I got over my kernel compile anxiety and I sucessfully am running Kernel 2.6.15.1
after multiple days of tinkering I had my computer(and still for the most part) running flawlessly. I dumped ndiswraapper because it kept causeing the kernel (both 2.4 and 2.6) to crash. I went to the mad-wifi drivers. The card is an atheros card, and the drivers work without a hitch, so far. I had my computer all set to get an ip from the server, and it worked fine for a few days. After a few days my configuration stopped working. and i don't know why. It ironically happened when I was starting the computer to make a backup of the working config. anyway, I know what i changed the first time.
I edited:
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf
Also as a note, I had to change wlan0 to ath0 because of the new drivers.
I commented out the lines for my wired card, then uncommented some of the wlan lines.
in particular the essid and the dhcpc=yes line
this setup worked for a few days, and has now stopped getting my ipaddress when i start my computer.
here is my dmesg
nick@peachtree:/etc/rc.d$ dmesg
Linux version 2.6.15.1 (root@peachtree) (gcc version 3.3.6) #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri F
eb 3 23:13:48 UTC 2006
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000e0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000000bec0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000bec0000 - 000000000bef8000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 000000000bef8000 - 000000000bf00000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ffb80000 - 00000000ffc00000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000fff00000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
190MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 48832
DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
DMA32 zone: 0 pages, LIFO batch:0
Normal zone: 44736 pages, LIFO batch:7
HighMem zone: 0 pages, LIFO batch:0
DMI 2.3 present.
ACPI: RSDP (v000 AMI ) @ 0x000ff980
ACPI: RSDT (v001 DELL MUMMY 0x20000802 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x0bef0000
ACPI: FADT (v001 DELL MUMMY 0x20000802 MSFT 0x00000097) @ 0x0bef1000
ACPI: DSDT (v001 DELL DIM_L 0x00000012 MSFT 0x0100000b) @ 0x00000000
Allocating PCI resources starting at 10000000 (gap: 0bf00000:f3c80000)
Built 1 zonelists
Kernel command line: auto BOOT_IMAGE=Slackware ro root=1601
Local APIC disabled by BIOS -- you can enable it with "lapic"
mapped APIC to ffffd000 (011ef000)
Initializing CPU#0
PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 10, 16384 bytes)
Detected 565.013 MHz processor.
Using tsc for high-res timesource
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Memory: 188356k/195328k available (2886k kernel code, 6480k reserved, 939k data,
220k init, 0k highmem)
Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok.
Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 1131.08 BogoMIPS (lpj=565542)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: After generic identify, caps: 0383f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
00000000 00000000
CPU: After vendor identify, caps: 0383f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0
0000000 00000000
CPU: L1 I cache: 16K, L1 D cache: 16K
CPU: L2 cache: 128K
CPU: After all inits, caps: 0383f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000040 00000000 0000000
0 00000000
Intel machine check architecture supported.
Intel machine check reporting enabled on CPU#0.
mtrr: v2.0 (20020519)
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
ACPI: setting ELCR to 0200 (from 0e08)
CPU0: Intel Celeron (Coppermine) stepping 03
SMP motherboard not detected.
Local APIC not detected. Using dummy APIC emulation.
Brought up 1 CPUs
NET: Registered protocol family 16
ACPI: bus type pci registered
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfda95, last bus=1
PCI: Using configuration type 1
ACPI: Subsystem revision 20050902
ACPI: Interpreter enabled
ACPI: Using PIC for interrupt routing
ACPI: PCI Root Bridge [PCI0] (0000:00)
PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
Boot video device is 0000:00:01.0
PCI quirk: region 0400-047f claimed by ICH4 ACPI/GPIO/TCO
PCI quirk: region 0500-053f claimed by ICH4 GPIO
PCI: Transparent bridge - 0000:00:1e.0
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0._PRT]
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.PCI0.PCI1._PRT]
ACPI: Power Resource [URP1] (off)
ACPI: Power Resource [URP2] (off)
ACPI: Power Resource [FDDP] (off)
ACPI: Power Resource [LPTP] (off)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKA] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 *11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 *10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] (IRQs *3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 *9 10 11 12 14 15)
Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
pnp: PnP ACPI init
pnp: PnP ACPI: found 11 devices
SCSI subsystem initialized
usbcore: registered new driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new driver hub
PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
PCI: If a device doesn't work, try "pci=routeirq". If it helps, post a report
PCI: Ignore bogus resource 6 [0:0] of 0000:00:01.0
PCI: Bridge: 0000:00:1e.0
IO window: d000-dfff
MEM window: ff800000-ff8fffff
PREFETCH window: f6a00000-f6afffff
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1e.0 to 64
Machine check exception polling timer started.
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x03 (Driver version 1.16ac)
apm: overridden by ACPI.
audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)
audit(1139379500.986:1): initialized
Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996
okir@monad.swb.de).
Initializing Cryptographic API
io scheduler noop registered
io scheduler anticipatory registered
io scheduler deadline registered
io scheduler cfq registered
ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF]
lp: driver loaded but no devices found
Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones
agpgart: Detected an Intel i810 E Chipset.
agpgart: detected 4MB dedicated video ram.
