No network install; Intel 2200BG fail, Netgear FA511 fail

[morgano]

Attempting to bug-test network install on my Thinkpad T42 that have been sleeping in a drawer for over a year.
It was Mandriva on it but i have forgotten the encryption key by now...
The ethernet port is toast and disabled in BIOS setting.
It was running happily on wireless Intel 2200BG Wifi card, and it also sucessfully used a Netgear FA511 PC-card Ethernet adapter.
Now using current boot.iso, it fails both alternatives;

First it finds the Intel wifi, but after a half minute it fails. Alt-F4 kernel log relevant lines:

Code: Select all

lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
lib80211_crypt: registered algorythm 'NULL'
cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
libipw: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.13
ipw2200: ipw2200-bss.fw request_firmware failed: Reason -2"
ipw2200: Unable to load firmware: -2"
ipw2200: failed to register network device
ipw2200: probe of 000:02:02.o failed with error -5

I guess it is proprietary, thus not included?
A clear message stating that clearly would be an improvement.

Alt-F3 also displays relevant lines:

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* have to insmod ipw2200
* needs /lib/modules/3.3.1-desktop586-2.mga2/lib80211.ko.xz
* needs /lib/modules/3.3.1-desktop586-2.mga2/rfkill.ko.xz
* needs /lib/modules/3.3.1-desktop586-2.mga2/cfg80211.ko.xz
* needs /lib/modules/3.3.1-desktop586-2.mga2/libipw.ko.xz
* needs /lib/modules/3.3.1-desktop586-2.mga2/ipw2200.ko.xz
*         suceeded ipw2200
* NET: was expecting another network interface (broken net module?)

Why was it expecting something else (what) instead of (what?)

Having my PC-card (old naming: PCMCIA) adapter plugged in or not, then a dialog comes up saying

Code: Select all

... PCMCIA Network adapters are now supported either with pcmcia.img or network.img, please try with both these bootdisks.

Where do i find these and how to use with network install?

Also tried booting with noapic: no change.

But, i think Intel 2200 wifi should be useable without proprietary firmware?
Or am i wrong?
Maybe all wifi drivers are omitted from boot.iso to keep it small?
Can i make it use drivers supplied manually by USB memory, how?

Or is the only option to wait for the live CDs?
(except cloning a drive or some more fancy way)

[Ken-Bergen]

Have you tried the boot-nonfree.iso?
You can find it here ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/mageia/distrib ... ll/images/

[morgano]

Thank you for that idea.
Unfortunately i get the same result, specifically the line

Code: Select all

ipw2200: ipw2200-bss.fw request_firmware failed: Reason -2

And i saw no sign of it trying to use the PC-card adapter either.
(-and i have checked i really booted the boot-nonfree image.)

I wonder if ipw2200 it really should be nonfree anyway; it is merged into kernel. http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/

If it is supposed to work here is a bug.
Is there a specification somewhere of what the different images are supposed to support?

[wilcal]

As an aside on a frequent basis I find friends
with old laptops with blown up versions of
Win 98/XP/Vista ect ect. The thing has sat in
a closet for years. It's perfectly good just
the OS is blown up not to return. RPM distros
like Mandriva/Mageia/Ubuntu are a little on
the heavy site of these things but sometimes
they work.

Getting to my point getting a newer Distro
to work with this or that aging WiFi hardware
can be a challenge. But, if you get the
Distro installed and connected to its repo
you better your chance of getting it to work.
So I have in my bag of tricks a cheap common
USB WiFi adapter. It's an AirLink 101 Model
Number AWLL3026. This is a very old design
and runs at a paltry 54Mbps, but, it's commonly
and widely supported. I can always depend on
this thing working. Get the laptop working
with this installed and likely whatever
distro I've put in will download from its
repo the necessary driver.

The most commonly workable Linux Distro
is Puppy Linux and with this USB adapter
it'll work pretty much everywhere.

[morgano]

Yes there ought to be a installer with wide support for a lot of hardware.

I guess the live CD is what we are waiting for.

But a boot-anypossiblenetworkinterfacetheliveCDalsocanboot.iso would be nice.

As for old hardware i am impressed over how much leaner and quicker the modern KDE4 is compared to first versions i rejected on mandy 2009.
A Thinkpad T40 is really flying, not at all slower than it was using original OS, and much more beautiful.

[Ken-Bergen]

Have you tried the Mageia1 boot.iso or Live CD?

I'm not suggesting an install but only a test to see if the hardware was supported and this is a regression.

[morgano]

Since last post i cloned a drive from a T43 that have same wifi card. Worked but lost connection everytime it was used.
Changed to an atheros wifi, luckilu drivers were already on disk, but it was also flaky.
Power cycled the router, plus set IP manually instead of usiong DHCP, now it is stable. So far.

But anyway some file seemed to be missing in mga2 boot.iso.
It is a regression if it was available on mga1, but regarless of mga1 or not i think it is good to have support on mga2 boot.iso.

Another thing: When i now plug in my PC-card NIC on an runing system, the leds light up.
And i could configure it without needing extra packages.
So maybe it did not even get powered when booting boot.iso?

That may also be a boot.iso bug.

But to tell, we must know what is intended to work.
Or I should just file support for PC-card and Intel 2200 wifi as enhancement requests?

[morgano]

Is it a known bug?:
When configuring network interfaces, after entering all configuration details it responds that it failed, but seconds later the tray network icon says it is connected and it do work perfectly.

This is for both the wifi and PC-card interfaces when i configured them on this machine, fully updated cauldron, KDE4.
Either some timeout is far too small, or...

[morgano]

Bug 5475 on network boot wifi support]
Bug 5476 on network boot PC-Card NIC support]