Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswrapper

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Greenpalmer
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Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswrapper

Post by Greenpalmer »

Hi again - hopefully this is my last request for help in solving problems!

I have been in the process of switching from Win XP to Linux Mint for a couple of months and now feel sufficiently comfortable with Mint that I am ready to completely ditch XP and use Mint as my main system.

But I have one remaining problem:

My laptop has a Broadcom 43222 dual band abgn wireless PCI card that with XP connects at 300mbps, and as I have a 100mbps connection through my ISP I usually download stuff at the full possible speed - 100mbps.

Thanks to the help of people on this forum I was able to get the wireless working under Mint using the b43 driver, however the connection speed is much lower - I am only getting a maximum of about 12mbps which is more or less OK for internet browsing but for downloading I really notice the much slower speed.

With Linux Mint 13 Maya I was able to install the Windows driver using the "Windows Wireless Drivers" program in the Administration menu (i.e. ndiswrapper) and this gave me a much faster connection speed.

However Mint 17 Qiana does not have the "Windows Wireless Drivers" program in the Administration menu so I installed ndiswrapper via the Synaptic Package Manager but when I run it to install the Windows driver I get the following error message:

"Module could not be loaded. Error was:

modprobe: FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.

Is the ndiswrapper module installed?"

Does anyone have any ideas what the problem is? Thanks in advance for all help and advice.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
gtsfer

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by gtsfer »

What package(s) exactly did you install for ndiswrapper? Take a look at this link... http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 4&t=101574

In addition, if you want a GUI front end for ndiswrapper, add "ndisgtk" as well. It'll show up as "Windows Wireless Drivers" somewhere in your menus. You're using Package Manager to install, right?
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I did make sure to install all the five ndiswrapper elements that show up on Synaptic:

ndiswrapper-source
ndiswrapper-dkms
ndiswrapper-common
ndiswrapper-utils-1.9
ndisgtk

and I do have "Windows Wireless Drivers" in the Administration section of the menu, so it's all exactly the same as it was with Mint 13 Maya except it's a later version of ndiswrapper.

From googling around it seems as though there is some problem with this version of ndiswrapper (1.9) but I don't know how to fix it/get around it.
gtsfer

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by gtsfer »

That seems odd, but I get it. I have it installed as well and mine runs ok, but I'm on LMDE, so versions are probably different. Before I suggest removing it completely (with "apt-get purge" and then "apt-get autoremove" commands) and then reinstalling, let me look around a bit. In the meantime someone else may throw their 2 cents in too.
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

Hi,

did you also install mintwifi?(Provides support for about 40 different wireless cards) it contains the drivers for ndiswrapper.
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

Hi again PatH57, and hi gtsfer,

Yes mintwifi was installed along with the rest of the ndiswrapper modules.

I'm thinking I should maybe uninstall ndiswrapper 1.9 and download version 1.7 (same as worked on Mint 13 Maya) - I've seen ndiswrapper 1.7 and 1.8 tar.gz files available on the ndiswrapper sourceforge website but I've never installed from a tar.gz file and there seems to be conflicting (and very complicated) instructions how to do it on the internet so I hesitate to try it.
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

it probably would not work anyway as each version has different dependencies.
driver manager would have proposed the correct drivers on Mint17 anyway (it includes ndiswrapper files)
It's just that the engine of Mint17 is a bit different then Mint13 and doesn't like too much using winxp drivers to do the job.

let's see what we can do with what we have:

Code: Select all

lspci

Code: Select all

nm-tool

Code: Select all

 lshw -C network 
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

Output of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV370/M22 [Mobility Radeon X300]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
03:01.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b3)
03:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 08)
03:01.2 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 17)
03:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43222 Wireless Network Adapter

Output of nm-tool:

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0 [Wired connection 1] -------------------------------------------
Type: Wired
Driver: b44
State: connected
Default: yes
HW Address: 00:12:3F:E0:C9:BB

Capabilities:
Carrier Detect: yes
Speed: 100 Mb/s

Wired Properties
Carrier: on

IPv4 Settings:
Address: 192.168.0.12
Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
Gateway: 192.168.0.1

DNS: 192.168.0.1

Output of lshw -C network:

*-network:0
description: Ethernet interface
product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:12:3f:e0:c9:bb
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=full ip=192.168.0.12 latency=64 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:18 memory:dfcfa000-dfcfbfff
*-network:1
description: Network controller
product: BCM43222 Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 3
bus info: pci@0000:03:03.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=64
resources: irq:17 memory:dfcfc000-dfcfffff
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

ok,

do a reboot then connect with wifi and after a couple of minutes

Code: Select all

dmesg | grep b43
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

I haven't installed the b43 driver as I thought it might get in the way of the ndis/windows driver I'm trying to install, so can't connect via wifi. Do you want me to install it?

