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How to install ndiswrapper for the ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter

2010-06-10T13:31:28Z

J0rd: /* Quirks */ Added Wireless connection frequently drops [deauthenticating by local choice (reason=3)]

[[Category:T60]]
=Getting Ndiswrapper=
You need a recent version of ndiswrapper. Version 1.30 and above is known to work.
==From Source==
Get it at [http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/ ndiswrapper's sourceforge site]. This went smoothly on SUSE 10.1 with the kernel-developer selection installed. See the [http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/Installation ndiswrapper wiki] for compilation and installation details.
{{HINT| If you try to compile from source, and get this error message "*** WARNING: This kernel seems to use 4K stack size option (CONFIG_4KSTACKS); many Windows drivers will not work with this option enabled. Disable CONFIG_4KSTACKS option, recompile and install kernel", it can safely be ignored as this card is atheros based)}}

==Debian==
{{cmdroot|aptitude install module-assistant}}<br>
{{cmdroot|m-a prepare}}<br>
{{cmdroot|m-a a-i ndiswrapper}}

=Adding the windows driver=
* Download the [http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-66449 Windows driver]. Note that this is a 32 bit driver and unless a 64 bit XP driver is released (unlikely) or ndiswrapper adds support for vista drivers (has to happen eventually), this '''will not work with 64 bit kernels'''. You will get as far as probing the module, at which point you will get kernel messages like
ndiswrapper version 1.51 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
ndiswrapper (check_nt_hdr:150): kernel is 64-bit, but Windows driver is not 64-bit;bad magic: 010B
ndiswrapper (load_sys_files:216): couldn't prepare driver 'net5416'
ndiswrapper (load_wrap_driver:118): couldn't load driver net5416; check system log for messages from 'loadndisdriver'

* Extract its contents with cabextract:
{{cmduser|cabextract 7iwc28ww.exe}}
Extracting cabinet: 7iwc28ww.exe
extracting DATA1.CAB
extracting DATA1.HDR
extracting DATA2.CAB
extracting IBMTPI.XML
extracting IKERNEL.EX_
extracting IMDRV/WSIMD.CAT
extracting IMDRV/WSIMD.INF
extracting IMDRV/WSIMD.SYS
extracting IMDRV/WSIMDP.CAT
extracting IMDRV/WSIMDP.INF
extracting LAYOUT.BIN
extracting SETUP.DLL
extracting SETUP.EXE
extracting SETUP.INI
extracting SETUP.INX
extracting SETUP.ISS
extracting UNINSTLL.ISS
extracting WINXP_2K/AR5416.SYS
extracting WINXP_2K/NET5416.CAT
extracting WINXP_2K/NET5416.INF
extracting WLLANATH.TPI
* In the WINXP_2K directory, install the driver .inf file with ndiswrapper:
{{cmdroot|cd WINXP_2K/ && /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i NET5416.INF}}
installing net5416 ...
forcing parameter MapRegisters from 256 to 64
[...last line repeats a few times...]
Note that the last line only occurs with a recent version of ndiswrapper.
* ndiswrapper tells you that the driver is installed:
{{cmduser|/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l}}
net5416 driver installed, hardware (168C:FF1D) present
Strange, the PCI ID changed. ndiswrapper reports it as 168C:FF1D, while lspci -l reports 168c:0024. Don't know what this means.
* load the ndiswrapper module:
{{cmdroot|modprobe ndiswrapper}}
* iwconfig shows the card:
{{cmdroot|iwconfig wlan0}}
wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"youknowit"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 01:23:45:67:89:AB
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:42/100 Signal level:-69 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
This is with KNetworkManager running; it automatically connected to the network. ESSID and Access Point MAC are faked for this howto.

=Quirks=
==No adapters found in KNetworkManager==
In vanilla debian at least, desktop users don't have access to network interfaces by default and thus when you click it to activate a connection, you won'll get a "No adapters found" error, but if launched as root it works. To fix this add your user to the "netdev" group (using "adduser <UserName> netdev")

==Card hangs after 5-6 hours online==
I've had stability issues with this card ever since I got it working with ndiswrapper. That is, after being online for five to six hours, it'll stop transferring packets. First I tried just reconnecting to the access point, when that didn't work, I tried disabling wireless from knetworkmanager, I tried disabling with the Fn+F5 thingie and such - no luck. At last I figured I'd try unloading ndiswrapper and see if that helped
sudo rmmod ndiswrapper
and behold: a minute later knetworkmanager had me re authenticated with the AP. Now, this "solution" seems to work most of the time, but from time to time it'll get stuck somehow, and refuse to unload ndiswrapper (no error message, the console just hangs at trying to rmmod ndiswrapper). In my experience, all one can do at this point is to save your work, and reboot. In the console, you'll probably see an error message like "unregister_netdevice: waiting for wlan0 to become free. Usage count = XX" (I've had both 25 and 7 at the XX mark - have no idea as too what that's supposed to mean). In the end, I had to press and hold the power button to turn the computer off. I'll update here if I figure some way of fixing this issue.

