Dell D430, Slackware 12, Wifi Wireless Working

Last Modified: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:08:00 +0000 ; Created: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:08:00 +0000

I have a Dell D430 laptop with a Dell Wireless 1505 draft-N MiniCard. I wanted to get wireless working in Slackware 12.2. These are the steps I took to enable the device:

Installation

Make sure your Wifi switch is on
Open a shell as root
Download the Dell Windows XP (32-bit) driver
- Download the "Dell Driver - Applies To 1390, 13xx, 14xx, 1505, Draft, ... Download the single pack and not the invidiaul," 11/20/2008, Version A22, R202477.exe
mkdir /opt/DellWireless
cd /opt/DellWireless
unzip ~/Desktop/R202477.exe
cd /usr/src
Download ndiswrapper (latest stable)
- I don't recommend using a packaged distro build
- I used version 1.54
- The project is on SourceForget.net
Decompress the archive into /usr/src
cd /usr/src/ndiswrapper-1.54
Verify that you have your current Linux kernel sources available
1. ls -la /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/
2. You should see a include directory and a .config file
Unload any old ndiswrapper by running /sbin/modprobe -r ndiswrapper
Clean out any old ndiswrapper by running make uninstall
Build ndiswrapper with make
As root install ndiswrapper with make install
- It should be placed into /usr/sbin
cd /opt/DellWireless/DRIVER_US
/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
/usr/sbin/ndiswrapper -l
- Verify that you see a line like
```
bcmwl5 : driver installed
```
- Verify that you see a line like
```
device (14E4:4328) present (alternate driver: ssb)
```
- If you do not see "driver installed" nor "device ... present" something is wrong. See below for hints
/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
dmesg
- Verify that you see wlan0 towards the end
iwlist scanning will run a test wireless network scan

Make your wireless card load properly during boot

Normally you would need to modprobe blacklist the b43 and b43legacy modules, but Slackware comes with those modules turned on by default during boot. Adding them to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist doesn't work for some reason. Also not even "install b43 /bin/true" seems to work even though the modules don't show up loaded from the output of lsmod. To properly get modprobe ndiswrapper to work during boot do the following:

echo install ndiswrapper /sbin/modprobe -r b43 b43legacy; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ndiswrapper>> /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper
Edit "/etc/rc.d/rc.modules" and add /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper

How to connect to an open (no encryption) wireless network

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwlist wlan0 scanning
iwconfig wlan0 essid "NET_NAME_SID"
- Example: iwconfig wlan0 essid "ANY"
  - Connect to any available open network
- Example: iwconfig wlan0 essid "My Network"
  - Connect to network with name My Network
- Example: iwconfig wlan0 essid -- "ANY"
  - Connect to network that has the actual name "ANY"
Confirm association with the network with the command iwconfig
Get an IP address via DHCP
1. dhcpcd -k wlan0
2. dhcpcd wlan0
Everything should be up and going

How to connect to a WEP encrypted network

Change your network settings to use WPA2. WEP isn't secure.
If you must use WEP then read up on iwconfig with man iwconfig

How to connect to a WPA/WPA2 encrypted network

/usr/sbin/wpa_passphrase NET_NAME_SID Network Passphrase > /wpa.conf
Edit the /wpa.conf file
1. Comment out the psk=6801d... (bunch of hex digits)
2. Uncomment the pks="your plain text password"
3. Save the changes
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c /wpa.conf &
Follow the directions above for connecting to an open wireless network

Hints for fixing problems

For the Dell D430 try upgrading to the latest BIOS
- I used Bios A08
Try a clean reset of your system
1. Reboot
2. Unload any old ndiswrapper by running /sbin/modprobe -r ndiswrapper
3. /sbin/modprobe -r b43
4. /sbin/modprobe -r b43legacy
5. Reinstall ndiswrapper following the directions above
  - Do use the latest stable sources from the project's home page
  - Remember to make uninstall multiple times in a row
6. ndiswrapper -m should be unnecessary. Remove any changes it made if you did that.