ipw2200, kernel 2.6.16-gentoo-r13 - strange problem

[alla333]

Hi everyone,

I have a strange problem with my wireless card after upgrading to 2006.1 profile and doing "make world". The built-in wireless card works, but only after ipw2200 module is loaded and removed three times. The card worked fine before upgrade.

I am using ipw2200 kernel module (not the one from portage) and ipw2200-firmware 2.4. The system is Dell Latitude D610 laptop. Kernel version is 2.6.16-gentoo-r13.

When the computer booots the ipw2200 module loads and the following message appears in dmesg:

ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, git-1.0.8
ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2005 Intel Corporation
ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
ipw2200: Unable to load ucode: -62
ipw2200: Unable to load firmware: -62
ipw2200: failed to register network device
ipw2200: probe of 0000:03:03.0 failed with error -5

Then I do "rmmod ipw2200" and "modprobe ipw2200", I get a different error in logs:

ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, git-1.0.8
ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2005 Intel Corporation
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:03.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
ipw2200: Unable to load firmware: -1
ipw2200: Unable to load firmware: -1
ipw2200: failed to register network device
ipw2200: probe of 0000:03:03.0 failed with error -5

I do "rmmod ipw2200" and "modprobe ipw2200" again and then it starts working! I have tried several times, it's always like this. Somtimes it takes four remove-inserts to get it working.

Sometimes I also get the following error messages:

Dec 26 20:23:47 shiny kernel: ipw2200: Failed to send TX_POWER: Command timed out.
Dec 26 20:23:51 shiny kernel: ipw2200: Unable to initialize device after 5 attempts.
Dec 25 00:51:58 shiny kernel: ipw2200: Failed to send WEP_KEY: Command timed out.

Did anybody expreience similar symptoms or knows the solution? It's a bit of a pain to insert and remove the module to get the card working.

Thanks.

Alla.

[mjrosenb]

I'm sort of surprised that removing the kernel module works. When I had 2.6.16, I had massive problems with wireless never working. I've heard that the in kernel drivers are borked. Were you using this kernel before upgrading? if not, I'd recommend upgrading to some newer version. I've had it working on 2.6.17 and 2.6.19, I don't believe that I've ever tried 2.6.18, but it should work.
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