# ipw2200 doesn't work?

## bunder

hi there,

was looking at my wireless and i can't seem to get it working.  installed the stuff in the kernel as built-in (i hate modules), and rebooted.  it picks up my card, but doesn't assign it an interface.  so when i run iwconfig all i see is eth0 (wired) and lo.

any help would be great.  i can post kernel config and logs, just ask.

cheers

----------

## bunder

aww hell, i might as well post anyways.   :Laughing: 

```
ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.1.2k

ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation

ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

ipw2200: ipw2200-bss.fw request_firmware failed: Reason -2

ipw2200: Unable to load firmware: -2

ipw2200: failed to register network device

ipw2200: probe of 0000:02:03.0 failed with error -5

ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.13

ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>

ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'

```

okay, do i have the firmware installed?

```
bunder ~ # emerge -av ipw2200-firmware wireless-tools

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

[ebuild   R   ] net-wireless/ipw2200-firmware-3.0  0 kB

[ebuild   R   ] net-wireless/wireless-tools-28  USE="nls -multicall" 0 kB

Total size of downloads: 0 kB

```

maybe udev isn't picking up the firmware...

```
bunder ~ # /lib/udev/firmware.sh

udev firmware loader misses sysfs directory

```

what?  no way...

```
bunder sys # ls -l /sys

total 0

drwxr-xr-x 12 root root 0 Jan 12 02:22 block

drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 0 Jan 12 02:23 bus

drwxr-xr-x 29 root root 0 Jan 12 02:23 class

drwxr-xr-x  7 root root 0 Jan 12 02:22 devices

drwxr-xr-x  3 root root 0 Jan 12 02:22 firmware

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 0 Jan 12 02:22 fs

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 0 Jan 12 02:23 kernel

drwxr-xr-x 41 root root 0 Jan 12 16:22 module

drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 0 Jan 12 02:22 power

```

i'm stumped.   :Laughing: 

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## EvilGenius

Got exactly the same problem over here.

I dumped the external drivers from portage (which worked quite well) and wanted to use the more-up-to-date from the kernel.

----------

## bunder

 *EvilGenius wrote:*   

> Got exactly the same problem over here.
> 
> I dumped the external drivers from portage (which worked quite well) and wanted to use the more-up-to-date from the kernel.

 

do the portage ones work any better?  i may switch then... considering i already have fglrx as a module.   :Smile: 

cheers

----------

## nost4r

With kernel 2.6.19-gentoo-r4 

It's worked yesterday and not with 2.6.18-gentoo-r6 but now with .19 i 've dhcp timed out ....

----------

## EvilGenius

 *bunder wrote:*   

>  *EvilGenius wrote:*   Got exactly the same problem over here.
> 
> I dumped the external drivers from portage (which worked quite well) and wanted to use the more-up-to-date from the kernel. 
> 
> do the portage ones work any better?  i may switch then... considering i already have fglrx as a module.  
> ...

 

They worked at least a little bit (I had fglrx as module, too). But I had problems with dhcpcd just shutting down/crashing after a while (Connection with DD-WRT on Linksys WRT54G with WPA+AES) which caused the ip getting lost (executing "dhcpcd eth1" solved this, at least for a couple of minutes), so I thought i switch to the kernel drivers since they are more up-to-date. I remember they worked some time ago (with kernel 2.6.17 if I remember correctly), but now with 2.6.19-r4 no way, they did not recognize the firmware.

----------

## HTS

Don't understand,

I have everything working with kernel 2.6.17-r5 (in kernel module)... since then I tried every single kernel release and had weird issues such as hotmail and other websites being unreachable (boot back to 17-r5 and the issue disappears...).

So today, I tried the ipw2200 ebuild (external module). Removed all the stuff from the kernel as prompted and everything, and now I get the following:

```
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :

    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.

 *   eth1 does not support setting keys
```

What kind of a joke is this?

EDIT:

Okay, now I'm stumped... Read in another thread that the ipw2200 ebuilds were pending removal and that we should use in-kernel   modules. Fair enough, I reverted everything to my old config (yes I copied my old .config so I'm sure I didn't change anything) and now it works....... No more issues.

Here's a summary of my setup:

gentoo-sources 2.6.19-r5

```

Networking --->

   [*] Networking support

      <*>   Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack

      ---     IEEE 802.11 WEP encryption (802.1x)

      <*>     IEEE 802.11i CCMP support

      <*>     IEEE 802.11i TKIP encryption

      <*>     Software MAC add-on to the IEEE 802.11 networking stack

Device Drivers --->

   Network device support --->

      [*] Network device support

      Wireless LAN (non-hamradio)  --->

      [*] Wireless LAN drivers (non-hamradio) & Wireless Extensions

         [ ]   Wireless Extension API over RtNetlink

         < >   Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Connection

         <M>   Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG and 2915ABG Network Connection

         [ ]           Enable promiscuous mode

         [ ]           Enable QoS support

         [ ]           Enable full debugging output in IPW2200 module.

Cryptographic options  --->

      ---   AES cipher algorithms

      <*>   AES cipher algorithms (i586)

      ---   Michael MIC keyed digest algorithm

      <*>   CRC32c CRC algorithm

```

PS: --- means required (hence included) by another included module.