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xf8000000
[drm] Initialized drm 1.0.0 20040925
PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K,PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 4 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
00:07: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP(,...)]
lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
dmfe: Davicom DM9xxx net driver, version 1.36.4 (2002-01-17)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKC] enabled at IRQ 3
PCI: setting IRQ 3 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:0a.0[A] -> Link [LNKC] -> GSI 3 (level, low) -> IRQ
3
eth0: Davicom DM9009 at pci0000:01:0a.0, 00:01:53:82:5a:a1, irq 3.
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ICH: IDE controller at PCI slot 0000:00:1f.1
ICH: chipset revision 2
ICH: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xffa0-0xffa7, BIOS settings: hda
MA, hdb
io
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xffa8-0xffaf, BIOS settings: hdc
MA, hdd
MA
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: WDC WD200BB-75DEA0, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hdc: QUANTUM FIREBALLlct15 07, ATA DISK drive
hdd: YAMAHA CRW2200E, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: Host Protected Area detected.
current capacity is 39062500 sectors (20000 MB)
native capacity is 39063024 sectors (20000 MB)
hda: Host Protected Area disabled.
hda: 39063024 sectors (20000 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=38753/16/63, UDMA(66)
hda: cache flushes not supported
hda: hda1
hdc: max request size: 128KiB
hdc: 14668290 sectors (7510 MB) w/418KiB Cache, CHS=15522/15/63, UDMA(33)
hdc: cache flushes not supported
hdc: hdc1 hdc2 < hdc5 >
hdd: ATAPI 40X CD-ROM CD-R/RW drive, 8192kB Cache, UDMA(33)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
libata version 1.20 loaded.
usbmon: debugfs is not available
USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v2.3
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKD] enabled at IRQ 9
PCI: setting IRQ 9 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:1f.2[D] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 9 (level, low) -> IRQ
9
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1f.2 to 64
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: UHCI Host Controller
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
uhci_hcd 0000:00:1f.2: irq 9, io base 0x0000ef80
hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
usbcore: registered new driver usblp
drivers/usb/class/usblp.c: v0.13: USB Printer Device Class driver
Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usbcore: registered new driver usb-storage
USB Mass Storage support registered.
usbcore: registered new driver usbhid
drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
oprofile: using timer interrupt.
NET: Registered protocol family 2
IP route cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
TCP established hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 98304 bytes)
TCP bind hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 98304 bytes)
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 8192)
TCP reno registered
ip_conntrack version 2.4 (1526 buckets, 12208 max) - 212 bytes per conntrack
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input0
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2002 Netfilter core team
ipt_recent v0.3.1: Stephen Frost <sfrost@snowman.net>.
(******)url not allowed until I post5 times
cts/ipt_recent/
arp_tables: (C) 2002 David S. Miller
TCP bic registered
NET: Registered protocol family 1
NET: Registered protocol family 17
ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.7
ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
Using IPI Shortcut mode
ReiserFS: hdc1: found reiserfs format "3.6" with standard journal
logips2pp: Detected unknown logitech mouse model 74
input: PS/2 Logitech Mouse as /class/input/input1
ReiserFS: hdc1: using ordered data mode
ReiserFS: hdc1: journal params: device hdc1, size 8192, journal first block 18,
max trans len 1024, max batch 900, max commit age 30, max trans age 30
ReiserFS: hdc1: checking transaction log (hdc1)
ReiserFS: hdc1: journal-1153: found in header: first_unflushed_offset 6584, last
_flushed_trans_id 41487
ReiserFS: hdc1: journal-1206: Starting replay from offset 178189603183032, trans
_id 0
ReiserFS: hdc1: journal-1299: Setting newest_mount_id to 40
ReiserFS: hdc1: Using r5 hash to sort names
VFS: Mounted root (reiserfs filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 220k freed
Adding 497972k swap on /dev/hdc5. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:497972k
ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
ath_hal: 0.9.16.13 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413, DFS)
wlan: 0.8.4.2 (Atheros/multi-bss)
ath_rate_sample: 1.2
ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (Atheros/multi-bss)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:0b.0[A] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 9 (level, low) -> IRQ 9
wifi0: 11a rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
wifi0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36 Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: turboA rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP
wifi0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 3.6
wifi0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons
wifi0: Atheros 5212: mem=0xff8f0000, irq=9
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNKB] enabled at IRQ 10
PCI: setting IRQ 10 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:09.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
So.. when i found out that my tweaks stopped working, i went to this bulletin and looked at the advice from before. I have no /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf file to edit...
some help on how to set one up, and include it into the startup scheme.
I also hand installed my wireless tools, and they work to set my access point and essid. but the settings don't last past a restart.
special note to add
when i configure the card like this in a terminal:
#iwconfig ath0 essid masterpeace ap **:**:....(the actual value)
#ifconfig ath0 up;dhcpcd ath0
...the card works fine like it is now. Is there a way to set a script up to do this while it loads, because it might be the easiest way for me. Especially since i don't want to try to even explain to the windows user people that use my box that they must type in my root password, and run these commands. It is WAY over their heads!
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Nick
PS - if you see anything in the dmesg that looks like i might be able to disable on startup, that would be awesome. I am always competing startup times with my dad's laptop on winXP and my computer that is much much older loads faster, and the faster i gaet it to go, the closer i am to get him to convert to Linux!
PPS When i tried to post this, it said i couldn't link to outside urls.. and apearently some snowman dot net url is in my dmesg... and i dont know why.. help on that would be great as well