Cannot get Madwifi to install

[ned99 0]

Hello everyone. I just installed Fedora Core 3 this morning and am trying to get my wireless card to work. I have a Netgear WG311T v1 using the Atheros chipset. Fedora only recognizes my second (nonwireless) network card but from what I've read it should recognize the WG311T after Madwifi is installed. After reading this thread: http://www.linuxcompatible.org/thread30998-1.html I downloaded madwifi-0.9.4.12-15.rhfc3.at.i386.rpm from the http://atrpms.net/dist/fc3/madwifi/ website as martouf suggested and attempted to run it. Halfway through installing I got an error message that in order to install madwifi I need this file: madwifi-kmdl-0.0.4.12-15.rhfc3.at

 

 

I now have no idea what to do . Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

P.S. I don't really know anything about Linux/Unix commands since I installed Fedora about 3 hours ago.

 

P.P.S. I'm using a Pentium 4 system so I assumed that i386 was for intel chipsets.

[martouf 0]

I took another look at the ATrpms collection, and maybe you'd like to give

this a try:

 

- first determine the precise kernel version you've got: "uname -r"

- then fetch the appropriate madwifi-kmdl-`uname -r` ..

 

for instance, if "uname -r" == 2.6.9-1.724 and you have a single processor

Pentium 4 system, then you'll want to fetch

-> madwifi-kmdl-2.6.9-1.724_FC3-0.9.4.12-15.rhfc3.at.i686.rpm

 

check your processor type with "uname -p" (probably "i686" ) and

note 'FC3smp' only applies to a multiprocessor system.

 

In the other thread, I didn't mean to say one should pick the first rpm

in the ATrpms list. I meant only that one shouldn't pick either of the last two

in the list.

[ned99 0]

Thanks a lot for your help. I'll give that a try.

[ned99 0]

Hey so I tried what you suggested and found out that my kernel is 2.6.9-1.667. Sadly there is no ATrpms file for that kernal and I'm wondering how to update my kernel without internet access from my Linux partition?

 

Thanks,

[martouf 0]

short answer: sneakernet, localareanet or another OS.

 

sneakernet ::= carry files to the linux host on removable media

(thumb drive, CD, Zip)

 

localareanet ::= grab files on another machine and share them over a 'room area' network.

 

another OS ::= boot another OS (WinXP, Win2k, etc) on the same machine

and grab the files you want, then boot Linux and mount the Win filesystem.

 

you've got your choice of new kernel- and kernel-doc- rpms here:

http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/updates/3/i386/

 

check for other rpms you'll need to get using "rpm -q --requires -p name-of-kernel.rpm"

(look for lines like "package-name = version.string" in the output)

 

once you've got the collection of rpms together: "rpm -Uhv *.rpm"

 

[ned99 0]

Thanks for the help martouf but I've run into another problem i was hoping you could help me with.

 

So i downloaded a madwifi compatible kernel from http://atrpms.net/dist/fc3/kernel/

but when i try and install it I get an error message that the file can't be read and that I should check the permission settings. This happens even after I've logged in as root in the terminal.

 

Sorry to keep bugging you about this but I really don't want to give up on Linux and go back to windows so soon.

 

Thanks a lot,

 

oh yeah the kernel I downloaded was this one: kernel-2.6.10-1.760_12.rhfc3.at.i686.rpm

[martouf 0]

hmm.. show me. I need to see two (short!) things.

 

login as root again and show me the output of "ls -l name.of.file.rpm"

and "id -a"

 

oh, and you're not bugging me 8) .. really. not.

 

[ned99 0]

Hey, thanks a lot for your help martouf but I've finally managed to get my wireless card working. This is my first post from my Linux partition! All I had to do was download and install a kernel version that had a compatible madwifi driver. It only took me 3 days to figure that out! Well I'm going to start downloading updates and begin trying to get my iPod to work. Thanks a lot for helping such a newbie.

 

Cheers!

[21x3 0]

Thank you martouf and ned99,

I've been following this thread with mounting hopes since I too have the same problem as ned99.

ned99, please be specific as to the rpms you downloaded and installed because I can't seem to find a matching pair.

Thanks again.

[ned99 0]

Hey 21x3.

 

Okay so this is how I got it to work.

 

For the new kernel go to: http://atrpms.net/dist/fc3/kernel/

I used kernel-2.6.10-1.760_12.rhfc3.at.i686.rpm because I'm using a single processor pentium 4. If you're using an AMD chipset try kernel-2.6.10-1.760_12.rhfc3.at.x86_64.rpm but stay away from smp unless you're running a multi processor system.

 

Now download the appropriate kernel and burn it on a CD.

 

Then go to: http://atrpms.net/dist/fc3/madwifi/ and find the driver that EXACTLY matches your kernel version. So for me it was:

 

Kernel: kernel-2.6.10-1.760_12.rhfc3.at.i686.rpm

Driver: madwifi-kmdl-2.6.10-1.760_FC3-0.9.4.12-15.rhfc3.at.i686.rpm

 

Make sure if you got a i686 kernel to get the i686 madwifi (and not the i586).

 

Now burn the dirver on a CD.

 

Okay so reboot into Fedora and insert the CD. Open the CD folder and double click the kernel rpm package. It should install automatically. Now double click on the madwifi package. It should also install. Now reboot.

 

If you're using a bootloader (like GRUB) then you'll notice that you now have the option of booting into two different Fedora Core kernels. Pick the one you just installed. When Fedora is loading you should get a configure new hardware prompt. If your router uses DHCP then select that. If not, you'll need to manually input the appropriate information. After configuring Fedora will load and you'll be online.

 

WARNING! When you're downloading updates be careful not to download ANY kernel updates or eles madwifi will stop working.

 

Hope this works for you.

 

Cheers,