----------

## champ

bunder,

Just a thought. You say you have everything built-in to the kernel. But for ipw2200 card, ieee80211 must be installed as a module. That might be your problem.

----------

## HTS

Ok my problm reappeared as soon as I rebooted... tried ieee as a module or built-in, didn't make any difference. hotmail is stuck on "Waiting for login.live.com".

Works with kernel 17-r5 or ethernet...

----------

## bunder

 *champ wrote:*   

> bunder,
> 
> Just a thought. You say you have everything built-in to the kernel. But for ipw2200 card, ieee80211 must be installed as a module. That might be your problem.

 

lovely.  i hate modules.   :Laughing: 

i'll try it and get back to you... probably tomorrow.

cheers

----------

## EvilGenius

 *champ wrote:*   

> bunder,
> 
> Just a thought. You say you have everything built-in to the kernel. But for ipw2200 card, ieee80211 must be installed as a module. That might be your problem.

 

That did the trick for me! I just had to configure the in-kernel-driver for ipw2200 as module, too. Otherwise I was not able to configure ieee80211 as module. Now everything (except wpa_gui) is working again.

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## champ

EvilGenius,

You are right I just looked at my system. It is ipw2200 itself that must be run as a module. ieee80211 and everything else can be built-in to the kernel.

Sorry  :Sad: 

By the way bunder, I hate modules too. In fact ipw2200 is the only module I have.

----------

## grx

Well, I've configured my kernel just as HTS above, and I still get the ipw2200-bss.fw request_firmware failed error.  I've also tried compiling the kernel with ieee80211 as a module, and no go.  

I'm using gentoo-sources-2.6.18-r6.

Anyone with this kernel getting it to work?

----------

## champ

grx,

I just tried the gentoo-sources-2.6.18-r6 this last weekend. I got the error that it cannot load the module. But it seems to be an error with loading of modules, not just the ipw2200, since it was also complaining about alsa and some other program.

I switched back to gentoo-sources-2.6.18-r3 which works ok.

----------

## bunder

 *grx wrote:*   

> Well, I've configured my kernel just as HTS above, and I still get the ipw2200-bss.fw request_firmware failed error.  I've also tried compiling the kernel with ieee80211 as a module, and no go.  
> 
> I'm using gentoo-sources-2.6.18-r6.
> 
> Anyone with this kernel getting it to work?

 

i never got a chance to.  nuked my partition table the other day and i haven't gotten around to reinstalling gentoo.

----------

## grx

I tried updating to the 2.6.19-r4 kernel, but I get the same problem.  I haven't yet tried reverting to an earlier version of 2.6.18.  Anyone else find a solution to this?

----------

## grx

I just discovered the problem, and I'm afraid I may have to be demoted back to Tux's lil' helper...

When I switched to the kernel driver, I also unemerged ipw2200-firmware.  Apparently the firmware is not included in the kernel, so after the kernel make you need to emerge ipw2200-firmware.  All works great now!

Maybe they'll send me back to n00b even...   :Laughing: 

----------

## homry

 *champ wrote:*   

> EvilGenius,
> 
> It is ipw2200 itself that must be run as a module. ieee80211 and everything else can be built-in to the kernel.
> 
> 

 

this also worked for me. i use the suspend-sources 2.6.19-r1

homry

----------

## cfriedt

I'm using ipw2200-1.1.3 and ipw2200-firmware-3.0 but starting the wireless device as an init service ___always____ fails. It's been like that ever since I switched to a kernel >= 2.6.18 . 

Here is some debugging info: (my network is ddwrt, i just use mac filtering & no WEP on the access point)

this seemingly worked without problems:

```

$ modprobe ieee80211_crypt

$ modprobe ieee80211

$ modprobe ipw2200

```

dmesg output:

```

$ dmesg

ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'

ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, 1.1.13

ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>

ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.1.3mprq

ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation

PCI: Enabling device 0000:03:03.0 (0000 -> 0002)

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:03.0[A] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 23

ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

ipw2200: Detected geography ZZM (11 802.11bg channels, 0 802.11a channels)
```

Now keep in mind, my settings in /etc/conf.d/net are correct. I know this because i never experienced this problem before switching to kernels >= 2.6.18.

```

$ /etc/init.d/eth.eth1 restart

 * Starting eth1

 *   Configuring wireless network for eth1

 *   Couldn't associate with any access points on eth1

 *   Failed to configure wireless for eth1                                [ !! ]

```

When doing this, I saw that the signal strength would flicker highly for a moment, and then drop to zero, but dmesg didn't produce any output at all.

