Device not present: IPW2200

BoyWonder410 · #1 10th October 2006, 01:22 PM

Hey all, my wifi works about 1/3 of the time. Sometimes when I boot i get the error that "ipw2200 device eth1 does not seem to be present", which is odd, because it's integrated.

The odd thing is the in the ouptut of iwlist scan eth1 isn't there, the device name is __tmp1804289383
whatever is causing the device name to change (sometimes) is probably the source of the problem,
any help would be great.

[root@localhost jcress]# /sbin/iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

__tmp1804289383 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:17

F:37:05:10
ESSID:"WKU-WIRELESS"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Quality=35/100 Signal level=-79 dBm
Extra: Last beacon: 120ms ago
Cell 02 - Address: 00:30:BD:8F:F6:EE
ESSID:"belkin54g"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Channel:11
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Quality=87/100 Signal level=-43 dBm
Extra: Last beacon: 28ms ago

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

sit0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

[root@localhost jcress]# /sbin/ifdown eth1
[root@localhost jcress]# /sbin/ifup eth1
ipw2200 device eth1 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization.
[root@localhost jcress]#

ms1234 · #2 10th October 2006, 05:10 PM

Did the kernel update between the boots? Did you get the matching ipw2200 modules?

stevea · #3 10th October 2006, 07:11 PM

I saw this behaviour on FC5 about 5 months ago. The problem went away shortly after it appeared. I think an upgrade will fix it.
The name was sometimes screwed up on boot, but also after suspend/restore.
BTW you can use /sbin/ifrename to fix the interface name.

BoyWonder410 · #4 10th October 2006, 08:05 PM

you're right, I experienced the same problem on FC5, when suspending/restoring, but never on boot.

Honestly, i'm not sure if the correct kernel modules are installed, i would expect them to be, but the name is correct some of the time, other times it's not. I'll check on the verion # for the modules.

stevea · #5 11th October 2006, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoyWonder410

you're right, I experienced the same problem on FC5, when suspending/restoring, but never on boot.

Honestly, i'm not sure if the correct kernel modules are installed, i would expect them to be, but the name is correct some of the time, other times it's not. I'll check on the verion # for the modules.

???? Your modules have to match your kernel - otherwise they won't load. Get onto the current kernel (I think 2.6.17-1.2187_FCx for FC4 & FC5) with a yum update if you are not.

BoyWonder410 · #6 11th October 2006, 07:03 PM

is it odd that i can't figure out what version of the module i have?

[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$ uname -r
2.6.18-1.2747.fc6
[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$ rpm -q ipw2200-kmdl
package ipw2200-kmdl is not installed
[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$

i may very well not have it installed?

[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$ locate ipw2200
/home/jcress/downloads/sys/ipw2200-fw-3.0.tgz
/lib/firmware/ipw2200-2.4-LICENSE
/lib/firmware/ipw2200-3.0-LICENSE
/lib/firmware/ipw2200-bss.fw
/lib/firmware/ipw2200-ibss.fw
/lib/firmware/ipw2200-sniffer.fw
/lib/modules/2.6.18-1.2747.fc6/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw2200.ko
/usr/share/doc/ipw2200-firmware-3.0
/usr/share/doc/ipw2200-firmware-3.0/ipw2200-2.4-LICENSE
/usr/share/doc/ipw2200-firmware-3.0/ipw2200-3.0-LICENSE
[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$

i dunno... it has to be installed right? i mean, it's working right now.

[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$ yum search ipw2200
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Setting up repositories
Reading repository metadata in from local files

ipw2200-firmware.noarch 3.0-1.lvn6 livna
Matched from:
ipw2200-firmware
Firmware for the ipw2200-driver
This package contains the firmware needed by the ipw2200 driver. The
ipw2200 driver supports the ipw2200-802.11bg and ipw2915-802.11abg
WLAN-Cards from Intel found in many Centrino notebooks.

