Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 driver for Linux

On November 28 at 23:26 EST, titan@... hastily scribbled:
> To: ipw2100-devel@...
> From:  Titan <titan@...>
> Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2005 22:07:27 +0000 (UTC)
> Subject: [Ipw2100-devel] NEW VERSION???
>=20
> Hi,when are you going to release a new version of IPW2200 drivers or FIRM=
WARE?
> Because I have on my notebook KERNEL : 2.6.14-r3 , IEEE 1.1.6 , IPW2200 1=
=2E0.8
> AND IPW2200-FIRMWARE 2.4 , and i have got a problems with using aircrack
> utility. My firmware restarts in monitor mode.

First, please don't capitalize every important NOUN in all your SENTENCES.
It makes things harder to read.

Second, read the archives.  Many people have this problem.  Some people have
had success switching back to firmware 2.3.  It's also not specific to
aircrack, it's true with any rfmon-using utility.

Third, be nice to the Intel folks.  They are doing something that is almost
unheard of: they're putting in the effort to fully develop a good Linux
driver for their hardware that offers all the features of the Windows driver
*and more*!  (I don't think Windows supports rfmon in any form.  Maybe I'm
wrong.)

--=20
Thomas Tuttle
A List Apart: For people who make websites. (www.alistapart.com)
email: thinkinginbinary.com | www: http://thinkinginbinary.webhop.net/
aim: thinkinginbinary | jabber: thinkinginbinary.org

Hi,when are you going to release a new version of IPW2200 drivers or FIRMWARE?
Because I have on my notebook KERNEL : 2.6.14-r3 , IEEE 1.1.6 , IPW2200 1.0.8
AND IPW2200-FIRMWARE 2.4 , and i have got a problems with using aircrack
utility. My firmware restarts in monitor mode.

Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop with IPW2916ABG card
Vanilla linux 2.6.13 and 2.6.14.2, no difference
ipw2200 1.0.8 loaded as module, both in and outside kernel tree, no
difference, tried A+BG operation, A only operation and BG operation, no
difference, tried hwcrypto=3D0 and hwcrypto=3D1, no difference.
ieee80211 1.1.6 patched into kernel (standalone doesn't matter).=20
wpa_supplicant 0.4.6-1
Linksys WAP55AG access point (A+BG), both configured, latest available
firmware, tried both separate SSID's for the A and BG and the same,
makes no difference. Running with WPA, TKIP and CCMP (no difference)

With this setup I get disassociations every few minutes. The access
point is about four meters away, reception always > 85%. There are no
access points in sight that use the same or adjacent channel(s).

wpa_supplicant in debug says this at such events, which imho is very
remarkable:
 - Wireless event: cmd=3D0x8b15 len=3D20
 - Wireless event: new AP: 00:00:00:00:00:00
 - Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
 - Added BSSID 00:12:17:a8:5f:0d into blacklist

A new access point 00:00:00:00:00:00???
And why is my own access point blacklisted???

iwevent says, at the same time:
 - 12:44:55.011704   wlan0    New Access Point/Cell
address:00:00:00:00:00:00
 - 12:44:55.018742   wlan0    New Access Point/Cell
address:00:00:00:00:00:00
 - 12:44:58.128802   wlan0    Set Mode:Managed
 - 12:44:58.128860   wlan0    Set ESSID:"1447NC49A"
 - 12:44:59.785880   wlan0    New Access Point/Cell
address:00:12:17:A8:5F:0D

The messages about a new access point being detected (which actually is
not true because I am in a very static environment, it's always the same
set of access points being visible, none of them "A" besides my own)
lead me to the suspicion of a bug in the ipw2200 driver and not the
wpa_supplicant.

FWIW various outputs:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11a  ESSID:"1447NC49A"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.18 GHz  Access Point:
00:12:17:A8:5F:0D
          Bit Rate=3D54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=3D20 dBm
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:...   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=3D90/100  Signal level=3D-39 dBm  Noise level=3D-83 =
dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:7  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

dmesg:

