[driverloader] Misc. problems with the driverloader module

[Alexandre Cossette-Pacheco]

Sure :)

--------------
I got it from my HP support site. The direct support page is: 
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqnk/us/download/19760.html (which 
contains the link to 
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp23001-23500/sp23088.exe which is the 
driver set)

Notes

    * Updates Windows XP driver for Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 3B Mini PCI 
Adapter to Version 1.2.1.3.
----------------

However, this sp23088.exe is an installshield executable which extracts the 
drivers to a desired location (usually c:\swsetup\) and installs them. You 
can extract the files from this package using the "cabextract" utility which 
may or may not be included in your distro. Else you will have to extract it 
in Windows...

alcos at whitecat alcos $ cabextract sp23088.exe
Extracting cabinet: sp23088.exe
  extracting: \SetupWLD.EXE
  extracting: \SetupWLD.INI
  extracting: \sp23088.cva
  extracting: \W20MLRES.DLL
  extracting: \W20NCPA.DLL
  extracting: \W70MLRES.DLL
  extracting: \w70n51.cat
  extracting: \w70n51.inf
  extracting: \w70n51.sys
  extracting: \w70n5msg.dll
  extracting: \W70NCPA.DLL
  extracting: \WLDMLRES.DLL
Finished processing cabinet.
-------------

For my daemon autoconfigure problem, I can tell that I have the same problem 
no matter if I use 1.2.0.56(my oldest driver), 1.2.1.1 or 1.2.1.3. I will try 
to give you the most I can about that problem.

The daemon I wanted to use is called "waproamd" (Wireless Access Point Roaming 
Daemon) [http://www.stud.uni-hamburg.de/~lennart/projects/waproamd/]. This 
daemon monitors the wireless interface for available access points and can 
then associate the wlan adapter to the AP by configuring the essid + wep key 
or running a custom script according to the detected network (globally 
customisable and per-network customisable). It can further detect when the AP 
association is lost and either choose another network or unset the parameters 
for the wlan adapter.

Once the AP association is made, you can either bring up the interface 
manually (dhcpcd, ifup, etc...) or use a daemon like "ifplugd" which 
autodetect when "a cable is plugged in" in any interface and calls dhcpcd or 
ifup automatically (that is great with a laptop!!). Well that is not the 
point because I had the same problems no matter if I brought the interface up 
manually or via ifplugd.

The PROBLEMS when using the daemon:

1) The first AP association ALWAYS causes "netndis_xmitcomplete_handler: err 
-5" errors and the inability to use the interface. It is always only on the 
first association, no matter if the adapted is powered on when booting or if 
I power on the adapter 1 hour after booting. The solution is to power down 
the adapter (via the little button on my laptop) after having the 
"netndis_xmitcomplete_handler" errors and power it up after 5 seconds. Then, 
the AP association proceeds (like the first time) but I don't get the errors 
anymore and I can bring the interface up without errors.

2) Second problem is that after a certain volume of traffic have passed 
through the adapter, I get either some "NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed 
out" and/or "
ndisWrapCheckForHangTimerFunc_stk: PCI-xxxx.xxxx... hung, resetting" and/or 
"netndis_xmitcomplete_handler: err -5" errors in syslog. And it doen't matter 
if this "volume" of traffic is achieved in 5 minutes or 30 hours: it is only 
after having this traffic that the errors occur.

My guess is that some kind of network systems calls made by waproamd interfere 
with driverloader because it seems that except for monitoring, waproamd uses 
standard tools (iwconfig) for configuring the wlan interface. Also, I have 
made some searches about waproamd and have not found similar issues; usually 
success stories.

I do not have any of these problems if I configure manualy the wlan interface 
(using "iwconfig eth1 essid blah" and "iwconfig eth1 key xyz" and dhcpcd or 
ifplugd).

It would be really great if I could use waproamd because it is very handy to 
have wireless networks autodetected and autoconfigured and waproamd seems to 
do a very great job (except for the problems it causes).

Phew.. long email, I hope this helps!

Thanks and have a nice day!
Alexandre


On January 06, 2004 11:41 am, Linuxant support wrote:
> Hi,
>
> the INF file still says "1.2.0.58", but if you run "strings -el
> /var/lib/driverloader/w70n51.sys", you will see "1.2.1.1".
>
> Did you have this version of the binary file already?
>
> Maybe Alexandre can tell us where he got his "1.2.1.3" from.
>
> Also, please let us know if you have the same results (using a daemon to
> autoconfigure or not).
>
> Regards,
>
> Jean-Simon Durand
> Technical specialist / Linuxant
> www.linuxant.com
> support at linuxant.com
>
>