Wifi notebook woe's

Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

I recently purchased a gateway laptop:
http://www.hsn.com/cnt/prod/default.aspx?webp_id=2265109&web_id=2265109&sz=0
&sf=ec&dept=&cat=&subcat=&gs=&attr=50&prev=hp!sf!50&ocm=&afsrc=1&sourceid=Netconcepts

It works great as good as anything can in windows, but when I tried to use the latest gentoo 64-bit edition with it. I can't seem to get the wifi to work. Anybody with this laptop know how to get the wifi card working with gentoo? Any help would be appreciated.

edit by nixnut: [url] tags don't work with ! in the url, so removed the tags and inserted a line break to prevent a mile wide page.

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

Pleas post the output from lcpci
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x1um1n · Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 9:43 am Post subject:

most likely your problem is that the wifi chipset isn't supported..
I've got around this problem by using ndiswrapper+windows driver..

I've never managed to get the ndiswrapper in portage working, but I've had great success by compiling my own..

hope this helps
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Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

i don't really know how to compile my own driver... so i guess thats out of the window.. I really don't want to run a pre-packaged distro on my laptop but i will have no option if i can't get the wifi to work. when you say whats teh output from lcpci... do i just type in lcpci into the livecd prompt? I havent installed gentoo yet because i havent been able to get on the net.

Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

i tried install gentoo and i can't even get the wired connection to work. damn now im in real trouble.

beatryder · Veteran Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 1138

post the output of "lspci" please
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x1um1n · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:47 am Post subject:

to get ndiswrapper up and running, which you will have to do regardless of which distro you use if your wifi card is unsupported, all you need to do is compile it against the kernel you're running..

to do this you need to download the source tarball from the link I posted previousley, then unpack it to /usr/src (as root) then compile:

x1um1n · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:55 am Post subject:

sorry, I just re-read your post and realised you hadn't actually installed yet..
the instructions I've given will work for an already installed gentoo, whet you need to do is either get wired networking up and running and install with that and then follow my instructions..

or, install using the guide for installing without net access then follow my instructions..

either will work, tho if you can install using wired networking you'll find that you don't need to do a hefty update to bring your system into line as soon as you're online..

what are your issues with wired networking?
I take it it doesn't "Just Work"TM.. have you followed the instructions in the gentoo handbook for getting eth0 up and running?
it should be quick and painless unless your laptop has *very* strange hardware..
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Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

for the wired networking i followed the guide, basically i just brought up gentoo amd64 version, checked it with /sbin/ifconfig, and i got a strange ip address like 127.0.0.1, which will not work on my network. I tried using net-setup eth0 to set up my wired connection, i set up everything correctly and then i checked it with ifconfig eth0. ill try again when i get back home.

x1um1n · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:14 pm Post subject:

127.0.0.1 is your loopback address, its the same (and required) on all UNIX systems, its for net.lo, you need to setup the address for net.eth0, either by assigning it yourself or by using DHCP..

which you use depends on your network..
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Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

alright here the relevant parts of lspci:

Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

i have a sneaking suspision that the wired network card works on this computer as when i put in the gentoo live cd and boot up it is able to get an ip address via DHCP (192.168.1.101) but the internet still won't work either by pinging or by using links....

beatryder · Veteran Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 1138

ndiswrappers are your only hope, unless you wanna go to ebay and get an ipw2200 card.
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Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

do i need ndiswrappers to get my wired card working? is it not supported?

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

FOR WIRED:
Please supply the output from ifconfig -a
When you boot from the Gentoo LiveCD, are you able to connect to the net?
Do you get an IP address? If yes, can you ping your router / modem's IP address ?

FOR WIRELESS:
You might prefer to wait till you have the wired connection working, and Gentoo installed, as IMHO it is a lot easier to deal with at that point.
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Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

alright i had to write this out since the internet wasnt working on this sucker...

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

From that output, it appears that eth0 is ethernet-over-firewire..
and eth1 is your nic.

If you are able to ping your router's ip address, then the card seems to be working.. The next issue to fix is name resolution..
What (in windows) do you use as your DNS nameservers, and are they entered in your /etc/resolv.conf in your linux box ?

The example listed below works as my router acts as a forwarding nameserver...

sample

Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

IT WORKS!!!! thanks so much for your help guys... now i can finally install gentoo.

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

x1um1n · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:42 am Post subject:

cool, good to see you've got it working..

looks like your wifi has the exact same chipset that i've got so you'll def have to use ndiswrapper as I described..

the good news is that the winsucks drivers that came with your laptop should work ok & you won't need to d/l other ones..

as theRat says, install with wired then worry bout wifi, my instructions should have it up and running in no time when you've installed..
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Cryptix · Guru Joined: 06 Mar 2005 Posts: 315

where can i find the windows drivers for my wifi? it didn't come with a cd it just got auto-detected by windows.

x1um1n · Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:02 pm Post subject:

if you look on the ndiswrapper wwwsite there is a table of wifi card manufacturers and links to drivers that have been tested against ndiswrapper and def work..
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