wifi, kernel upgrade, ndiswrapper, dkms, etc.

[jimallyn]

I installed Mint 17.x, probably Cinnamon, on my sister's computer a couple years ago. I had to use NDISwrapper with the WinXP driver to get her USB wifi adapter working. With the CPU problems recently revealed, I decided she should probably update her kernel, and I talked her through it over the phone. (She lives about 165 miles from here.) And that's when wifi stopped working. I gather that NDISwrapper will need to be recompiled? I see that there is a ndiswrapper-dkms package available. So, I'm guessing that she will have to install the ndiswrapper-dkms package, run that to compile NDISwrapper for the new kernel, and then what? I have a rough idea of what all this stuff does, but I'm not sure I know how to put it all together to get her wifi working again. Can anybody clarify this for me?

[Laurent85]

My guess is ndiswrapper not compatible with new kernel, ndiswrapper-dkms already installed and module compilation for new kernel fails. Did you install latest kernel available in same series of running kernel ?

[kc1di]

It may be easier in the long run to simpley buy a new usb dongle that will work with linux drivers.
here are some possibilities: http://willhaley.com/blog/linux-usb-wifi/
also unless she deleted the old kernel it should still be available until you can get the new ndiswrapper fixed.
good luck.

[jimallyn]

All my fault as it turns out. I made the mistake of telling her to go ahead and update to the 4.4 kernel as long as she's installing a new kernel. I have installed it on all my 17.x installs, and had no problems. But then, I wasn't using ndiswrapper or anything else that would need to be recompiled. So, I told her to boot into the original kernel, remove the 4.4 kernel, install the 3.13.0-139 kernel and reboot. I should hear from her tomorrow about how that kernel is working. Also, she said her wifi gadget never did work all that well, and she's going to buy a new one anyway.