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:03.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 209
ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection
wlan0: NETDEV_TX_BUSY returned; driver should report queue full via
ieee_device->is_queue_full.
CCMP: replay detected: STA=3D00:12:17:a8:5f:0d previous PN 000000000000
received PN 000000000000
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
ipw2200: Unknown notification: subtype=3D40,flags=3D0xa0,size=3D40
CCMP: replay detected: STA=3D00:12:17:a8:5f:0d previous PN 000000000000
received PN 000000000000
ipw2200: Unknown notification: subtype=3D40,flags=3D0xa0,size=3D40
CCMP: replay detected: STA=3D00:12:17:a8:5f:0d previous PN 000000000000
received PN 000000000000
CCMP: replay detected: STA=3D00:12:17:a8:5f:0d previous PN 000000000000
received PN 000000000000
ipw2200: Unknown notification: subtype=3D40,flags=3D0xa0,size=3D40
CCMP: replay detected: STA=3D00:12:17:a8:5f:0d previous PN 000000000000
received PN 000000000000
ipw2200: Unknown notification: subtype=3D40,flags=3D0xa0,size=3D40
ipw2200: Unknown notification: subtype=3D40,flags=3D0xa0,size=3D40
CCMP: replay detected: STA=3D00:12:17:a8:5f:0d previous PN 000000000000
received PN 000000000000

Please note that the "replay" messages do not coincide with the
disconnects.

Try loading it with debug=3D0, i.e.

modprobe ipw2200 debug=3D0

or=20

. load debug=3D0

(see section 11 of INSTALL doc, and Command Line Parameters section of
README)

or you can set it via sysfs, after the ipw2200 module has loaded:

echo 0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level=20

(see section 1.4 of README)

-- Ben --

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipw2100-devel-admin@...
> [mailto:ipw2100-devel-admin@...] On Behalf=20
> Of Peter A. Pilgrim
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:11 PM
> To: ipw2100-devel@...
> Subject: [Ipw2100-devel] Stop IPW2200 Dump Messages in Syslog
>=20
>=20
>=20
> How do stop IPW 2200 dump messages into syslogd e.g /var/log/messages
>=20
>=20
> Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_name=20
> Name: IEEE 802.11g Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U=20
> ipw_wx_get_freq GET Freq/Channel -> 2 Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard=20
> kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_essid Getting
> essid: 'Galaxian'
> Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_mode=20
> Get MODE -> 2 Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U=20
> ipw_wx_get_range GET Range Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel:=20
> ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_wap Getting WAP
> BSSID: 00:09:5b:d7:68:3c
> Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_rate=20
> GET Rate -> 24000000 N
>=20
> What are the right setting for syslogd.conf. I have tried the=20
> following
>=20
> ipw2200.crit                    -/var/log/messages
> ipw2200.error                   -/var/log/messages
> ipw2200.notice                  -/var/log/messages
> ipw2200.*                       -/dev/null
>=20
>=20
> Any help appreciated?
>=20
> --
> Peter Pilgrim
>             __ _____ _____ _____
>            / //__  // ___// ___/   +  Serverside Java
>           / /___/ // /__ / /__     +  Struts
>          / // ___// ___// ___/     +  Expresso Committer
>       __/ // /__ / /__ / /__       +  Independent Contractor
>      /___//____//____//____/       +  Intrinsic Motivation
> On Line Resume
>     ||
>     \\=3D=3D=3D>  `` http://www.orchard.demon.co.uk/no-it-striker.html =
''
>=20
>=20
> -------------------------------------------------------
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> _______________________________________________
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> ipw2100-devel@...
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>=20

How do stop IPW 2200 dump messages into syslogd e.g /var/log/messages


Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_name Name: IEEE 
802.11g
Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_freq GET 
Freq/Channel -> 2
Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_essid Getting 
essid: 'Galaxian'
Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_mode Get MODE -> 2
Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_range GET Range
Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_wap Getting WAP 
BSSID: 00:09:5b:d7:68:3c
Nov 23 02:07:03 orchard kernel: ipw2200: U ipw_wx_get_rate GET Rate -> 
24000000
N

What are the right setting for syslogd.conf. I have tried the following

ipw2200.crit                    -/var/log/messages
ipw2200.error                   -/var/log/messages
ipw2200.notice                  -/var/log/messages
ipw2200.*                       -/dev/null


Any help appreciated?

-- 
Peter Pilgrim
            __ _____ _____ _____
           / //__  // ___// ___/   +  Serverside Java
          / /___/ // /__ / /__     +  Struts
         / // ___// ___// ___/     +  Expresso Committer
      __/ // /__ / /__ / /__       +  Independent Contractor
     /___//____//____//____/       +  Intrinsic Motivation
On Line Resume
    ||
    \\===>  `` http://www.orchard.demon.co.uk/no-it-striker.html ''

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the report.

Do you have a log of the firmware restarts (i.e. dmesg with ipw2200
driver loaded with debug=3D0x43fff?)?

