HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

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Schoelje

HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

There are many posts on this subject but none seemed to work on LMDE 64-bit.
Finally got it working because dmesg gave me the missing link: step 3.

Based on:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/n ... ar_WNA3100

1. Connect the WNA3100 and:

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lsusb
It should list:
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0846:9020 NetGear, Inc. WNA3100(v1) Wireless-N 300 [Broadcom BCM43231]

2. Get the latest ndiswrapper source:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ndiswrapper
At moment of writing: v1.57

3. Unpack in /usr/src
Or any other directory

4. Make sure to uninstall everyting you have on ndiswrapper:

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apt-get purge ndiswrapper-source ndiswrapper-dkms dniswrapper-utils-1.9 ndiswrapper-common ndisgtk mintwifi
(yes, even ndiskgtk and mintwifi because they have dependencies with ndiswrapper 1.56)

5. This step is not entirely necessary although it made my connection a bit more stable:

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gksu gedit /usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/usb.c
Edit USBD_InterfaceIsDeviceHighSpeed:

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wstdcall BOOLEAN USBD_InterfaceIsDeviceHighSpeed(void *context)
{
	/*struct wrap_device *wd = context;

	USBTRACE("wd: %p", wd);
	if (wd->usb.udev->speed == USB_SPEED_HIGH)
		USBEXIT(return TRUE);
	else
		USBEXIT(return FALSE);*/

	USBEXIT(return TRUE);
}
5. Make sure the WNA3100 is NOT connected.

6. cd /usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.57

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make uninstall (just to be sure)
make
make install
ndiswrapper -v
should show v1.57

7. Copy the drivers (attached to this tutorial) to /drivers/wna3100 (or any other directory)
  • bcmh43xx.cat
    bcmh43xx64.cat
    bcmwlhigh5.inf
    bcmwlhigh5.sys
    bcmwlhigh564.sys
8. Connect the WNA3100

9.

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ndiswrapper -i /drivers/wna3100/bcmwlhigh5.inf
ndiswrapper -l
If "device (0846:9020) present" is not mentioned:

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ndiswrapper -a 0846:9020 bcmwlhigh5
10. Try modprobe without actually installing:

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modprobe -iv ndiswrapper

If all's well:

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modprobe ndiswrapper
If modprobe hangs:

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dmesg | grep ndis
Look for messages with the tell-tale: RIP
[ 1046.538893] RIP [<ffffffffa116f0f2>] USBD_InterfaceGetUSBDIVersion+0x2d/0x2d [ndiswrapper]
In this case the USBD_InterfaceGetUSBDIVersion needs to be changed in usb.c
When changes are made:

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modprobe -r ndiswrapper
Start from 5.

11. Check if your wlan is up:

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iwconfig
12. If that all worked, make it more permanent:

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echo ndiswrapper >> /etc/modules
Good luck!

Edit: changed order - no code editing needed.
However, I noticed very unstable data transfer: hangs with copying "large" (300MB) files.
So, if anyone has experience with that, let me know.

Edit: thanks to nordlichreiter (see below) you can improve the stability of the connection by limiting the up and downstream:

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sudo apt-get install trickler
sudo -s trickle -u 5000 -d 5000 apt-get update
Files:
wna3100-drivers-1.tar.gz
wna3100-drivers-2.tar.gz
wna3100-drivers-3.tar.gz
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 5 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
shparks

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by shparks »

Hi there,

Well i went through this and it seemed to be working, in fact it actually does work for about 5 minutes and then for some unknown reason the conenction drops...

confusing. I had to edit the usb.c as the first time round it black screened on me.

Here's the output -

ndiswrapper -v
utils version: '1.9', utils version needed by module: '1.9'
module details:
filename: /lib/modules/3.0.0-12-generic/misc/ndiswrapper.ko
version: 1.57
vermagic: 3.0.0-12-generic SMP mod_unload modversions


# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"BTHub3-6MRH"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: CC:96:A0:37:82:BA
Bit Rate=144 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption key:3575-BC64-7059-CD58-8874-1454-3A38-9F9C Security mode:restricted
Power Management:off
Link Quality:79/100 Signal level:-45 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:17 Invalid misc:32495 Missed beacon:0

As you can see there are a large nuber of invalid misc counts...

I'm quite new to linux and feel i have been running round like a headless chicken trying to 'troubleshoot' this, to no avail!

any help would be great!

thanks
Schoelje

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

What's the output of:
dmesg | grep ndis

By the way: WNA3100 crashed when copying large files (+200MB).
Netgear affirmed they're not going to build linux firmware for it so I bought a 10m long UTP cable and spend time on other things.
giancon

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by giancon »

Thanks a stack;

got it to work following your howto except for the edit to usb.c. I eventually had to restore the original lines of code. As "shparks" stated, though, it works for a few minutes and then drops the connection. Also, I haven't been able to keep the connection up long enough to complete the login into my ISP account. In any case, this is the best I've been able to get from this adapter out of three different distros and countless howtos. Looks as if the driver/firmware suffers from the usual lack of support from the manufacturer. So, the thing just works "when it feels like it" :evil: .

