# intel wifi 5100

## indietrash

how on earth do I make this thing work?

I've heard rumours about using the 2.6.27 kernel will make my troubles go away - but WHICH 2.6.27 kernel is it everyone is talking about? Linus's? because his is hard masked into next year according to eix. git? because that one (the latest available through git) is horrendous. I can't even make it.

any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm on a multicom jhl90+ laptop.

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## overkll

I'm running vanilla-sources-2.6.27-rc7 for my atheros 9280.  It's in portage, but you need to unmask it.  I don't know if your card is supported, but I do remember an entry for "Intel Wireless Wifi NextGen AGN".  Maybe that's for you?

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## indietrash

aren't there any troubles running vanilla-sources? e.g. bugs or heavier trouble than that?

EDIT:

can't install the kernel. even though it is both in package.mask, package.unmask and package.keywords.

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## overkll

Strange, all I have is

```
sys-kernel/vanilla-sources ~x86
```

in /etc/portage/package.keywords and I was able to install it.

As far as bugs and such in vanilla-sources, no, it's not buggier.  The issue is that 2.6.27 is the development tree, as the suffix "rc" means "release candidate"  So there are new bug fixes and features/drivers, but there may also be new bugs or regressions.  I needed to use it for snd-intel-hda (nvidia/conexant chipset) and ath9k.  So far it works fine.

The only drawback is that I also have to use the nvidia-drivers beta release because the stable release won't compile against 2.6.27-rc7.  The 2D performance was terrible, but nVidia at least supplied some tips on improving the beta 2D performance on their website - http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14

You can also try to download latest wireless drivers tarball from linuxwireless.org and install it against your current kernel.  I think you need at least 2.6.25.  In my case, I needed 2.6.26 for ath9k.  I was unable to get it to work though.  I kept getting an "undefined symbol" error when modprobing ath9k.

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## vuakko

I would strongly warn however about using the 2.6.27 rc kernels. This morning there was found a serious

regression in the rcs' e1000e module, which can in some cases permanently break your network adapter. Therefore,

if you need the e1000e driver, DO NOT use the rc kernels or at least blacklist it or never compile it! The breakage

may be so bad that only the change of the whole motherboard will fix it.

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## overkll

Do you have a link that references the bug?

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## vuakko

Planet Gentoo also had an announcement about it, you can follow the link path:

Planet Gentoo --> LWN --> Kernel, RedHat, Suse, Ubuntu, Gentoo Bugzillas

EDIT: and yes, Intel Wifi 5100, 5300 do work with 2.6.27.

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## overkll

Good thing I don't have one of those.  I think that's the first time I every heard of software frying hardware in linux.

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## vuakko

Yeah, you can just think how my heart jumped when reading about this. Luckily I used 2.6.26 for installing my new laptop,

but I then started using 2.6.27-rc5 to get my Intel 5300 working. Though I actually had the e1000e module autopulled for a

while (before fixing it), I guess I did only little or no networking with ethernet under 2.6.27. Well at least ethernet still works

in Windows (for some odd reason I'm not testing it in Gentoo for a while...   :Shocked: )

Hopefully the fall-out will stay small.

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## overkll

Did you try the daily wireless tarball from linuxwireless.org like I mentioned in my post above?  I did with gentoo-sources 2.6.26-r1, but when I loaded the ath9k module, it would fail with "undefined symbol" or similar.  It said the symbol was usbnet or something like that.  I'd love to stick with the stable tree.  The nvidia beta driver isn't quite perfect.

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## vuakko

I know nothing about Atheros stuff. I could have used also 2.6.26 for the wireless, but then I should have installed the iwlwifi

module as a package and not as included in the kernel. But because that would have changed anyway when moving on to

more recent kernels, I thought that whatever, I'll try the git kernel for once.

If it complained about missing usbnet, did you check if your kernel has usbnet? It's under USB Network Adapters in menuconfig.

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## overkll

I tried 2.6.26-gentoo-r1 with the latest compat-wireless tarball from linuxwireless.org again today.  I did select the usbnet option.  Modprobing ath9k errored out with

```
ath9k: Unknown symbol rfkill_force_state
```

in dmesg.  Maybe my memory (in my head, not my computer) is going bad, lol.

Looks like I'll have to stay with 2.6.27 anyway since my sound card - intel-hda (nvidia MCP78S/Conexant) stutters, burps, and farts with anything <2.6.27.  Everything works fine, except nvidia's beta driver.  3D performance is fine, there are a few quirks with 2D though.  Guess I can live with that... for now.

