Posts: 6
Kman
Joined: 22 Feb 2008
#1
Hi there, I've been with Linux 2 months, mostly with Opensuse. Started with Antix today, and looking forward to wireless.

Would someone please get me started with how to get a wireless PCI card recognized. Trendnet TEW423PI (Emachine, 600mhz, 256 Ram, 10gig HD, works well wired thru my router. I am familiar with ndiswrapper.

Thanks, and looking forward to the assistance.

It's COLD in Kansas right now.
Posts: 200
moron
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
#2
Hi Kman. Welcome to antiX.

Here are a couple of useful wiki entries

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/Using_Ndiswrapper"
linktext was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/ ... diswrapper"
====================================


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/Wireless_connection"
linktext was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php/ ... connection"
====================================

(They are written for Mepis but work the same with antiX except for
the KDE specific instructions)

You can use the driver for Windows that came with your card on the
installation disk or you can google for an appropriate driver download.
Create a folder in your home directory and name it driver
Copy the .inf (driver) file and the .sys (if available) to that folder

Assuming you're running antiX Lysistrata w/ fluxbox . . . .

Right-click on desktop to bring up menu
Left-click on Terminal
In Terminal, type su and hit enter
Type your root password and hit enter

Type ndiswrapper -l (enter)
this should bring up a list of native drivers
(yours will not be in there but do this to make sure
ndiswrapper is installed / working)

remove any drivers in ndiswrapper that you will not be using
(you don't absolutely have to do this but it might help avoid
conflicts)
to remove drivers........ndiswrapper -e <drivername> (enter)

cd to the driver folder you created earlier
once there, and with the card inserted
type ndiswrapper -i <drivername> (enter)
type ndiswrapper -l (enter) and you should see
the driver you installed
the"hardware present" message
type modprobe ndiswrapper (enter)

type mnetwork (enter) to bring up the mepis network assistant
in the General tab
choose appropriate settings for your connection
be sure to click Apply

in the Wireless tab
enter access information
click Apply

in the Interfaces tab
choose appropriate interface
tic Start at boot
click Apply
click OK

Reboot Computer

You should be good to go.
If not, open Terminal
type su (enter)
type root password (enter)
type dhclient <interface> (enter)

And / Or: reopen the network assistant (mnetwork) and
recheck the info you entered. Tic Start/restart on Apply
in the Interfaces tab. Click Apply. Once renewed, click OK
and exit Terminal.

Hope it goes well for you. If not, check the wiki and
post back here.
Posts: 6
Kman
Joined: 22 Feb 2008
#3
Thanks, if it helps any, below is what I get:
(I have changed many settings in mnetwork, can't get it recognized)
(BTW, there is an emulator of my router at:


========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.trendnet.com/emulators/TEW-632BRP/index.html"
linktext was:"http://www.trendnet.com/emulators/TEW-632BRP/index.html"
====================================


where you can click on"login" and go thru all the"buttons")



ndiswrapper -l
device present

lspci
01:0b'0 Realtek .........RTL 8185..Wireless Lan Controller


iwconfig
lo now wireless extensions
etho no wireless extensions

ifconfig shows eth0 to be the wired card with the MAC ending in 20:6e,

(eth0 is the WIRED connection, to 192.168.10.103, which is the box in question, with a MAC that ends in 20:6e)

the WIRELESS card has a different MAC, ending in 8f:bf

Can ping 127.0.0.1 (first time I ever pinged anything)

ifup wlan0 no such device

??
Posts: 200
moron
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
#4
Kman
There appears to be no driver in ndiswrapper for your card. Try installing the driver via ndiswrapper and then check for its presence.