Usage of the firmware is subject to the terms contained in
/usr/share/doc/ipw2200-firmware-3.0/LICENSE. Please read
the license carefully.
http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/

ipw2200-firmware.noarch 3.0-1.lvn6 installed
Matched from:
ipw2200-firmware
Firmware for the ipw2200-driver

This package contains the firmware needed by the ipw2200 driver. The
ipw2200 driver supports the ipw2200-802.11bg and ipw2915-802.11abg
WLAN-Cards from Intel found in many Centrino notebooks.

Usage of the firmware is subject to the terms contained in
/usr/share/doc/ipw2200-firmware-3.0/LICENSE. Please read
the license carefully.

http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/
[jcress@ip030-148 ~]$

BoyWonder410 · #7 11th October 2006, 08:04 PM

i tried using /sbin/ifrename
I get the following error:
Error: Can't open configuration file '/etc/iftab': no such file or directory

does this relate to my problem? how do i fix this?

grosminet · #8 11th October 2006, 08:28 PM

rpm -Uvh ipw2200-firmware
if you have internet connection
wget http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/5/i386/i...vn5.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh ipw2200-firmware
or with the tarball
http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php
version 2.4 (
you must agree the license
ipw2200-fw-2.4.tgz.
put it in the directory
/lib/firmware
mv ipw2200-fw-2.4.tgz /lib/firmware

tar xvzf ipw2200-fw-2.4.tgz
message of the result
LICENSE
ipw-2.4-boot.fw
ipw-2.4-bss.fw
ipw-2.4-bss_ucode.fw
ipw-2.4-ibss.fw
ipw-2.4-ibss_ucode.fw
ipw-2.4-sniffer.fw
ipw-2.4-sniffer_ucode.fw
Activation of the firmware
in a terminal
su -
rmmod ipw2200
modprobe ipw2200
after you can configure your connection by
system-config-network &
for connection wifi, you must use NetworkManager
it s a service you can start for the first time
service NetworkManager start
when the function works well, you can modifie your chkconfiig

stevea · #9 11th October 2006, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoyWonder410

i tried using /sbin/ifrename
I get the following error:
Error: Can't open configuration file '/etc/iftab': no such file or directory

does this relate to my problem? how do i fix this?

I believe that iftab is created by ifrename (/etc/iftab is not part of any package).
It's a simple text file and should look like:
eth0 mac 00:0D:60:F8:7C:40
eth1 mac 00:0E:35:46:4D:B1
-- that's all, except YOUR mac addresses

As root take down all the interfaces (ifconfig eth0 down # for example) then try
ifrename -i _tmp128371 -n eth1
(or whatever).

stevea · #10 11th October 2006, 08:42 PM

dup - sorry 'bout that

stevea · #11 11th October 2006, 08:56 PM

>> is it odd that i can't figure out what version of the module i have?

No - it's not trivial - as I said it's part of the kernel distribution

# rpm -qf /lib/modules/2.6.17-1.2187_FC5/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw2200.ko
kernel-2.6.17-1.2187_FC5

'dmesg | grep ipw' produces a line like:
ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, git-1.1.1
where "git-1.1.1" is the driver version (yeah really).

The 2.6.17 kernels contained a "1.1.1" version of the ipw2200 driver. The 2.6.18 kernels include a "1.1.2" version.

BoyWonder410 · #12 11th October 2006, 11:32 PM

so, what i ended up doing was creating a /etc/iftab file that looked like this:
wlan* driver ipw2200

that worked, i don't know why, but it did.

Iron_Mike · #13 12th October 2006, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoyWonder410

so, what i ended up doing was creating a /etc/iftab file that looked like this:
wlan* driver ipw2200

that worked, i don't know why, but it did.

If you want to find out the versions of your ipw2200 and ieee80211, look in your /var/log/dmesg file. It will look like this:

ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.13
ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.1.2kmprq

or something similar