Fedora & Ndiswrapper & Mimo Wireless

Wed Jul 27 22:14:40 UTC 2005

On Jul 27, 2005, at 5:53 PM, Jeff Vian wrote:

> On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 22:13 -0400, Paul Hoy wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> [Notes inline]
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jul 26, 2005, at 9:36 PM, Jeff Vian wrote:
>>
>>
>>> On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 17:30 -0400, Paul Hoy wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Jul 25, 2005, at 12:06 AM, Jonathan Berry wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Paul,
>>>>> [notes inline]
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 7/24/05, Paul Hoy <paul.hoy at mac.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Terry,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for your email. I should have provided more details in
>>>>>> my
>>>>>> original email. Being aware of the 4k of memory issue, I
>>>>>> recompiled
>>>>>> the kernel and also tried the Linuxant kernels.  I was able to
>>>>>> get
>>>>>> the lights going on the modem, but could never achieve a
>>>>>> connection
>>>>>> with the router.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> So did you get farther with the 8k stacks versus 4k?  I would
>>>>> think
>>>>> that if you were having issues there that you would get nice
>>>>> things
>>>>> like kernel panics and lockups, not that it just wouldn't work.
>>>>> But
>>>>> my card works just fine (Broadcom chipset) with the 4k stacks,
>>>>> so I
>>>>> have not seen the symptoms of small stacks when larger ones are
>>>>> needed.  But I have had other problems that resulted in kernel
>>>>> panics
>>>>> and hard locks.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> One thing about recompiling the kernel, though. When I used
>>>>>> xconfig
>>>>>> to remove the 4k limit, it only gave me the option to disable
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> limit and indicated that FC4 would use a 8k limit. I though 16
>>>>>> k was
>>>>>> needed in some cases.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I think Linuxant, as mentioned before has 16k stack kernels.
>>>>> I've
>>>>> heard that the Linux kernel is going more toward 4k stacks
>>>>> exclusively.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> As you suggested, I also used the Network utility to try to
>>>>>> activate
>>>>>> the card. The lights came on (as I mentioned), but it could
>>>>>> not
>>>>>> connect. I tried several different settings.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm going to try it in SUSE, and see what happens, which is
>>>>>> too bad
>>>>>> because I really like FC4.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't think that SuSE will do any better than Fedora.
>>>>> ndiswrapper
>>>>> works just fine with Fedora.  So if you are having problems, it
>>>>> is
>>>>> with the configuration.  SuSE might be able to more easily
>>>>> configure
>>>>> things, but that would be the only possible difference I could
>>>>> think
>>>>> of (I'm not saying that it would be, just that would be a
>>>>> possible
>>>>> difference).
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for your email.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Paul
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> If you could give us some specifics, such as wireless card(s)
>>>>> (the
>>>>> output of "lspci" for the card would be helpful), drivers, setup
>>>>> (WEP,
>>>>> etc, (no need to tell us keys, just whether you have it or
>>>>> not)), what
>>>>> you have tried, what hasn't worked, etc.  Without details, we
>>>>> can only
>>>>> help you so much.  With details, someone just might be able to
>>>>> tell
>>>>> you exactly what to do.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Jonathan
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> PS: Please do not put your reply above the email you are
>>>>> replying to.
>>>>> That is called top-posting and makes the conversation flow
>>>>> harder to
>>>>> follow when reading.  Please either put your reply below or
>>>>> inline
>>>>> (like this one) as that is the convention on this list.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --   
>>>>> fedora-list mailing list
>>>>> fedora-list at redhat.com
>>>>> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-
>>>>> list
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Well, I've  begun to work with Fedora again to get  my Linksys
>>>> WPC54GX working. This time, I wanted to try the Linuxant
>>>> DriverLoader.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I downloaded and installed the Linuxant 2.6.12-1.388_FC4.stk16
>>>> kernel
>>>> to address the 4 k stack problem. Upon reboot, I encountered a
>>>> kernel
>>>> panic:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Kernel panic - not syncing: net/sched ... generic.c:547:
>>>> spin_is_locked on uninitialized spinlock df4f3170. (Not tainted)"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Two questions: what may have caused this and which kernel version
>>>> do
>>>> I install? i586 or i686? How do I know which is the right one?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Finally, any hints about restoring the previous kernel would be
>>>> helpful.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> 1)
>>> i586 is only needed for very old Pentium and maybe PII processors.
>>> PIII
>>> and up all use the I686 kernels.
>>>
>>>
>>> Also, the kernel version you list "2.6.12-1.388_FC4.stk16" is not in
>>> the
>>> list of kernels I see on the linuxant site.  Which kernel did you
>>> actually install?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> The kernel I installed is:
>>
>>
>> 2.6.12-1.1398_FC4
>>
>>
>> But the name of the downloaded file is called:
>>
>>
>> kernel-2.6.12-1.1398_FC4.stk16.i686.rpm.zip
>>
>>
>> The kernel is listed and can be downloaded from:
>>
>>
>> http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/wlan/full/downloads-fc4-kernel-
>> i686.php
>>
>>
>> And, before I get the kernel panic, the screen reads:
>>
>>
>> "Booting Fedora Core (2.6.12-1.1398_FC4.stk16)"
>>
>>
>> I noticed in my previous email that I wrote "2.6...388" .. should  
>> have
>> said "2.6...398".
>>
>>
>
> Typos happen but I wanted to be sure what you meant.
>
>
>>
>> Do you think that I used the incorrect kernel and that this caused  
>> the
>> kernel pacic. I have since tried another install, with the same
>> result.
>>
>>
>> By the way, I read somewhere that the mimo-based or pre-n cards might
>> not be supported by ndiswrapper. I wonder if this is the case with
>> Linuxant?
>>
>>
>>
> This is the latest FC4 kernel (for now at least) and AFAIK the only
> differences with the kernel from Linuxant and the one from Fedora  
> is the
> size of the stack.  The kernel itself should not cause the panic, and
> does not for me.
>
> Is your system fully updated and consistent?  You need to have the  
> full
> kernel and kernel-devel packages from Fedora installed for that kernel
> level _before_ you install/boot the Linuxant kernel.  That way when  
> you
> compile the driver (ndiswrapper or driverloader) it gets properly  
> linked
> and can be used.
>
> My procedure when I use ndiswrapper is to install/update the kernel
> packages from Fedora, and compile ndiswrapper for that kernel.  Only
> after ndiswrapper has been compiled and installed do I install the
> kernel from Linuxant. With this sequence for me everything works.
>
>
> To trouble shoot the kernel panic, do you still have the fedora kernel
> installed?  If so  you should be able to select it from the menu and
> boot from it.
>