==Card gets stuck in 802.11n mode==
I had the machine running under windows, where no WLAN was available. When booting into Linux, the card was tuned to some 5.?? GHz (maybe 802.11n?) and would not recognize the 802.11g network that was present. I tried to change settings via iwconfig, without any effect (not even an error message, nothing in the logs). Windows must have left the card in a state where iwconfig cannot con figure it.

I rebooted into Windows and connected to a 802.11g WLAN. Then, the card works again under Linux. If anyone finds out how to reset the card to 802.11g without having to boot windows: Let us know!

{{HINT|Well, yes, it seems I have a workaround for this particular problem. There are some hints in the [http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/FAQ#How_can_I_set_bit_rate.3F ndiswrapper-FAQ]. As I had the same problem as above, WLAN was unusable before.
Setting ''"iwpriv wlan0 network_type g"'' (or ''"iwpriv wlan0 network_type b"'' as you like) switches the card back to 2.4GHz channels.
}}

==No suspend with ndiswrapper==
The machine hangs upon Suspend to RAM (and most likely Suspend to Disk, too, although I didn't test) if the ndiswrapper module is loaded. Unload the ndiswrapper module before suspending:
:~> sudo rmmod ndiswrapper

With Suse 10.1 (and probably other versions), you can tell powersaved to unload the module upon suspend. Edit /etc/powersave/sleep and change the values of the following variables to contain ndiswrapper:
UNLOAD_MODULES_BEFORE_SUSPEND2DISK="ndiswrapper"
UNLOAD_MODULES_BEFORE_SUSPEND2RAM="ndiswrapper"
UNLOAD_MODULES_BEFORE_STANDBY="ndiswrapper"
If there are already any modules present, separate them with a single space.

For Fedora Core 6 and RHEL 5, modify the SUSPEND_MODULES variable in the file /etc/pm/config to include the ndiswrapper module, also separating it and other modules with a single space. For example, the first line in this file will look as follows:
SUSPEND_MODULES="button ndiswrapper"

For Ubuntu 7.04, I think the MODULES variable in the file /etc/default/acpi-support is the place to remove this module. However, I have not been able to verify that this solution works yet.

For other distros a similar mechanism may exist. Any pointers are appreciated!

==Wireless connection frequently drops [deauthenticating by local choice (reason=3)]==
There seems to be a quirk in Lucid (and maybe others) with the iwlagn driver. I only have this issue on some networks, but I can confirm it exists. Work around is to disable ipv6 support at boot level. Full details here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/548992?comments=all

=See Also=
[[ThinkPad 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter]]

Talk:Ipw4965

2008-05-15T11:45:12Z

J0rd: /* My wireless works on Ubuntu 8.04, but I cannot connect to wireless N */

* [[Gentoo]]
** I got the same problem with this card as below. I need to remove driver (rmmod iwl4965) and load it once more to make new connection. Sometimes I also need to turn wireless off and on via hardware switch then reload driver modules and then KNetworkManager finds wireless networks and I can connect. Quite irritating thing, but when it make connection it has high power and low latency.

--[[User:nysander|nysander]] 09:45, 07 January 2008 (CET)

* [[Kubuntu Feisty]]
** I can only get the adapter to make one wireless connection per boot. If I get kicked off wireless or I try to change AP's I have to reboot. The restricted IPW driver tends to destabalize the system. The IWL driver is much more stable but still has the same connection problem. Any thoughts?? Lenovo R61i.

--[[User:Trogdor282|Trogdor282]] 15:10, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

* [[Ubuntu]]
** [quote]Works out of the box in edgy. Requires restricted repository.[/quote]
Are you sure? I installed Networkmanager (from main - I have a WPA enabled router) and WiFi worked immediately. No need for any additional tasks.

--[[User:Ro|Ro]] 08:37, 7 December 2006 (CET)

* [[Ubuntu]]
** With Edgy, all you have to do is install the linux-restricted-modules-generic package.
It works out-of the box in edgy (on a {{Z61m}}) without the need to install any additional packages, so I changed this info.

--[[User:Ro|Ro]] 17:19, 27 November 2006 (CET)

*{{Ubuntu}}
** Ubuntu Dapper has already built in this drivers; it works out from the box.

Ubuntu (neither Dapper nor Edgy) have the ipw3945 drivers, so I've deleted the info.
--[[User:Zhenech|Zhenech]] 15:19, 27 September 2006 (CEST)

According to this:
http://www.digitalvampire.org/blog/articles/2006/09/29/ubuntu-edgy-eft-on-a-thinkpad-x60s-how-to-make-ipw3945-work

All you have to do is to install the linux-restricted-modules-generic package. I've tested this using Edgy - it worked out of the box on a T60.

== Sharing experience ==

I understand that considerations below might not necessary be of importance for everybody, however since I owe this card I thought I share few of my own experiences with it.
Card:
1) lacks promiscuous mode sniffing capability in Windows (which I feel is must for most network techs and security oriented people).
2) does not work with aircrack tools
3) in order to see what is current signal strength it is necessary to hover mouse over icon on taskbar and read info from pop-up baloon (bit irritating). Strengths are shown as “Good”, “Fair”, “Poor” etc. I feel much preferable way of displaying signal strength is to present users with dynamically changing visual meter in card utility, which show signal in decibels as oppose to say “Fair” - God knows what and how many db.
4) to see what type of encryption network use (as visible in all networks view) in cards utility, it is necessary to hover mouse over a network name and read info from pop-up balloon (irritating again).
5) values from network properties as MAC for instance cannot be copied to clipboard.
6) to my knowledge it is not possible once card is installed, to disable cards connection managing utility and allow Windows to manage wireless connections.