27 seems to work pretty damn well for a release candidate.

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## overkll

BTW, does the intel card work well?  In my experience they have the best range - distance out of all the laptop wireless chips I've come across.  I was thinking about replacing this one with an intel pro wireless card.

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## marekd

 *vuakko wrote:*   

> Yeah, you can just think how my heart jumped when reading about this. Luckily I used 2.6.26 for installing my new laptop,
> 
> but I then started using 2.6.27-rc5 to get my Intel 5300 working. Though I actually had the e1000e module autopulled for a
> 
> while (before fixing it), I guess I did only little or no networking with ethernet under 2.6.27. Well at least ethernet still works
> ...

 

I got really scared.

I have intel 5100 on my laptop and really need Gentoo with wifi working there!

I'm quite confused right now - do i need e1000e module to run intel 5100 working with .27 kernels?

You say 5100/5300 works under 2.6.27 kernels, but the only thing is to avoid e1000e modules?

what about iwl5000 modules?

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## vuakko

The e1000e module is for Intel's PCI-E physical ethernet cards, not for wifi. The iwl5000 module is what you need for

the wireless + the ucode package. So you can have wifi. Your physical ethernet most probably requires exactly

e1000e, so stay away from it.

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## marekd

 *vuakko wrote:*   

> The e1000e module is for Intel's PCI-E physical ethernet cards, not for wifi. The iwl5000 module is what you need for
> 
> the wireless + the ucode package. So you can have wifi. Your physical ethernet most probably requires exactly
> 
> e1000e, so stay away from it.

 

unfortunately my lancard is exactly the Intel chipset. So, as far as I understood, using e1000e modules with previous kernels doesn't do any harm to my hardware, only .27-rc5 kernels may destroy my laptop. Because, right nw I have to install my gentoo and somehow download all necessary stuff...

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## overkll

I don't know if it's been fixed yet.  I don't think so.  I just emerged vanilla-sources-2.6.27-rc8 today and it had a big fat ewarn about the e1000e.  Thank goodness I have the nVidia chipset.

I don't see any reason why you couldn't install with a stable kernel.  That's what I did.  I only moved to the .27 series to get my atheros 9280 working, as well as the intel-had (nvidia/conexant) ALSA driver working.

I suppose you could use a .27 series kernel, as long as you disable the e1000e module.  But it's your risk.  You're probably better off waiting till it's fixed.

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## marekd

that's what I want to do right now. Install stable kernel just to run ethernet card, install all needed stuff, and try to install another kernel (like .27 just for my wifi). I may have 2 kernels, in case I need my lan connection, but most of the time I use wifi only. If you use .27 kernel, and just disabled e1000e module and everything works fine for you, why shouldn't it work for me?  :Smile: 

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## overkll

That's what I think as well, but you're the one who has to make the decision.  It seems logical that if the e1000e module is disabled, then one doesn't have to worry about damaging the card.  But if for some unseen reason the card is damaged, the only way to replace it (it's a laptop, right?) is to replace the motherboard since it's an integrated controller.  Either that or use a usb net dongle or a pcmcia net card.

I don't know enough about the exact cause to give advice on this issue.  If I had an e1000e, I'd try to find more info and see if anyone else has successfully accomplished the feat with no damage.  I wouldn't want to be the Guinea pig.

Like I said, it's your decision, and your machine.

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## marekd

 *overkll wrote:*   

> That's what I think as well, but you're the one who has to make the decision.  It seems logical that if the e1000e module is disabled, then one doesn't have to worry about damaging the card.  But if for some unseen reason the card is damaged, the only way to replace it (it's a laptop, right?) is to replace the motherboard since it's an integrated controller.  Either that or use a usb net dongle or a pcmcia net card.
> 
> 

 

yes, it is laptop. what is even worse - is has only smart card slots, and probably linux kernels still don't run smartcard wifi/lan cards.

However, you still claim, that 2.6.27 RC kernels can destroy my lan card, even if I never use or install e1000e module? This is becomming strange and dangerous...;/

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## overkll

I don't make any claims.  All I'm saying is that it's your decision to make and I don't know enough about this bug to give any valueable advice.

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## marekd

it may be a little offtopic, but....

I did some research, asked people from tech support and got answers, that my physical card is Realtek, however chipset is INTEL. That's why I was almost 100% sure I need e1000e modules. But, since I booted minimal gentoo CD (with 2.6.24-r7 kernel) i loaded module r8169. When I plug cable the card works correctly. Yet, still lspci outputs some lines concerning ICH9 Family chipsets.