Then i did a 

```

$ rmmod ipw2200

$ modprobe ipw2200 debug=4

$ dmesg

ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.1.3mprq

ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation

PCI: Enabling device 0000:03:03.0 (0000 -> 0002)

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:03.0[A] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 23

ipw2200: U ipw_pci_probe pci_resource_len = 0x00001000

ipw2200: U ipw_pci_probe pci_resource_base = f88f4000

ipw2200: U ipw_sw_reset Hardware crypto [off]

ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

ipw2200: U ipw_get_fw Read firmware 'ipw2200-bss.fw' image v3.0 (191126 bytes)

ipw2200: U ipw_load initial device response after 10ms

ipw2200: U ipw_stop_master stop master 0ms

ipw2200: U ipw_load_ucode Microcode OK, rev. 53594 (0xd15a) dev. 3 (0x3) of 11/22/04 20:27

ipw2200: U ipw_load device response after 50ms

ipw2200: U ipw_eeprom_init_sram Writing EEPROM data into SRAM

ipw2200: U ipw_send_adapter_address eth1: Setting MAC to 00:13:ce:d5:7e:9b

ipw2200: U ipw_up Configured device on count 0

ipw2200: I ipw_rx_notification TODO: Calibration

ipw2200: Detected geography ZZM (11 802.11bg channels, 0 802.11a channels)

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'mkh (00:30:3f:50:18:b5)' excluded because of privacy mismatch: off != on.

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'ddwrt (00:40:10:10:00:03)' is a viable match.

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'Sitecom (00:0c:f6:01:cd:06)' excluded because 'ddwrt (00:40:10:10:00:03)' has a stronger signal.

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'Einfeld (00:04:e2:b9:e6:f8)' excluded because 'ddwrt (00:40:10:10:00:03)' has a stronger signal.

ipw2200: U ipw_associate_network Assocation attempt: 'ddwrt', channel 6, 802.11g [12], long[:long], enc=off. 

ipw2200: U ipw_associate_network Association sensitivity: -48
```

So at this point i've modprobed and the signal strength does not drop to zero, which i thought was strange. 

Now let me try the init service, so that I can obtain a dhcp assigned address. 

```
$ /etc/init.d/net.eth1 restart

 * Starting eth1

 *   Configuring wireless network for eth1

 *   Couldn't associate with any access points on eth1

 *   Failed to configure wireless for eth1                                [ !! ]

```

Hmm... that's not surprising.

Now, check out dmesg:

```
 

$dmesg

...

... (about 1000x)

...

<7>ipw2200: U ipw_associate Not attempting association (in disassociating)

 <7>ipw2200: U ipw_associate Not attempting association (in disassociating)

 <7>ipw2200: U ipw_associate Not attempting association (in disassociating)

 <7>ipw2200: U ipw_associate Not attempting association (in disassociating)

 <7>ipw2200: U ipw_associate Not attempting association (in disassociating)

 <7>ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'mkh (00:30:3f:50:18:b5)' excluded because of privacy mismatch: off != on.

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'ddwrt (00:40:10:10:00:03)' excluded because of storming (2352ms since last assoc attempt).

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'Sitecom (00:0c:f6:01:cd:06)' excluded because of privacy mismatch: off != on.

ipw2200: U ipw_best_network Network 'Einfeld (00:04:e2:b9:e6:f8)' excluded because of privacy mismatch: off != on.

ipw2200: U ipw_debug_config Scan completed, no valid APs matched [CFG 0x00000340]

ipw2200: U ipw_debug_config Channel unlocked.

ipw2200: U ipw_debug_config ESSID unlocked.

ipw2200: U ipw_debug_config BSSID unlocked.

ipw2200: U ipw_debug_config PRIVACY off

ipw2200: U ipw_debug_config RATE MASK: 0x00000FFF

ipw2200: U ipw_deinit Aborting scan during shutdown.

ipw2200: U ipw_deinit Took 63ms to de-init

ipw2200: U ipw_net_stop dev->close
```

That's somewhat surprising....

I've figured out a temporary 'userland' fix for this after bringing up Gnome:

```
$ iwconfig eth1 txpower auto

$ dhcpcd eth1
```

but then, say if i wanted to start a service that depended on net.* this would all break again, and i'd have to set it up manually again. I've even tried adding these two lines to the init script _with_ a delay of 5 seconds, but nothing.

Anyway, this bug is a bit of a pain, because my wireless network will not associate on startup, which in turn disables several other things from starting up, spitting out a bunch of ugly error messages. 

I just want my wireless device to work like it's supposed to, but i've been doing this manual thing for months upon months.

Any suggestions?

----------

