Intel 5300 - hair-pulling-out adventure

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Riddil · #1 Post by **Riddil** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:30 pm

I'm so frustrated I'm just about ready to toss my X200 against the wall. But before I come to that point I post a desperate plea here, to see if anyone has any clever ideas.

Apparently it SHOULD work to be able to get an Intel 5300 wifi card working in Linux. There's several good guides for Ubuntu, and a smattering of comments from other distros that apparently are much farther along that I am.

I've been struggling, and struggling, and struggling with getting it to work ANY way in OpenSuse 11.0.

I tried running with the "old" kernel 2.6.25 (no native support of 5000-series wifi), following instructions from this page:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Downl ... todownload

including downloading the intel 5000-wifi firmware and dropping it into /lib/firmware.

No dice. After the final "make load", I get bupkiss. No adapter reported in ifconfig or iwconfig. (But in Yast2 I can see the adapter displayed in all it's glory by checking the "Hardware" info tab)

So, after no dice using the compat-wireless-old package, I ran a full-clean install of OpenSuse (to ensure no garbage left behind) and followed the process to download the latest 2.6.27-RC8 kernel, customize it, build it, and install it. (Careful to ensure that the Intel iwlwifi is enabled). After the build I was happy that the system now seems to run so much faster. BUT still no access to the wireless. Still get bupkiss in ifconfig and iwconfig.

I even tried following the different Ubuntu guides that exist, since they seem fairly distro generic, the best write-up is here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5727196

And, once again, bupkiss.

I *know* the adapter is working. I can fire up Vista on my dual-boot partition and it works like a champ.

Anyhow. As I go bang my head against a wall, I'll keep an eye on this thread. If anyone has any clever ideas and merciful bone in your body, then I'll be in your debt.

Volker · #2 Post by **Volker** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:28 pm

How about posting the relevant part of /var/log/messages

Riddil · #3 Post by **Riddil** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:07 pm

My post really was just a post of frustration, to vent.

Anyhow... as is normally the case, you work on something for days on end, and then RIGHT after you beg for help, you find your fix.

Finally I don't know WHAT really fixed it. I did notice a few errors in the messages log that the IWL driver has unknown symbols, and disagrees with version information.

But this morning it magically worked. I built a new 2.6.27 kernel, included every module related to the wlan network interface, and included all the debug modules, and after building and rebooting the interface came up right away.

*shrug* I don't know what fixed it... but I'm not complaining!

dk · #4 Post by dk » Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:20 pm

Hello.

For your next kernel compile you should only need to have the following enabled in the Wireless section of your kernel config to get the Intel 5300 working under 2.6.27 or later.

CONFIG_WLAN_80211=y
CONFIG_IWLWIFI=m
CONFIG_IWLCORE=m
CONFIG_IWLWIFI_LEDS=y
CONFIG_IWLWIFI_RFKILL=y
CONFIG_IWLAGN=m
CONFIG_IWLAGN_SPECTRUM_MEASUREMENT=y
CONFIG_IWLAGN_LEDS=y
CONFIG_IWL4965=y
CONFIG_IWL5000=y

Riddil · #5 Post by **Riddil** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:37 am

Thanks for the tip, dk. Currently I'm playing with OpenSuse 11.1 beta-2, which includes the latest kernel. So far the wireless is working OK.

I'll probably wait until OSuse 11.1 goes gold, and when it does I'll build a custom kernel then. I'll be sure to match the wlan config to your recommendations. (And then cross my fingers and pray...)

Blackhold · #6 Post by **Blackhold** » Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:38 pm

Hello,
I'm also trying to configure that card on my lenovo thinkpad x200 on debian...

I tried lot of things, but notthing!

0. downloaded 2.6.27 kernel and loaded 2.6.26-1 kernel config and compiled with last kernel config and with default config on new kernel modules.