Thanks again
Schoelje

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

My sentiments exactly!
Just give the thing as a present to somebody with a Windows pc.
I found out that any cheap wireless adapter with a ralink chipset will work out-of-the-box (sudo apt-get install firmware-ralink).
Performance not great but stable.
Spewed

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Spewed »

Hey, first and foremost thank you for the guide and I hope it will eventually work for me.

Right now it's not working and I hope that you can help me so that I can get down to fixing my WNA3100.
First of all, I uninstalled Ndiswrapper from the Software Center(I'm using Ubuntu 11.10). Once I did that, I entered the command "Ndiswrapper -v" To check my version, it still showed I had version 1.56 on there. So, I took a shot in the dark, downloaded the 1.57 source files that you have linked. From there, I logged in as root and navigated to the directory that I installed it and did "Make uninstall". That seemed to do the trick, because when I entered "ndiswrapper -v" it showed there was no ndiswrapper version my the machine. After that, I followed the "make" and "make install" commands. It showed that I was still using version 1.56.

Is there anything I can do from here?

Sorry to bother you, it's just that I have been at this all day and it is quite frustrating. Hopefully you can help me.

Also, I do have the drivers for my adapter card installed. I went ahead and proceed through the rest of the tutorial just to be sure. It didn't work, so I'm assuming it is because of the version that I'm on(I know you have to change things around in version 1.56." I'd rather not deal with all of that, if there is an easy way around it by following your tutorial and using version 1.57.
Spewed

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Spewed »

Anyone?
Schoelje

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

Please, spare yourself the frustration and your valuable time and buy a ralink chipset dongle for about 10 euros.
Maybe you will be able to install ndiswrapper with the driver, but you won't be able to get it to work.

A quick search:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-Antenn ... 074&sr=8-4

Sorry I can't bring you better news.
nordlichreiter

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by nordlichreiter »

Hey all. I did some googe-fu, and I found this page as one of the first results for setting up a WNA3100.

I noticed that when I tried to do a apt-get update that my WNA3100 crashed at 68-80% download. Apt is really fast there and that means there's a lot of stuff streaming over that USB card that's made for winderp. I haven't figured out how to debug it yet and I'm not sure if I have the know how. However I did find a fix for the problem.

The wireless adapter should support the download of one app or two apps at a time. Here's the fix. Install this application called trickler its a bandwidth shaper. Set the up to 5000k and the down to 5000k and it shouldn't crash the card. Presumably this little program could allow you to do any other required task. However if you want to stream some video or play games it be best to do that on Eth0.

TL;DR; How to limit the down and up of some app on linux.

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sudo apt-get install trickler
 sudo trickle -u 5000 -d 5000 apt-get update
Edit: Changed a few words to help with context, I put wireless router when I meant the WNA3100
Schoelje

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

@nordilichreiter
Nice post, I've added the code to the tutorial with reference to your post.
Thanks again for sharing.
nordlichreiter

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by nordlichreiter »

Quick update:

sudo apt-get install trickler
sudo -s trickle -u 5000 -d 5000 apt-get update

I forgot to include that trickler needs to be run in standalone mode in order to actually trickle apt-get through the terminal. I'm not sure why as I didn't really read the manual.
raflance
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 3:56 pm

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by raflance »

Hey, I just wanted to leave a message here thanking you for this guide. I had spent almost three hours reading guides all over the place but when I used your guide it went perfectly, I had the internet working in less than 10 minutes. Thank you again! I feel like I just scored a touchdown at the Super Bowl!

:D :D
Schoelje

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

I'm glad it helped.
Mathias

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Mathias »

So, I followed all the directions and I still can't get it working.

iwconfig results in no wlan0 interface, however ndiswrapper -l results in:

bcmwlhigh5 : driver installed
device (0846:9020) present

So, device is present and driver is installed but still no wlan0 showing up.

I tried something located here next: http://matthew-4gl.wikispaces.com/wna3100_ubuntu_linux

This site has me append a function to a file for ndiswrapper called ntoskernal_io.c. So, I added the function, uninstalled and reinstalled ndiswrapper and still no go.

Any thoughts?
Schoelje

Re: HOWTO: Netgear WNA3100 wireless adapter on LMDE (64-bit)

Post by Schoelje »

Mathias wrote:Any thoughts?
I don't think you want to hear it, but it's better not to spend more time on that thing and give it to somebody using Windows.
Eventually I bought an Asus USB-N13 which worked perfectly out-of-the-box (at least, for me on LMDE KDE).
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