For example:

Network Controller: Intel Corporation Unknown Device 4237

Ethernet Controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co. , Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 02)

Right now, I must say I don't know what should I look at  :Smile:  Is e1000e MY driver (i mean for my lan card), or even after I install 2.6.26 or 2.6.27 kernel I won't have to use e1000e modules? 

Should I be affraid of  EEPROM corruption? From one side, this is Realtek, and works with realtek module, but this is still Intel chipset.

thanks in advance!

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## overkll

Well, if it's a Realtek ethernet controller, you should be safe.  The e1000e driver in the 27 series only bricks the e1000e chips.  I haven't heard that it bricks other controllers that are on a ICH8/9 chipset.  

I don't think your wrong to be concerned because you have the ICHx chipset.  Seems that the root cause is still unknown.  Here's the latest info I could find.  You can read other devs comments from that thread as well.

EDIT:  Can you try the min-install cd again and run update-pciids?  You'll need to have your network card configured since it'll pull the info from the net.  Then rerun lspci and see if it picks up the unidentified Intel controller.

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## marekd

 *overkll wrote:*   

> Well, if it's a Realtek ethernet controller, you should be safe.  The e1000e driver in the 27 series only bricks the e1000e chips.  I haven't heard that it bricks other controllers that are on a ICH8/9 chipset.  
> 
> I don't think your wrong to be concerned because you have the ICHx chipset.  Seems that the root cause is still unknown.  Here's the latest info I could find.  You can read other devs comments from that thread as well.

 

I've already seen this discussion and read most of it. I am aware that root cause is still not known, but developers found xorg 7.4 sources quite suspicious (using xorg 7.4 wchich is unstable might have been a trigger to corrupt EEPROM in e1000e cards), yet somebody had  similar problems with nvidia chipset.

Once again, I won't use lancard under unstable kernel, only wifi, wchich works correctly.

Anyway, thank you so much for your help, patience and involvement!

EDIT:  I did what you asked for, but after typing update-pciids I only got error like:

```
/usr/share/misc/pci.ids is read-only, exiting.
```

Besides...just to make clear. Does e1000e run ethernet controller or network controller?

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## overkll

 *marekd wrote:*   

> I've already seen this discussion and read most of it. I am aware that root cause is still not known, but developers found xorg 7.4 sources quite suspicious (using xorg 7.4 wchich is unstable might have been a trigger to corrupt EEPROM in e1000e cards), yet somebody had similar problems with nvidia chipset. 

 

Interesting.  Do you have a link for that info?  I wonder if there is any relationship to the intel-i810, mesa, xorg, gem mess.

I'm so glad I exchanged my Intel based laptop for an Nvidia based chipset/graphics card - for now anyway.

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## overkll

 *marekd wrote:*   

> EDIT:  I did what you asked for, but after typing update-pciids I only got error like:
> 
> Code:
> 
> /usr/share/misc/pci.ids is read-only, exiting.
> ...

 

I always use the SysRescueCD instead of the Gentoo installation media.  I know the update-pciids works on that.  I just assumed it would work on the Gentoo CD... guess not.

I'm guessing, but I think the unknown network controller in your lspci output is actually the Intel wireless controller.  In my lspci, the "network controller" is my atheros card:

```
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Ethernet (rev a2)

07:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 002a (rev 01)
```

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## marekd

 *overkll wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Interesting.  Do you have a link for that info?  I wonder if there is any relationship to the intel-i810, mesa, xorg, gem mess.
> 
> I'm so glad I exchanged my Intel based laptop for an Nvidia based chipset/graphics card - for now anyway.

 

http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/9/29/365 - starting from here (more or less).

As I told you this is only suspect, and when I checked it yesterday, developers are not sure if realtek,nvidia cards are sure, because it might not be e1000e only problem. 

According to nvidia card - check this out: http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/10/1/212 . I haven't traced this topic because I don't have nVidia chipset, only nVidia graphics.

Besides, I would be really glad to hear, that if this is X + kernel related problem one of the solution is just use stable version of xorg (7.2?).

BTW. Was the e1000e module from 2.6.26 and 2.6.27 changed?

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## overkll

The nvidia instance was still using an ICH chipset and a nvidia quadro graphics card - Thinkpad T61.  Xorg was 7.4.  So it's still e1000e, ICHx and 2.6.27.

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