ndiswrapper working every third boot

[marek_online]

Hi,

I have a strange problem on Gutsy. I'm using ndiswrapper for my wireless networking, to get the most out of my Broadcom wireless card. Everything's set up and working fine, and I have network manager loading a startup so that the first thing I see is a kwallet password request and get automatically connected to the network at home.

However, for some strange reason this only happens every third boot. When it doesn't work, it appears that there is no wireless device picked up by the system (so wlanassistant doesn't see one either, for example) - it's not just network manager.

I've tried unloading and reloading the ndiswrapper module, but I get an error telling me that I can't remove the module because it is in use.

It's the every third boot thing I can't figure - from what I can tell it's a regular three boots required. What could be causing this?

I'm using the 2.6.22-14-generic kernel with ndiswrapper 1.43.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Bongo5HH]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot

wow that's strange!

Someone here will know what changes every three boots. Might be a system log update or something?

BUT what I want to ask is are you sure you need ndiswrapper? I haven't tried using my Laptop's wireless card in Gutsy yet but I see that the Restricted Drivers module recognizes the card and offers to use a firmware that I suspect will make it work.

The Restricted Drivers module is in the System Settings and under "advanced"

Kev

[marek_online]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot


Hi,

Nah, the native driver just isn't up to it for me yet. It works okay, but gives a maximum transfer rate of 24Mb/s, when the ndiswrapper gives maximum of 54Mb/s. Makes a difference in network speed by quite a bit.

[Bongo5HH]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot

Hi,

Nah, the native driver just isn't up to it for me yet. It works okay, but gives a maximum transfer rate of 24Mb/s, when the ndiswrapper gives maximum of 54Mb/s. Makes a difference in network speed by quite a bit.

Hey thanks for letting me know! You just saved me some time playing with it. I'll just keep using my plug in card.

Kev

[aya]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot

I am getting the same problem on Mandriva 2008 with ndiswrapper. Some time it loads some time it does not. But nothing as regular as every third boot, it happens randomly for me.

[marek_online]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot


Yeah. I've paid much closer attention to it, and it's not every third boot (though three seems to be the magic number when it's not working, it's more often two reboots are required than anything else).

If it's happening on Mandriva too, then it's definitely an ndiswrapper issue. Guess we'll just have to wait for an update.

What processor are you using? Mine's a 2xAMD64. Might that be part of what's causing the issue? And why it doesn't appear to be happening to many people?

[stealthbanana]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot

Are you using 64 bit Gutsy?

If so, remove the installed drivers and remove ndiswrapper completely.

I was having it crash my system, fixed it by downloading the latest ndiswrapper source and installing it using Module-assistant. Worked perfectly from then, I have seen some other people having this problem.

[aya]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot

I am on mandriva 32 bit, so it is NOT a CPU issue.

[marek_online]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot

I was having it crash my system, fixed it by downloading the latest ndiswrapper source and installing it using Module-assistant. Worked perfectly from then, I have seen some other people having this problem.

Ah, I have noticed the odd crash. Rare enough though, but because of problems I'd been having with my graphics driver too I thought it was something to do with that.

Thanks for the warning.

[marek_online]

Re: ndiswrapper working every third boot


Hmmm. Installed the latest stable ndiswrapper from source last night, and uninstalled the ndiswrapper debs in the repositories. Still had to do the magic three boots to get it working.

Something just seems to not like my hardware.