-- Ben --

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipw2100-devel-admin@...
> [mailto:ipw2100-devel-admin@...] On Behalf=20
> Of Bill Moss
> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 10:41 AM
> To: ipw2200
> Subject: [Ipw2100-devel] channel collision, missed beacons,=20
> reassociation, firmware restarts
>=20
> 2.6.14-1.1637_FC4 + ipw2200-1.0.8 + ieee80211-1.1.6, Thinkpad T42
>=20
> Missed beacon, channel collision. Campus wireless network in=20
> office building with DHCP lease time set at 15 minutes.
>=20
> AP D0 in building with strong signal (-50 dBm, noise -82 dBm)=20
> and on channel 1.
>=20
> AP A0 in building next door with weak signal (-74 dBm, noise=20
> -82 dBm) and on channel 1.
>=20
> 9:19 boot to wireless connect to D0.
> 9:25 DHCPREQUEST broadcast and DHCPACK received
> 9:32 Missed beacons observed varying from 0-8 (watch -n4=20
> iwconfig eth1)
> 9:32 iwlist eth1 scan shows only D0
> 9:53 D0 and A0 in scan, both on channel 1
> 10:01:24 Firmware restart
> 10:01:30 Firmware restart
> 10:05:32 Firmware restart
> 10:11:16 Firmware restart
> 10:12 DHCPREQUEST broadcast and DHCPACK received
> 10:13 Reassociation with A0 (-71 dBm, noise -82 dBm)
> 10:13-10:17 associated with A0 Missed beacons fixed a 0
> 10:17 Firmware restart, A0 not in scan, reassociation to D0,=20
> Missed beacons vary 1-5
>=20
> Conclusion: The driver should not be associating with A0=20
> since its signal to noise ratio is low. The weak AP A0 on the=20
> same channel as the strong AP D0 appears to be confusing the driver.
>=20
> --
> Bill Moss
> Professor, Mathematical Sciences
> Clemson University
>=20
>=20
>=20
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the JBoss Inc.  Get Certified Today
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> _______________________________________________
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> ipw2100-devel@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ipw2100-devel
>=20

2.6.14-1.1637_FC4 + ipw2200-1.0.8 + ieee80211-1.1.6, Thinkpad T42

Missed beacon, channel collision. Campus wireless network in office 
building with DHCP lease time set at 15 minutes.

AP D0 in building with strong signal (-50 dBm, noise -82 dBm) and on 
channel 1.

AP A0 in building next door with weak signal (-74 dBm, noise -82 dBm) 
and on channel 1.

9:19 boot to wireless connect to D0.
9:25 DHCPREQUEST broadcast and DHCPACK received
9:32 Missed beacons observed varying from 0-8 (watch -n4 iwconfig eth1)
9:32 iwlist eth1 scan shows only D0
9:53 D0 and A0 in scan, both on channel 1
10:01:24 Firmware restart
10:01:30 Firmware restart
10:05:32 Firmware restart
10:11:16 Firmware restart
10:12 DHCPREQUEST broadcast and DHCPACK received
10:13 Reassociation with A0 (-71 dBm, noise -82 dBm)
10:13-10:17 associated with A0 Missed beacons fixed a 0
10:17 Firmware restart, A0 not in scan, reassociation to D0, Missed 
beacons vary 1-5

Conclusion: The driver should not be associating with A0 since its 
signal to noise ratio is low. The weak AP A0 on the same channel as the 
strong AP D0 appears to be confusing the driver.

-- 
Bill Moss
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
Clemson University

Hi there.

    I got confused while answering one email here and I was corrected. I 
would love if this information could also get included into the 
README.ipw2200. It is not either in the INSTALL.

Please consider applying. Thanks to Dimitris for pointing it out.

abonilla@...$ diff -upr README.ipw2200~ 
README.ipw2200  
--- README.ipw2200~     2005-11-20 19:00:10.000000000 -0600
+++ README.ipw2200      2005-11-20 19:00:10.000000000 -0600
@@ -167,6 +167,9 @@ Where the supported parameter are:
        of the ipw2200 development snapshot releases available from the
        SourceForge project at http://ipw2200.sf.net)
   
+  hwcrypto
+       Using this option will make the driver to use the adapter itself to
+       handle the crypto. hwcrypto=1 is the default option.
   led
        Can be used to turn on experimental LED code.
        0 = Off, 1 = On.  Default is 0.

ipw2200-1.0.8 does not report noise level in scans produced by 'iwlist 
ethx scan'. In fact, most drivers do not report noise level in scans. Is 
this a physical limitation due to the nature of a scan or is this a 
feature that is not turned on? Does the firmware use a threshold to cull 
out access points that are too weak?