1. download ucode for ipw5000 and extract to /lib/firmware
reboot and nothing

2. download last version of compat-wireless (of 10-10-2008)
reboot and nothing

3. edit the config kernel file and check that these lines were ok, the ones didn't exist I added them:
CONFIG_WLAN_80211=y
CONFIG_IWLWIFI=m
CONFIG_IWLCORE=m
CONFIG_IWLWIFI_LEDS=y
CONFIG_IWLWIFI_RFKILL=y
CONFIG_IWLAGN=m
CONFIG_IWLAGN_SPECTRUM_MEASUREMENT=y
CONFIG_IWLAGN_LEDS=y
CONFIG_IWL4965=y
CONFIG_IWL5000=y
and recompiled kernel again

lshw -C network shows me that:
sofre:/home/laura# lshw -C network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 19
bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0
logical name: eth0
version: 03
serial: 00:1f:16:07:00:0e
size: 100MB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=0.3.3.3-k6 duplex=full firmware=1.8-3 ip=192.168.1.45 latency=0 link=yes module=e1000e multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: Intel Corporation
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
version: 00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0

wired lan is the top one, and the wireless the bottom one...

what is missing?!

thanks you much!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!
finally it worked

I post all steps in my blog, go there and follow the steps, now posting using 5300AGN card

http://blackhold.blogspot.com/2008/10/i ... 00agn.html

# lshw -C network
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Intel Corporation
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: wmaster0
version: 00
serial: 00:16:ea:c2:a4:ae
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn ip=192.168.1.21 latency=0 module=iwlagn multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn

will this support monitor mode?

zacharyk · #7 Post by **zacharyk** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:39 am

Hrmph. I just received my w500 and would badly like to put ubuntu on, but I have no wired internet connection! ARGH. any words of wisdom?

Volker · #8 Post by **Volker** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 7:53 am

zacharyk wrote:I have no wired internet connection! ARGH. any words of wisdom?

USB flash drives are the new floppy disks

zacharyk · #9 Post by **zacharyk** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:23 am

[newb] So I'll be putting the drivers, and whatever else is necessary to get my 5300 online etc on my flash drive beforehand so when I'm finished installing basic ubuntu, I can access the flash drive through terminal and just do it, right? What exactly should be putting on my flash drive before I take the dive?

Blackhold · #10 Post by **Blackhold** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:44 am

more things about 5300AGN card on linux... today it works a little bit strange, to make it work you have to turn off and turn on the wifi button once or twice..

dk · #11 Post by dk » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:17 pm

Blackhold wrote:more things about 5300AGN card on linux... today it works a little bit strange, to make it work you have to turn off and turn on the wifi button once or twice..

I'm wondering if there is some sort of power saving feature kicking in for you. What is your output of `cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwlagn/*/power_level`?

Blackhold · #12 Post by **Blackhold** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:31 pm

I also have problems, if I start the computer with wireless button off, there's no way to open it once turned on...

also I found that bluetooth is turned on each time I turn on the computer, this happened till I upgraded to 2.6.27 kernel.

also sometimes xwindow don't loads due wireless problems (I think)...

that you told me:

# cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwlagn/*/power_level
SYSTEM:auto MODE:auto INDEX:0

the output is different if the wireless is turned on and associated to a network... now could not turn on wireless

Blackhold · #13 Post by **Blackhold** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 6:26 pm

then, now rebooted and gnome entered, and I'm connected on wireless

# cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/iwlagn/*/power_level
SYSTEM:auto MODE:fixed INDEX:0

dk · #14 Post by dk » Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:29 pm

In your tests were you running off battery one time and then running off AC the next? Just curious.

dvhart · #15 Post by **dvhart** » Fri Sep 17, 2010 1:43 pm

I spent a week with Intel 5300 issues on my T400, here is the end result I reported on the Ubuntu bugs:

I had similar problems with a 5300 in a ThinkPad T400 on Lucid. After trying the latest linuxwireless backports and then a 2.6.36-rc4+compat-wireless, I would see errors like:

[34400.190021] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: Failing on timeout while stopping DMA channel 1 [0xa5a5a5a0]
[34400.190021] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: MAC is in deep sleep!. CSR_GP_CNTRL = 0x080003D8
[34400.190021] iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: MAC is in deep sleep!. CSR_GP_CNTRL = 0x080003D8

After talking with the Intel wireless developers and trying everything possible with module parameters and bios settings, this turned out to be a hardware problem. I tried my harddrive in an identical T400 and it worked. Consider calling Lenovo.

Intel 5300 - hair-pulling-out adventure

Intel 5300 - hair-pulling-out adventure

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