Need help setting up a Netgear MA401 Rev D card

Wed Jul 2 15:21:33 PDT 2003

Hi
    I have a Netgear MA 401 rev D wireless card and I have been trying 
to get it to work with Linux. My installation is :

    RH Linux 9.0, custom compiled kernel (2.4.20) with the acpi patch.

    I tried following the advice on Steve's Laptop homepage 
(http://www.stevewatts.com/computers/laptop/).

    I am using the CVS version (presumably more recent than 0.0.3) of 
hostap, and found that it makes little sense to include an alias to 
hostap_pci after compilation with pccard (please see the webpage above 
to understand what I am saying).

    Accordingly, I tried the following :

[root at nanak hostap]# make hostap
gcc -I/usr/src/linux/include -O2 -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -g -c  
-DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h 
-fomit-frame-pointer -E -D__GENKSYMS__ driver/modules/hostap.c | \
       /sbin/genksyms -k 2.4.20 > driver/modules/hostap.ver
In file included from driver/modules/hostap.c:21:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:15:1: warning: "_set_ver" redefined
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h:3,
                from <command line>:1:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/modsetver.h:9:1: warning: this is the 
location of the previous definition
gcc -I/usr/src/linux/include -O2 -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -g -c  
-DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h 
-fomit-frame-pointer -E -D__GENKSYMS__ driver/modules/hostap_crypt.c | \
       /sbin/genksyms -k 2.4.20 > driver/modules/hostap_crypt.ver
In file included from driver/modules/hostap_crypt.c:18:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/module.h:15:1: warning: "_set_ver" redefined
In file included from /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h:3,
                from <command line>:1:
/usr/src/linux/include/linux/modsetver.h:9:1: warning: this is the 
location of the previous definition
gcc -I/usr/src/linux/include -include driver/modules/hostap_crypt.ver 
-include driver/modules/hostap.ver -O2 -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -g 
-c  -DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h 
-fomit-frame-pointer -o driver/modules/hostap.o driver/modules/hostap.c
[root at nanak hostap]# make pccard
gcc -I/usr/src/linux/include -include driver/modules/hostap_crypt.ver 
-include driver/modules/hostap.ver -O2 -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -g 
-c  -DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h 
-fomit-frame-pointer -o driver/modules/hostap_cs.o 
driver/modules/hostap_cs.c
gcc -I/usr/src/linux/include -include driver/modules/hostap_crypt.ver 
-include driver/modules/hostap.ver -O2 -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -g 
-c  -DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h 
-fomit-frame-pointer -o driver/modules/hostap_crypt.o 
driver/modules/hostap_crypt.c
gcc -I/usr/src/linux/include -include driver/modules/hostap_crypt.ver 
-include driver/modules/hostap.ver -O2 -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -Wall -g 
-c  -DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux/include/linux/modversions.h 
-fomit-frame-pointer -o driver/modules/hostap_crypt_wep.o 
driver/modules/hostap_crypt_wep.c

Run 'make install_pccard' as root to install hostap_cs.o
Run 'make install_plx' as root to install hostap_plx.o
Run 'make install_pci' as root to install hostap_pci.o

[root at nanak hostap]# make install_pccard
Installing hostap_crypt*.o to /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/net
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/net
cp -f driver/modules/hostap_crypt*.o 
/lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/net
Installing hostap.o to /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/net
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/net
cp -f driver/modules/hostap.o /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/net
Installing hostap_cs.o to /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/pcmcia
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/pcmcia
cp -f driver/modules/hostap_cs.o 
/lib/modules/2.4.20-LAPTOP-APR082003/pcmcia
/sbin/depmod -ae

    Relevant section of my /etc/modules.conf :
alias eth0 eepro100
#alias eth1 orinoco_cs
alias wlan0 cisco_ipsec
alias wlan0 hostap_pci
#alias eth1 hostap_pci

For some strange reason, the redhat tool "neat" does not permit creation 
of anything other than ethX.

Upon booting, I get a "hostap_pci wlan0 device not present, delaying 
initialization" kind of error.  My /etc/sysconfig/networking/ifcfg-wlan0 
(created by hand) reads as :

DEVICE=wlan0
IPADDR=dhcp
NETMASK=255.0.0.0
#NETWORK=141.213.20.0
# If you're having problems with gated making 127.0.0.0/8 a martian,
# you can change this to something else (255.255.255.255, for example)
BROADCAST=255.255.255.255
ONBOOT=yes
NAME=Wireless

This is symlinked into /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ .

My /etc/pcmcia/config.opts file is unchanged from its default setting (I 
had hand compiled pcmcia-cs packages earlier when I was trying out 
hostap_cs). I just edited my /etc/pcmcia/hostap_cs.conf file :

device "hostap_pci"
   class "network" module "hostap_crypt", "hostap", "hostap_pci"

card "NETGEAR MA401 11Mbps 802.11 WLAN Card"
   version "NETGEAR MA401 Wireless PC", "Card", "Version 01.00"
   bind "hostap_pci"

card "Intersil PRISM2 Reference Design 11Mb/s WLAN Card"
   version "INTERSIL", "HFA384x/IEEE"
   bind "hostap_pci"

card "Netgear MA401"
   version "NETGEAR MA401 Wireless PC", "Card", "Version 01.00"
#   manfid 0x0156, 0x0002
   bind "hostap_pci"

# Optional configuration parameters for hostap_cs.o
#module "hostap_cs" opts "channel=3 iw_mode=3 essid=test ignore_cis_vcc=0"

(Probably does not make much sense as I am using the pci driver, but I 
am totally lost here.).

My /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts file reads as :
case "$1" in
netgear,*,*,00:09:5B:48:D4:E6)

(the rest being identical to the example on Steve's webpage).

My /etc/pcmcia is :
PCMCIA=yes
PCIC=yenta_socket
PCIC_OPTS=
CORE_OPTS=
CARDMGR_OPTS=
SCHEME=netgear

My /sbin/lspci yields :

00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1621 (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation PCI to AGP Controller (rev 01)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link 
Controller Audio Device (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV]
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] 
(rev 08)
00:10.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c3)
00:11.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 PMU
00:13.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ6812 Cardbus Controller (rev 05)
00:14.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1 
(rev 5d)

Is using the make pci route flawed and I should try the make pccard route ?

I am not a newbie at Linux but have no experience in dealing with 
wireless or PCMCIA devices.

Any help will be appreciated,

Thanks,

MS