Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

saciel · 2006-07-30 23:58:53

I encountered some problems with my ipw2100 wlan card since updating to the .17-kernel series. The module ipw2100 itself would load but failed to initialize the firmware needed.
Checking /var/log/messages.log after setting udev's log-priority to debug told me that there was an unsuccesful call to "/lib/udev/firmware_helper" and in fact there was no such file. Fortunately, i still had an older version of ArchLinux installed where wlan was still working (I guess on 2.6.14 or something like that). I found firmware_helper there and copied it to my newer ArchSystem. And guess what, my ipw2100 is working again.

I'd like to know if anyone out there had to face similiar problems, or has a more elegant solution (I don't really know what I could have done if I hadn't had that older version on my disk)? I guess with new udev firmware_helper has been replaced somehow but the links have not been updated correctly...

btw: does anyone know which package "firmware_helper" belonged to? I couldn't find out...

luca · 2006-07-31 06:02:57

Hi saciel,
I have a ipw2200 wlan card and the kernel 2.6.17 but no firmware_helper file.
All works correctly.
Probably your udev package is not updated. Mine is 0.96-1

saciel · 2006-07-31 08:05:23

Of course I updated Udev... and I did have firmware_helper before. I guess I lost it when updating and it didn't work afterwards, but I'm not exactly sure what went wrong. If you would like to do me a favor you could send me part of your /var/log/messags.log for comparisson.

First do

udevcontrol log_priority=debug

then unload the module with rmmod and reload it again with mopdobe. My /var/log/messages then has an entry like

Jul 31 09:59:06 arch_angel udevd-event[2972]: run_program: '/lib/udev/firmware_helper'
Jul 31 09:59:06 arch_angel firmware_helper[2973]: main: loaded '/lib/firmware/ipw2100-1.3.fw' for device '/class/firmware/0000:02:06.0'
Jul 31 09:59:06 arch_angel udevd-event[2972]: run_program: '/lib/udev/firmware_helper' returned with status 0

Before I made it working by copying firmware helper it was told that it returned with status 1, which was probably just the bash's return value. Are there similiar lines in your /var/log/messages.log? Maybe there is another programm or script which is called now but is linked wrong for me or something.

luca · 2006-07-31 18:09:06

Hi saciel,
sorry for my late reply.
This is my /var/log/messages.log after the operations:

Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 926 forked, pid [3387], 'remove' 'net', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 927 forked, pid [3388], 'remove' 'drivers', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 928 forked, pid [3390], 'remove' 'module', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3387]: wait_for_sysfs: device disappeared while waiting for '/sys/class/net/eth1/device/driver'
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3387]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 221 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3387]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3387]: udev_event_run: seq 926 finished
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 926, pid [3387] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3388]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 133 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3388]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3388]: udev_event_run: seq 927 finished
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 927, pid [3388] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3390]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 114 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3390]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd-event[3390]: udev_event_run: seq 928 finished
Jul 31 20:05:53 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 928, pid [3390] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox sudo:     luca : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/luca ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/sbin/modprobe ipw2200
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 929 forked, pid [3393], 'add' 'module', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, git-1.1.1
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 930 forked, pid [3395], 'add' 'drivers', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:04.0[A] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 931 forked, pid [3397], 'add' 'firmware', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3393]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 108 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3393]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3393]: udev_event_run: seq 929 finished
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 929, pid [3393] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3395]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 127 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3395]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3395]: udev_event_run: seq 930 finished
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 930, pid [3395] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3397]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 266 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3397]: run_program: '/lib/udev/firmware.sh'
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 932 forked, pid [3400], 'remove' 'firmware', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3397]: run_program: '/lib/udev/firmware.sh' returned with status 0
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_event_run: seq 933 forked, pid [3401], 'add' 'net', 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox ipw2200: Detected geography ZZR (14 802.11bg channels, 0 802.11a channels)
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3397]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3397]: udev_event_run: seq 931 finished
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 931, pid [3397] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3400]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 272 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3400]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3400]: udev_event_run: seq 932 finished
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 932, pid [3400] exit with 0, 0 seconds old
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3401]: wait_for_sysfs: file '/sys/class/net/eth1/device/driver' appeared after 0 loops
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3401]: udev_rules_get_name: no node name set, will use kernel name 'eth1'
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3401]: pass_env_to_socket: passed 215 bytes to socket '/org/freedesktop/hal/udev_event',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3401]: pass_env_to_socket: passed -1 bytes to socket '/org/kernel/udev/monitor',
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd-event[3401]: udev_event_run: seq 933 finished
Jul 31 20:05:59 mobilebox udevd[836]: udev_done: seq 933, pid [3401] exit with 0, 0 seconds old

I hope this helps you.

luca · 2006-07-31 18:11:57

Notice this line

udevd-event[3397]: run_program: '/lib/udev/firmware.sh' returned with status 0

Udev invokes firmware.sh instead of firmware_helper
Maybe you can try to reinstall udev packet.

saciel · 2006-07-31 21:24:22

That's exactly what I guessed that would happen... the file firmware.sh is present in my /lib/udev as well... but somehow udev still tries to use the firmware helper.
Removing and reinstalling... I can try, but I thought these were means for windows users... ^^

saciel · 2006-07-31 21:32:24

Ok, I finally got... reinstalling didn't help, I don't know why the update doesn't work correctly for me... Anyway, udev.rules contains the following line:

# FIRMWARE
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="firmware", ENV{FIRMWARE}=="?*", RUN+="/lib/udev/firmware_helper"

Replacing this entry with "firmware.sh" makes wlan work as well, so I don't need the old firmware_helper anymore.

Thanks to anyone for the support...

Arch Linux

#1 2006-07-30 23:58:53

Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

#2 2006-07-31 06:02:57

Re: Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

#3 2006-07-31 08:05:23

Re: Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

#4 2006-07-31 18:09:06

Re: Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

#5 2006-07-31 18:11:57

Re: Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

#6 2006-07-31 21:24:22

Re: Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

#7 2006-07-31 21:32:24

Re: Problems with ipw2100 since 2.6.17

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