Hi,

I installed the kernel three times and each time experienced a panic.

I used a completely clean install for the last two attempts. In other  
words, I formatted, reinstalled FC4 from the CDs, rebooted, and then  
conducted a complete update.

To be honest, I don't remember if I had the full kernel and kernel- 
devel packages installed. This means, of course, that I will try it  
again.

Thanks to your earlier advice, I'm able to troubleshoot the panic by  
selecting it from the menu.

By the way, when you installed the Linaxant kernel, did you use the  
pre-compiled or general version? Also, did you use Linuxant's online  
install process or did you just download DriverLoader?

Thanks for your continuing assistance.

Paul

>
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Paul
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> And, before the system hangs, the screen reads:
>>>
>>>
>>> "Booting Fedora Core (2.6.12-1.1398_FC4.stk16)"
>>> 2)
>>> restoring the previous kernel?
>>> Did you do an install or an upgrade of the kernel?
>>>
>>>
>>> Even the automatic tools like yum do an install of the kernel so you
>>> have the old kernel available to use if the new one fails.  If you
>>> do it
>>> by hand you use "rpm -ivh kernel....rpm" and then the boot menu
>>> allows
>>> you to select which kernel you use.
>>>
>>>
>>> If you did an update and overwrote/deleted the old kernel it is now
>>> time
>>> for the rescue disk.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Paul Hoy
>>>>
>>>>
>
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