Wireless on Z61M with iwlwifi

[acampbell]

I'm using Debian Sid on my Z61M. Wireless works with ipw3945 but this is not available for kernels after 2.6.23. You are supposed to use iwlwifi for later kernels but I've never managed to get this to work. Has anyone done it?

[Harryc]

If you're a Linux person consider getting an Atheros WiFi card for that machine. Madwifi has consistently better support for Atheros cards in Linux over IPW.

[cpascu01]

I'm using Debian Sid on my Z61M. Wireless works with ipw3945 but this is not available for kernels after 2.6.23. You are supposed to use iwlwifi for later kernels but I've never managed to get this to work. Has anyone done it?

I have ubuntu installed on my laptop and my intel wifi card wasn't working at first either. I had to download and updated version iwl3945 to get it to work. It works like a charm now. When I get to my computer, I'll post the link to where I got the driver.

[Volker]

Fedora 9 works out of the box with iwlwifi, everything autodetected (on a t61/x61, at least). I would advise against debian unstable (sid) if you are not really comfortable with *nix.

Installing iwlwifi manually is pretty simple, get compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 from http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download and follow the instructions.

[cpascu01]

Fedora 9 works out of the box with iwlwifi, everything autodetected (on a t61/x61, at least). I would advise against debian unstable (sid) if you are not really comfortable with *nix.

Installing iwlwifi manually is pretty simple, get compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 from http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download and follow the instructions.

Exactly what I was going to post.

[michaaa62]

Hello fellow-sid-user,
running Debian Sid is made easier by sidux (evolution from kanotix),
Under www.sidux.com, there is also some great manual available.
I had to install some firmware first to make the switch towards using iwlwifi. The package in question is called firmware-iwlwifi.

cheers Micha

[acampbell]

Fedora 9 works out of the box with iwlwifi, everything autodetected (on a t61/x61, at least). I would advise against debian unstable (sid) if you are not really comfortable with *nix.

Installing iwlwifi manually is pretty simple, get compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 from http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download and follow the instructions.

I've been using Linux for about 10 years and have been on Sid for at least 3 years and have had no serious problems with it.

I installed firmware-iwlwifi from Debian but I'll have a go with the package you suggest.

[acampbell]

Hello fellow-sid-user,
running Debian Sid is made easier by sidux (evolution from kanotix),
Under www.sidux.com, there is also some great manual available.
I had to install some firmware first to make the switch towards using iwlwifi. The package in question is called firmware-iwlwifi.

cheers Micha

I know Sidux and used it for a time when I bought the Thinkpad because I had problems getting native Debian to recognize my sound card. In fact, I left it because I could not get it to recognize my wireless card after the change to iwlwifi. This was after a lot of discussion on the Sidux mailing list. I then reverted to native Debian and now everything worked -- apart, that is, from iwlwifi. I've so far stayed with the 2.6.23 kernel, which uses the older ipw3945. I find it annoying that there is no option to remain with the older system with subsequent kernels.

[michaaa62]

This is from my system using the iwlwifi kernel

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root@siduxtablet:/home/micha> lsmod | grep iwl
iwl3945                91508  0
firmware_class         10368  2 pcmcia,iwl3945
mac80211              140940  1 iwl3945

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root@siduxtablet:/home/micha> infobash -v3
Host/Kernel/OS  "siduxtablet" running Linux 2.6.25.4-dmz-3 i686 [ sidux 2007-04.5 - Έρως christmas special - kde-lite - (200712260129) ]
CPU Info        (1) Intel Core Duo L2400 @ 2048 KB cache flags( sse3 nx vmx ) clocked at [ 1667.000 MHz ]
                (2) Intel Core Duo L2400 @ 2048 KB cache flags( sse3 nx vmx ) clocked at [ 1667.000 MHz ]
Videocard       Intel Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller     [  ]
Network cards   Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
                Intel 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller, at port: 2000
Processes 118 | Uptime 3:46 | Memory 271.5/2018.3MB | HDD ATA HTS541080G9SA00 Size 80GB (43%used) | Client Shell | Infobash v3.01

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root@siduxtablet:/home/micha> lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub [8086:27a0] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a2] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a6] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:27d4] (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 [8086:27d6] (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge [8086:27b9] (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c4] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:27da] (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller [8086:109a]
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection [8086:4227] (rev 02)
15:00.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II [1180:0476] (rev b4)
15:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller [1180:0552] (rev 09)
15:00.2 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter [1180:0822] (rev 18)

I am using knetwork-manager, so my /etc/network/interfaces is quite bare:

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root@siduxtablet:/home/micha> cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo eth0 wlan0
iface lo inet loopback

I hope it helps.

cheers Micha

[lightweight]

On 2.6.24 and above it's built into the kernel. Have you actually tried 2.6.24 or 2.6.25, and if so, what was the issue and output from iwconfig?

[frankausmtank]

I switched to iwlwifi recently (by upgrading to Ubuntu8.04) and it is running fine now.
However, I had to make sure the old ipw3945 driver is indeed disabled and it was necessary to flash my router to the most recent firmware to be able to connect again.

[michaaa62]

May be that helps:
Create a file called iwl3945 in /etc/modprobe.d/ with the following content:

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alias wlan0 iwl3945 
options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1 hwcrypto=1

May be!

cheers Micha