ndis0 no link on 6.3-RELEASE

Hello everyone.  

First off, sorry for the double post, but I'm not 100%
certain at where this 
post belongs.  

I've found via Google many problems with ndis0 and failure
to find a link in 
6.3-RELEASE, without resolution.  So here's my setup.

I'm using a Broadcom 4318 chipset, with drivers created from
ndisgen.  If you 
need more specific information on the drivers, I'll be more
than happy to 
provide information, however I believe it to be irrelevant
at this moment, as 
I have used more than one driver version, with the same
results.  

In 6.3-RC1 and below (tested in 6.2-RELEASE, and all -STABLE
releases in 
between), my ndis0 adapter works as exptected, using WPA and
DHCP.  I can't 
pinpoint exaclty what changed (I've check in
/usr/src/UPDATING, as it seemed 
to be most relevant), with no avail to finding anything
regarding either wpa 
or dhclient.  

Since an upgrade to 6.3-RELEASE (both, via csup and a fresh
install off of 
cd), I generate my ndis module, create an
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, 
leaving /etc/dhclient as default, and am prompted with:
ndis0: no link.......... giving up

Upon 'kldunload bcmwl5.ko; kldload bcmwl5.ko', my ndis0 card
looses all WPA 
capabilities.  

What seems to me to be the interesting part is this:
If I 'csup' to 6.3-RELEASE from -RC1, and build a kernel,
the problem does not 
occur -- as long as I do not 'buildworld'.  However, once I
'buildworld; 
installworld', I am faced with the same problems as if I had
installed 
6.3-RELEASE from cd.  

I would really like to figure out what is causing this (both
for myself, and 
the other affected ndis0 victims), but I'm not sure where to
look -- 
dhclient, wpa_supplicant or ndis itself.  Any other
information I could 
provide, please let me know.  

Thanks.

-- 
Glen Barber
(570)328-0318
http://www.dev-urandom.co
m/
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org
> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org]On Behalf Of
Glen Barber
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 6:56 PM
> To: freebsd-netfreebsd.org; freebsd-questionsfreebsd.org
> Subject: ndis0 no link on 6.3-RELEASE
> 
> 
> Hello everyone.  
> 
> First off, sorry for the double post, but I'm not 100%
certain at 
> where this 
> post belongs.  
> 
> I've found via Google many problems with ndis0 and
failure to 
> find a link in 
> 6.3-RELEASE, without resolution.  So here's my setup.
> 
> I'm using a Broadcom 4318 chipset, with drivers created
from 
> ndisgen.  If you 
> need more specific information on the drivers, I'll be
more than happy to 
> provide information, however I believe it to be
irrelevant at 
> this moment, as 
> I have used more than one driver version, with the same
results.  
> 
> In 6.3-RC1 and below (tested in 6.2-RELEASE, and all
-STABLE releases in 
> between), my ndis0 adapter works as exptected, using
WPA and 
> DHCP.  I can't 
> pinpoint exaclty what changed (I've check in
/usr/src/UPDATING, 
> as it seemed 
> to be most relevant), with no avail to finding anything
regarding 
> either wpa 
> or dhclient.  
> 
> Since an upgrade to 6.3-RELEASE (both, via csup and a
fresh 
> install off of 
> cd), I generate my ndis module, create an
/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, 
> leaving /etc/dhclient as default, and am prompted
with:
> ndis0: no link.......... giving up
> 
> Upon 'kldunload bcmwl5.ko; kldload bcmwl5.ko', my ndis0
card 
> looses all WPA 
> capabilities.  
> 
> What seems to me to be the interesting part is this:
> If I 'csup' to 6.3-RELEASE from -RC1, and build a
kernel, the 
> problem does not 
> occur -- as long as I do not 'buildworld'.  However,
once I 'buildworld; 
> installworld', I am faced with the same problems as if
I had installed 
> 6.3-RELEASE from cd.  
> 
> I would really like to figure out what is causing this
(both for 
> myself, and 
> the other affected ndis0 victims), but I'm not sure
where to look -- 
> dhclient, wpa_supplicant or ndis itself.  Any other
information I could 
> provide, please let me know.  
> 

Hi Glen,

  I just setup my laptop with a wireless card a couple
weeks
ago and FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE.  (it's an older Toshiba)

  I went through a total of 5 different wireless cards
before
I found one that I was able to get working ndis drivers
from
ndisgen.  Fortunately there's a used computer place near
here
(freegeek.org) that had a box of pcmcia wireless cards of
all
different makes and models, which kindly allowed me to
plunk
down my laptop  (which dual-boots between Windows 98 and
FreeBSD)
and they have wireless.  So I would pick a card out of their
bin,
boot into Windows, download the Windows driver, make sure
the
card worked under Windows, then boot into FreeBSD and mount
the Windows partition, copy over the Windows driver and inf
file to the FreeBSD side, run ndisgen and then try loading
the
driver.

With some cards, the driver wouldn't even activate the
card.
With other cards, the driver would allow me to list the
wireless
nodes then panic the system when I tried associating.

The card that did work was a Realtek-based card.  And, it
did
not work with the most current Windows drivers from the
Realtek
website, it worked with the Windows drivers that were from a
couple
years ago.  (I found this out quite by accident)

Fortunately, they DID also have a number of the Wavelan
cards - these are supported natively with the wi0 driver -
that worked out of the box.  Those cards are only 802.11b
though so I kept at it with ndisgen and the newer cards.