Here's the output of dmesg | grep b43 as things currently stand:

[ 18.591079] b43-phy0: Broadcom 43222 WLAN found (core revision 16)
[ 18.632076] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 8, Type 4 (N), Revision 6
[ 18.672525] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2
[ 18.672531] b43 ssb0:0: Falling back to user helper
[ 19.499805] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2
[ 19.499812] b43 ssb0:0: Falling back to user helper
[ 19.557399] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2
[ 19.557406] b43 ssb0:0: Falling back to user helper
[ 19.559534] b43 ssb0:0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2
[ 19.559538] b43 ssb0:0: Falling back to user helper
[ 19.578216] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43/ucode16_mimo.fw" not found
[ 19.578222] b43-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43-open/ucode16_mimo.fw" not found
[ 19.578225] b43-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Dri ... cefirmware and download the correct firmware for this driver version. Please carefully read all instructions on this website.
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

no no don't install anything there is a b43 but doesn't seem to be the correct one.
Give me a couple of minutes to double check on driver org and see what fits to what.
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

I can install the correct b43 and get wifi working by running "sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer" but as I said in my original post I only get a low speed connection - 12mbps at the most - while with the Windows driver I get over 100mbps.
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

with the window driver under Mint13 it was working, no longer supported under Mint17 or ubuntu 14.04 or any new version of linux

so reinstall

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-lpphy-installer

and then we will see again with (after reboot and connected through wifi)

Code: Select all

dmesg | grep b43

where the problem is.
You need to understand that firmware-b43-lpphy is the old winxp driver (just packaged differently)
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

When I ran "sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-lpphy-installer" I received the following output:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package firmware-b43-lpphy-installer is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
However the following packages replace it:
firmware-b43-installer

E: Package 'firmware-b43-lpphy-installer' has no installation candidate

So I ran "sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer" and rebooted and am now connected via wifi. I ran "dmesg | grep b43" and here's the output:

[ 18.624808] b43-phy0: Broadcom 43222 WLAN found (core revision 16)
[ 18.692078] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 8, Type 4 (N), Revision 6
[ 22.836052] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

well it was one or the other. that's why it's difficult to troubleshoot if someone did already try to install, logs don't report the correct "errors"

what speed do you get so far?

when it drops run the dmesg again to check for errors.
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

The b43 driver, although it does allow me to connect wirelessly, has limitations.

It will only connect in wireless-g mode and is therefore only capable of a maximum of 54mbps although as I said I rarely get above 12mbps.

That's why I'd really like to get the Windows driver working and get wireless-n mode and speeds over 100mbps as I can using Mint 13 Maya.

Here's the dmesg output now (same as before):

[ 18.462293] b43-phy0: Broadcom 43222 WLAN found (core revision 16)
[ 18.528312] b43-phy0: Found PHY: Analog 8, Type 4 (N), Revision 6
[ 22.940060] b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

ok.

but the windows driver trick will no longer work in Mint 17 (too many things are different between 13 and 17)
Now you are lucky broadcom finally has a new linux driver (last time I checked there was nothing a month ago)
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

That is really interesting news!

Now it's dinner time and I can hear some cold beers calling me as well so I will probably not experiment with the new Broadcom driver until tomorrow but I will post again when I have.

Thanks again for all your help PatH57.
PatH57

Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by PatH57 »

time for a beer to :wink:
Greenpalmer
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Re: Problem installing Windows wireless drivers with ndiswra

Post by Greenpalmer »

Hi again,

Well I downloaded the new Broadcom driver and spent a couple of hours following the very complicated instructions to install it, and after all that it didn't work!

To be fair to Broadcom my wifi card (id = 4350) is not listed in the readme file as being supported, although it does say that it may work for other cards.

So I guess my best option is to stick with Mint 13 Maya.

Maybe it's time for some more beers..........
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