== My wireless works on Ubuntu 8.04, but I cannot connect to wireless N ==

In windows in order to connect to my Wireless N network (WTG300N) I need to setup my auth as WPA2 with AES. This is the only way it will work. I've tried to configure that manually with linux and automagically with wicd, but neither of them allow me to connect to my network. I keep getting "wlan0: AP denied association (code=18)" errors in my syslog. Any ideas on what I can do?

In /etc/network/interfaces i have
<pre>
auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp
iface wlan0 inet static
address 10.0.0.110
gateway 10.0.0.1
dns-nameservers 10.0.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <MYNETWORK ESSID>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk <MYKEY>
</pre>

Talk:Ipw4965

2008-05-15T11:44:50Z

J0rd: /* My wireless works on Ubuntu 8.04, but I cannot connect to wireless N */

* [[Gentoo]]
** I got the same problem with this card as below. I need to remove driver (rmmod iwl4965) and load it once more to make new connection. Sometimes I also need to turn wireless off and on via hardware switch then reload driver modules and then KNetworkManager finds wireless networks and I can connect. Quite irritating thing, but when it make connection it has high power and low latency.

--[[User:nysander|nysander]] 09:45, 07 January 2008 (CET)

* [[Kubuntu Feisty]]
** I can only get the adapter to make one wireless connection per boot. If I get kicked off wireless or I try to change AP's I have to reboot. The restricted IPW driver tends to destabalize the system. The IWL driver is much more stable but still has the same connection problem. Any thoughts?? Lenovo R61i.

--[[User:Trogdor282|Trogdor282]] 15:10, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

* [[Ubuntu]]
** [quote]Works out of the box in edgy. Requires restricted repository.[/quote]
Are you sure? I installed Networkmanager (from main - I have a WPA enabled router) and WiFi worked immediately. No need for any additional tasks.

--[[User:Ro|Ro]] 08:37, 7 December 2006 (CET)

* [[Ubuntu]]
** With Edgy, all you have to do is install the linux-restricted-modules-generic package.
It works out-of the box in edgy (on a {{Z61m}}) without the need to install any additional packages, so I changed this info.

--[[User:Ro|Ro]] 17:19, 27 November 2006 (CET)

*{{Ubuntu}}
** Ubuntu Dapper has already built in this drivers; it works out from the box.

Ubuntu (neither Dapper nor Edgy) have the ipw3945 drivers, so I've deleted the info.
--[[User:Zhenech|Zhenech]] 15:19, 27 September 2006 (CEST)

According to this:
http://www.digitalvampire.org/blog/articles/2006/09/29/ubuntu-edgy-eft-on-a-thinkpad-x60s-how-to-make-ipw3945-work

All you have to do is to install the linux-restricted-modules-generic package. I've tested this using Edgy - it worked out of the box on a T60.

== Sharing experience ==

I understand that considerations below might not necessary be of importance for everybody, however since I owe this card I thought I share few of my own experiences with it.
Card:
1) lacks promiscuous mode sniffing capability in Windows (which I feel is must for most network techs and security oriented people).
2) does not work with aircrack tools
3) in order to see what is current signal strength it is necessary to hover mouse over icon on taskbar and read info from pop-up baloon (bit irritating). Strengths are shown as “Good”, “Fair”, “Poor” etc. I feel much preferable way of displaying signal strength is to present users with dynamically changing visual meter in card utility, which show signal in decibels as oppose to say “Fair” - God knows what and how many db.
4) to see what type of encryption network use (as visible in all networks view) in cards utility, it is necessary to hover mouse over a network name and read info from pop-up balloon (irritating again).
5) values from network properties as MAC for instance cannot be copied to clipboard.
6) to my knowledge it is not possible once card is installed, to disable cards connection managing utility and allow Windows to manage wireless connections.

== My wireless works on Ubuntu 8.04, but I cannot connect to wireless N ==

In windows in order to connect to my Wireless N network (WTG300N) I need to setup my auth as WPA2 with AES. This is the only way it will work. I've tried to configure that manually with linux and automagically with wicd, but neither of them allow me to connect to my network. I keep getting "wlan0: AP denied association (code=18)" errors in my syslog. Any ideas on what I can do?

<pre>
auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp
iface wlan0 inet static
address 10.0.0.110
gateway 10.0.0.1
dns-nameservers 10.0.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid <MYNETWORK ESSID>
wpa-ap-scan 1
wpa-proto RSN
wpa-pairwise CCMP
wpa-group CCMP
wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
wpa-psk <MYKEY>
</pre>

Talk:Ipw4965

2008-05-15T11:43:13Z

J0rd: New section: My wireless works on Ubuntu 8.04, but I cannot connect to wireless N