The interesting thing is that the original wireless card I
had in the Toshiba - a Texas Instruments-based chipset model
-
never really quite worked properly in the Toshiba under
Windows.
I put it into a different laptop I owned - a Thinkpad, and
it worked great in that.

Unfortunately, in your case, nothing has changed with
ndisgen
since 2006 (see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/usr.sbin/nd
iscvt/ )
so it's not that, it's something else in the system that
changed.

Start with the basics.  Copy your bcmwl5.ko into
/boot/modules
then in loader.conf put bcmw15_load="YES" and
reboot the system,
check dmesg, and see if it's even loading

Next put in /etc/rc.conf  "ifconfig_ndis0="inet
192.168.1.1 ssid myssid"
and see if it even comes up at all and you can ping out
(obviously
you will have to temporairly turn off wpa on your wireless
node,
set the correct ssid, and set the correct IP address to
hard-code an
IP address)

If that doesen't work, regen the bcmw15.ko file using the
"old"
method:

# cp foo.sys foo.inf /sys/modules/if_ndis
# cd /sys/modules/ndis
# make; make load
# cd /sys/modules/if_ndis
# ndiscvt -i foo.inf -s foo.sys -o ndis_driver_data.h
# make; make load

You need to isolate the problem to see if the driver is
simply
just not working at all under 6.3, or if it is working, but
it's
a scripting or turnup out of sequence error.  And you need
to
see if wpa has anything to do with it.


Ted

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Ted Mittelstaedt said: 
> 
>   I just setup my laptop with a wireless card a couple
weeks
> ago and FreeBSD 6.3-RELEASE.  (it's an older Toshiba)
> 
>   I went through a total of 5 different wireless cards
before
> I found one that I was able to get working ndis drivers
from
> ndisgen.  Fortunately there's a used computer place
near here
> (freegeek.org) that had a box of pcmcia wireless cards
of all
> different makes and models, which kindly allowed me to
plunk
> down my laptop  (which dual-boots between Windows 98
and FreeBSD)
> and they have wireless.  So I would pick a card out of
their bin,
> boot into Windows, download the Windows driver, make
sure the
> card worked under Windows, then boot into FreeBSD and
mount
> the Windows partition, copy over the Windows driver and
inf
> file to the FreeBSD side, run ndisgen and then try
loading the
> driver.
> 
> With some cards, the driver wouldn't even activate the
card.
> With other cards, the driver would allow me to list the
wireless
> nodes then panic the system when I tried associating.
> 
> The card that did work was a Realtek-based card.  And,
it did
> not work with the most current Windows drivers from the
Realtek
> website, it worked with the Windows drivers that were
from a couple
> years ago.  (I found this out quite by accident)
> 
> Fortunately, they DID also have a number of the
Wavelan
> cards - these are supported natively with the wi0
driver -
> that worked out of the box.  Those cards are only
802.11b
> though so I kept at it with ndisgen and the newer
cards.
> 
> The interesting thing is that the original wireless
card I
> had in the Toshiba - a Texas Instruments-based chipset
model -
> never really quite worked properly in the Toshiba under
Windows.
> I put it into a different laptop I owned - a Thinkpad,
and
> it worked great in that.
> 
> Unfortunately, in your case, nothing has changed with
ndisgen
> since 2006 (see http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/usr.sbin/nd
iscvt/ )
> so it's not that, it's something else in the system
that changed.
> 
> Start with the basics.  Copy your bcmwl5.ko into
/boot/modules
> then in loader.conf put bcmw15_load="YES" and
reboot the system,
> check dmesg, and see if it's even loading
> 
> Next put in /etc/rc.conf 
"ifconfig_ndis0="inet 192.168.1.1 ssid
myssid"
> and see if it even comes up at all and you can ping out
(obviously
> you will have to temporairly turn off wpa on your
wireless node,
> set the correct ssid, and set the correct IP address to
hard-code an
> IP address)
> 
> If that doesen't work, regen the bcmw15.ko file using
the "old"
> method:
> 
> # cp foo.sys foo.inf /sys/modules/if_ndis
> # cd /sys/modules/ndis
> # make; make load
> # cd /sys/modules/if_ndis
> # ndiscvt -i foo.inf -s foo.sys -o ndis_driver_data.h
> # make; make load
> 
> You need to isolate the problem to see if the driver is
simply
> just not working at all under 6.3, or if it is working,
but it's
> a scripting or turnup out of sequence error.  And you
need to
> see if wpa has anything to do with it.
> 

Hi Ted. Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, until I either get time to resize my hard
disk and add a
separate freebsd installation, or I figure out  how to undo
a
buildworld, looks like I'm stuck.  It's my school laptop, so
I kind of
need to get work done. ;)  (I am able to run a 6.3-RELEASE
kernel, but
the 'world' is 6.3-RC1.)

Regarding older drivers:  Yes,  I had this problem with my
current
chipset in 6.2-RELEASE.  This is why I was so surprised I
had problems
with 6.3-RELEASE. 

Either way, I appreciate your response. 

Cheers.
-- 
Glen Barber
http://www.dev-urandom.co
m/
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