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Wireless Chipset Identification

 
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JonMikelV



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2006 11:09 pm    Post subject: Wireless Chipset Identification Reply with quote

I've just started with trying to really use linux (and not just play with live CDs) and I'm coming up with some questions I've never bothered to ask before.

I've got a Presaio 2100 that I'm running DSL-N on from a USB drive. It has a Broadcom 802.11G wireless chipset in it (according to som hardware listing tool I used from the Ultimate Boot CD).

I'm trying to get it to work with ndiswrapper (or anything else) but I have no idea if the card is even 'active' or not. It's a laptop with a push button to turn the wireless card on/off. There's a light next to it but I have no idea if that's hardware or OS driven - so I don't know if the card is even 'on' or not.

Does anybody know of any way for me to verify the card is even 'on'? Or at least confirm that DSL-N works with this chipset?

Thanks.

Jon-Mikel
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roberts



Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 320
Location: OC CA USA

PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Might try [b]lspci[/b] to see if card is seen .
Before doing anything else what is displayed from [b]iwconfig[/b]
If you see an unconfigured card then just need to use the right tools for settings.

else try ndiswrapper....

After doing the [b]ndiswrapper -i xxxx.inf[/b]
What is displayed from [b]ndiswarpper -l[/b]
After doing the [b]modprobe ndiswrapper[/b]
What is displayed from [b]iwconfig[/b]

It should show an unconfiguered wlan0.
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JonMikelV



Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2006 5:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

roberts,

lspci was perfect to list the hardware in my Presario 2100 laptop. It told me I have a Broadcom BCM4306 802.11b/g wireless controller (rev 02).

iwconfig shows no wireless stuff detected.

BUT after I did what you suggested:
- grabbed the bcmw15.inf (& related) file(s) & put it in /ramdisk/home/dsl
- did a ndiswrapper -i bcmw15.inf
- ran modprobe ndiswrapper

iwconfig now tells me I've got a wlan0 with all sorts of configuration stuff.

Yippee! So now I only have three things left to do:
1) Get it working w/my encryption - I assume that means iwconfig.
2) Figure out what all I actually did so I understand it (yikes).
3) Get DSL-N to remember it so I don't have to do it every boot (different forum).

Thanks for giving me the boost I needed to not stay stuck on this!
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