Also, under the Interfaces tab in Mepis Network Assistant, make sure the"Settings for" selector is showing wlan0, tic Start at boot, tic Use DHCP to get IP settings (provided, of course you don't use a static IP address (your router is set for dynamic)). Be sure to click Apply anytime you make changes / enter info in the network assistant.
Posts: 6
Kman
Joined: 22 Feb 2008
#5
I think I tried to abbreviate too much,
on ndiswrapper -l I got, among about 12 others

net8185 : driver installed
device (10EC:8185) present


this had been there after the initial install, which made
me happy, and surprised. After it didn't work, I deleted
net8185 with ndiswrapper, and reinstalled net8185.inf as
per the mepis.org sites you mentioned, from the CD that
came with the card. Again I saw the above.

I think the problem is linking the card with wlan0

The machine always"sees", or looks for the hardwired
card, with a specific MAC, and sort of sees the wireless
card (with a different MAC) but doesn't connect.

Willing to post anything and everything necessary to get
it going.

Thanks to all, but how do you say"thanks moron"?
(and where in NC, was there 2 years ago, joined a great
group of old time fiddlers in Old Fort just east of
Ashville)
Posts: 200
moron
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
#6
Kman
I'm about 300 miles northeast of Old Fort on Lake Gaston but am very familiar with that area as we have a vacation home near Linville Falls (30 miles or so northeast of Old Fort above Marion). Great area to visit and/or live. And, btw, we visited Kansas a few years back.....drove across the state from Topeka to Dodge City. Enjoyed Kansas quite a bit.

Now, don't lose patience. We (and by"we" I refer to the antiX community) will get your wireless up and running, eventually.

Did you modprobe ndiswrapper after installing the driver?

I would suggest you go back into Mepis Network Assistant (Alt/F2 mnetwork)
and disable eth0 (don't allow it to start at boot). Set up everything under wlan0. If you are indeed using DHCP make sure both the General tab and the Interfaces tab reflect that. Then reboot and see what you have. If the card & driver are there, the info properly entered, and you still have no wireless connection run dhclient wlan0 from terminal as su.

If still no luck, you might try entering the mac address manually in your router.
Posts: 6
Kman
Joined: 22 Feb 2008
#7
took out most drivers, including mine
reloaded mine (just the .inf, is it necessary to do the .sys also?)
did modprobe
in interfaces, took all checks out of eth2, and all others (except wlan0) and hit apply after each one
checked"start at boot" for wlan0" > apply
Under"General" checked"manual",(not Automatic- Networkmanager)"Disable" under Ndiswrapper Preference, and Use DHCP in Configure Domain Name
In Wireless, my ssid, and No Encryption and hit"apply" after each one

On my router, accessed by another computer,
Wireless enabled
SSID broadcast enabled
Wireless security disabled, (was WPA-AUTO)
Wireless connection is 802.11n AP enable (does the fact that it is"n" matter?)
MAC filters disabled
Closed router (don't know if this was necessary)
Checked internet access, +, not surprising, haven't disconneted the cable and haven't rebooted
rebooted without disconnecting cable
No internet connection

Ran dhclient, got

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
wlan0: Error while getting interface flags: No such device
wlan0: Error while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Posts: 6
Kman
Joined: 22 Feb 2008
#8
hmmmmm
Just for fun I typed dhclient again, and it sought out the eth0 card and connected via the wire, guess I should have removed the wire. Guess I'll have to go back into mnetwork and take out eth0 again, and remove the wire.

Will remain patient
Posts: 200
moron
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
#9
kman
In the early days both the .inf and .sys files were to be copied to the driver folder. It may not be necessary with drivers today but, as a rule, I always copy both and have always had success except with one particular Netgear driver. I would give it a shot....can't hurt. I am about to run out of ideas for you but I am trying to research this out a bit further. It will probably be tomorrow before I get back to you, though. It's very close to bedtime here (after 9:00 PM (I'm an old man)). I'll be back. Meanwhile, someone else may come along with a solution for you or maybe you'll get it going yourself in short order. Keep heart!
Posts: 200
moron
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
#10
Just ran across this from another forum.......
Smile Trendnet TEW-423PI (PCI) wireless working
I am posting this to help others out there that might be using the trendnet brand.

02:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 19
I/O ports at 2000
Memory at e2001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2


I got this card working by installing win98 drivers from the included CD using nisdwrapper