _should_ be enough information to set this bug as Confirmed and take it a stage further

uname -a > uname-a.log
cat /proc/version_signature > version.log
dmesg > dmesg.log
sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log

Thank you.

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

Sorry, can you also attach the output of lsusb -v > lsusb-v.log

Thanks

[2k3autococker (foshizzletheestablishmentizzle)]

Here's all the logs you asked for. If anything looks a bit funny, I
did have a flash drive plugged in at the time to save the logs on.

I really appreciate your help, hopefully you can get this worked out.
I was going to format tomorrow and put 8.04 back on, but I'll wait
until probably Sunday night in case a quick solution pops up.

Thanks,

Josh

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for attaching the logs. This should now be enough information to set this bug to Confirmed status. I believe the problem may lie in the following part of your lspci -vvnn specifically:

02:03.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 [AirForce 54g] 802.11a/b/g PCI Express Transceiver [14e4:4319] (rev 02)
 Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0005]
 Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
 Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
 Latency: 64
 Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
 Region 0: Memory at dfbfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
 Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
 Kernel modules: ssb

I'm not 100% sure, but it might help to blacklist b43-pci-bridge. If ssb cannot load that in then it should drop back to your ndiswrapper while keeping the eth0 on.

Let us know if this works or not, and I'm sure a developer will be along to help now it's confirmed :)

Thank you.

[2k3autococker (foshizzletheestablishmentizzle)]

Blacklisting b43-pci-bridge did work, thanks for that. However, I
still have to have b43, rfkill_input and mac80211 blacklisted as well
and still require ndiswrapper to start before b44. Hopefully the
developers will be able to fix it soon.

Again, thanks so much for this fix.

Josh

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

Assigned to Ubuntu Kernel Team, can someone change Importance on this please? Thank you.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.

[2k3autococker (foshizzletheestablishmentizzle)]

I figured I'd give you an update on this bug:

I've installed a fresh copy of Ubuntu 9.04 beta on the Dell laptop
where the wireless wasn't working. It seems that the issue is still
not fixed. I must still blacklist bcm43xx, b43, rfkill_input, and
mac80211, use ndiswrapper and insure that ndiswrapper is started
before b44 by editing /etc/rc.local. There are two additional notes
that may be of interest to you:
1) I did not have to blacklist b43-pci-bridge, as I did in 8.10 (and I
never had to blacklist it before 8.10 either).
2) At some point (I can't remember when, I think it was around end of
December), something prevent me from accessed any type of protected
wireless network. This has been resolved in the 9.04 beta though.

Good luck with your work,

Josh

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

How is this is the final release, is it working fine now?

[2k3autococker (foshizzletheestablishmentizzle)]

The state has not changed from the 9.04 beta. I still have to
blacklist bcm43xx, b43, rfkill_input, and mac80211, use ndiswrapper
and insure that ndiswrapper is started before b44 by editing
/etc/rc.local. Sorry.

On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Teej <email address hidden> wrote:
> How is this is the final release, is it working fine now?
>
> ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
>       Status: Confirmed => Incomplete
>
> --
> Module b44 interfering with ndiswrapper upon startup
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/214917
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “linux” source package in Ubuntu: Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> Release: Hardy Heron 8.04 Beta
> Ndiswrapper version 1.52
> Network Card: Dell Wireless 1470 Dual Band WLAN Mini-PCI Card
>
> I've always had trouble with getting the wireless working in this computer since I started experimenting with Ubuntu, so I guess this problem could have been happening since the 6.04 release.
>
> Basically, I used ndiswrapper to set up the wireless card, however, it's a little problematic, so I've had add b43, rfkill_input, and mac80211 (along with bcm43xx, which came blacklisted in this release). However, I also tried blacklisting b44, which gave me wlan0 but took away my eth0.  So I unblacklisted b44, and it switched back to giving me eth0 but not wlan0. Since I've been told that ndiswrapper sometimes likes to work itself as a usb module (or something to that effect), I tried blacklisting ehci_hcd and uhci_hcd but this had no effect. The only thing that gets both eth0 and wlan0 working at the same time is to unload both ndiswrapper and b44 (using "sudo modprobe -r") and then reload them, following:
>
> sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
> sudo modprobe b44
>
> This leads me to believe that b44 is somehow interfering with ndiswrapper, by loading before it or in some other way. By inserting this sequence:
>
> modprobe -r ndiswrapper
> modprobe -r b44
> modprobe ndiswrapper
> modprobe b44
>
> Into "/etc/rc.local" I'm able to get both devices to work when the computer boots.
>
> Also as a side note: please pre-install ndiswrapper with further releases. It is difficult to even get started on this stuff when you don't have a reliable wired internet connection.
>
> Thanks.
>

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

This appears to be a duplicate of either bug #197558 or bug #218763 can someone verify this is the same problem, as there is a fault with ssb interfering with ndiswrapper on startup in those too. Thank you.

[ernesto (ernesto-bosch)]

I have very same problem. My computer is an old HP Compaq nx9100 and b43legacy isn't working in a fresh Kubuntu 9.04 system so I need to install ndiswrapper but it conflicts with b44, b43legacy, and ssb so I was force to modify rc.local to get de wifi working.
Maybe it helps; I send information about the system before and after modifying rc.local. I opted by blacklisting anything.

By the way rc.local changes are:

rmmod b44
rmmod b43legacy
rmmod ssb
modprobe ndiswrapper

[ernesto (ernesto-bosch)]

I have very same problem. My computer is an old HP Compaq nx9100 and b43legacy isn't working in a fresh Kubuntu 9.04 system so I need to install ndiswrapper but it conflicts with b44, b43legacy, and ssb so I was force to modify rc.local to get de wifi working.
Maybe it helps; I send information about the system before and after modifying rc.local. I opted by blacklisting anything.

By the way rc.local changes are:

rmmod b44
rmmod b43legacy
rmmod ssb
modprobe ndiswrapper

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

Again, as requested:
This appears to be a duplicate of either bug #197558 or bug #218763 can someone verify this is the same problem, as there is a fault with ssb interfering with ndiswrapper on startup in those too, i.e. does this look like the same problems you are having? Thank you.

[xteejx (xteejx-deactivatedaccount)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!