wlan0 device not present FC5 x86_64

[Toad]

> Toad <keepertoad at verizon.net> wrote:
> 
> >Unable to get ndiswrapper to work on 64 bit kernel.  Works a treat on
> >smp kernels.
> >
> >lspci shows hardware present.
> >       05:06.0 Network controller: RaLink Ralink RT2500 802.11G
> >Cardbus/mini-PCI (rev 01)
> >
> >lsmod shows ndiswrapper.ko loaded.
> >
> >ndiswrapper shows hardware present:    
> >[keepertoad at office ~]$ ndiswrapper -l
> >Installed drivers:
> >rt2500          driver installed, hardware present
> >
> >Driver used is w2k/xp 32 bit.  WinXP 64 bit driver results in hard
> lock
> >requiring hardware reset.
> >
> >service network restart responds with "wlan0 not present
> delaying...."
> >
> >ifcfg-wlan0 is identical to known good config for smp kernels.  Have
> >tried several versions of ndiswrapper including 1.15 with same
> result.
> >
> >Have tried 2054 and 2096 64 bit kernels with same result.
> >
> >FWIW, CentOS 4.3 64 bit kernels give same result.  Yet, it works
> without
> >a hitch on 32 bit kernels and 32 bit smp kernels.
> >
> >Would appreciate any suggestions.  Have Googled for hours without
> >finding anything productive.  Thanks in advance.
> >
> >bj
> >
> >Fedora Core 5, Linux 2.6.16-1.2111_FC5smp athlon 14:31:12 up 4 min, 2
> >users, load average: 0.49, 0.85, 0.41
> >
> Bad news.  Your choices are:
> 
> 1) Run a 32-bit version of FC and hope the Windoze 32 bit driver
> works.
> 2) Figure out how to make the 64 bit Windoze driver work with FC 64
> bit.
> 3) Try to find a native Linux driver that works with your existing 
> wireless NIC.
> 4) Looks like its a mini-PCI card so you could try a different NIC by 
> swapping cards.
> 
> I'm running FC4 64bit on an HP laptop and did a bunch of digging last 
> summer when I was attempting to make that combination work.  The
> Windoze 
> driver must match the word size of the Linux kernel for ndiswrapper
> to 
> work (both 32 bit or both 64 bit).  Could be things have changed
> since 
> then but I doubt it.  You might want to look around for a different 
> version of the Windoze driver (e.g., if this is a laptop, from the 
> laptop manufacturer) or, conversely, a plain vanilla driver from the 
> card manufacturer and see if it makes any difference.
> 
> Cheers,
> Dave
Thanks much.  Was afraid of that.:-(
bj

Fedora Core 5, Linux 2.6.16-1.2111_FC5smp athlon 18:21:04 up 3:54, 2
users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00