-- 
Bill Moss
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
Clemson University

When NetworkManager switches from a wireless to a wired connection, it 
brings the wireless interface down which includes disassociating it from 
an access point. In this case NetworkManager would expect 'ethtool ethx' 
to report 'Link detected: no'. NetworkManager currently uses the code

       /* Clean up stuff, don't leave the card associated */
       if (nm_device_is_wireless (dev))
       {
               nm_device_set_essid (dev, "");
               nm_device_set_enc_key (dev, NULL, 
NM_DEVICE_AUTH_METHOD_NONE);
               nm_device_set_mode (dev, NETWORK_MODE_INFRA);
               nm_wireless_set_scan_interval (dev->app_data, dev, 
NM_WIRELESS_SCAN_INTERVAL_ACTIVE);
       }

This does not work with ipw2200-1.0.8. This is equivalent to

iwconfig ethx essid ""

which does not have the desired effect, that is, 'iwconfig ethx' and 
'ethtool ethx' show no change in association status. The ipw2200 
function 'ipw_wx_set_essid' supposedly interprets "" as ANY.

The workaround I am using is the code

       /* Clean up stuff, don't leave the card associated */
       if (nm_device_is_wireless (dev))
       {
               nm_device_set_essid (dev, " ");
               nm_device_set_enc_key (dev, NULL, 
NM_DEVICE_AUTH_METHOD_NONE);
               nm_device_set_mode (dev, NETWORK_MODE_INFRA);
               nm_wireless_set_scan_interval (dev->app_data, dev, 
NM_WIRELESS_SCAN_INTERVAL_ACTIVE);
       }

that is I set the essid to a single space. This does cause 
disassociation and 'ethtool ethx' reports 'Link detected: no' but it 
seems kind of a hack.

Is there a better way for NetworkManager to force disassociation so that 
'ethtool ethx' reports 'Link detected: no'? Is it possible to fool 
ethtool so that is reports 'Link detected: yes' when there is no 
association?

-- 
Bill Moss
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
Clemson University


-- 
Bill Moss
Professor, Mathematical Sciences
Clemson University

I am in a very good signal environment. And, I still see Firmware
restart all the time. For example, look at

Nov 17 11:17:21 kernel: ipw2200: Firmware error detected.  Restarting.
Nov 17 11:21:23 kernel: ipw2200: Firmware error detected.  Restarting.
Nov 17 11:29:33 kernel: ipw2200: Firmware error detected.  Restarting.
Nov 17 11:43:15 kernel: ipw2200: Firmware error detected.  Restarting.
Nov 17 12:16:39 kernel: ipw2200: Firmware error detected.  Restarting.
Nov 17 12:33:10 kernel: ipw2200: Firmware error detected.  Restarting.

Every time I have a firmware error, my connection drops - that means
wpa_supplicant has to reestablish connection. And, I lose the VPN
connection to my company. Means, my work is getting interrupted every
10-20 minutes. Very paiful.

I would like to help give more debugging output but the only other
message I get in /var/log/messages is

Nov 17 12:33:10 kernel: ipw2200: Sysfs 'error' log already exists.

Is there another way to get more useful debugging output?

thanks,
Osho

On 11/17/05, Bradley Chapman <kakadu@...> wrote:
> Mr. Bonilla,
>
> On 11/16/05, Alejandro Bonilla <abonilla@...> wrote:
> > On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:31:53 +0000, Bradley Chapman wrote:
> > > Are you testing in a poor-signal environment? The vast majority of
> > > the firmware restarts I get (sometimes in a CPU-intensive loop too!)
> > > are in areas with extremely poor signal reception. When I get within
> > > line-of-sight range of an AP with no obstructions, I get no firmware
> > > restarts _at_ _all_.
> >
> > I get them even 5 feet away from the AP's. I dunno, but I always use 80=
2.11b,
> > maybe people with G has no problems but the people with .b do?
>
> I use 802.11g regularly in poor signal environments with WDS-linked
> APs and get no end of firmware restarts.
>
> Brad
> --
> SCREW THE ADS! http://adblock.mozdev.org/
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
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> _______________________________________________
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>


--
Osho

Hi,

I have a problem when I want to connect to an Access point with
another channel than 10 or 11. I'm using the 1.0.8 of ipw2200 module
and 2.4 of the firmware.

For example we can see the channel 6 with "iwlist scanning" but
"iwconfig eth1 essid my_ssid" don't connect. I've tried with "iwconfig
eth1 channel 6" but it doesn't change anything.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

Hi all;

I'm looking to buy a new IBM Z60m and it comes with the Intel PRO/Wireless 
2915ABG

Is this device compatable with the IPW2200 package? Will it work to simply 
install the IPW2200 pkg and firmware via yum?