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andr3as

Member

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 53

[solved] iwl3945: problem after upgrading to 2.6.27

Hi,
i have a strange problem with the new iwl3945 driver:
Until today, i used kernel 2.6.26 w/ the old ipw3945 software which worked flawlessly. I also tried iwl3945 on that kernel. It worked but i was annoyed by the constantly blinking LEDs so i continued using the old driver. I just updated to the newer kernel and now i have the following problem:
"iwlist wlan0 scan" cannot find my (any?) AP any more.
I already searched for a solution, but the only thing i found ("rmmod iwl3945 && modprobe iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1 && ifconfig wlan0 up") didn't make any difference. iwlist always returns "No scan results".

Here is the output of "dmesg | grep iwl":

iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.26ks    
iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation                                          
iwl3945 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16                           
iwl3945 0000:0b:00.0: setting latency timer to 64                                          
iwl3945: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG                                         
iwl3945: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 23 802.11a channels                                
phy5: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs'                                        
iwl3945 0000:0b:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16                           
firmware: requesting iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode                                                  
Registered led device: iwl-phy5:radio                                                      
Registered led device: iwl-phy5:assoc                                                      
Registered led device: iwl-phy5:RX                                                         
Registered led device: iwl-phy5:TX

Does anybody know a solution for this problem?

Last edited by andr3as (2008-11-08 23:14:02)

enrique

Member

Registered: 2005-10-25

Posts: 95

Website

Re: [solved] iwl3945: problem after upgrading to 2.6.27

What wireless channel is your router set to?
I had mine set to 13, but there is a bug in the iwl3945 driver so it only works with channels lower than 10 (including 10).

---

Kind regards, enrique

andr3as

Member

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 53

Re: [solved] iwl3945: problem after upgrading to 2.6.27

The channel is set to 12, but changing it to 9 doesn't make it show up either... But thanks for the hint anyway.
If there is anything i have forgotten to include in the description of the problem, let me know.

andr3as

Member

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 53

Re: [solved] iwl3945: problem after upgrading to 2.6.27

I just installed the old kernel again, i was wrong about the "it worked there" part: the AP doesn't show up with iwl3945 either.
I'll try some other APs as soon as i get back to my university, the APs there seemed to work with the new driver.
Maybe the problem is solved in a later version of iwl, it's kind of annoying that i have to use a network cable on weekends at home...

andr3as

Member

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 53

Re: [solved] iwl3945: problem after upgrading to 2.6.27

Sorry for triple-posting, but i found the solution for the problem: 
"iwlist f" returned that channel 12 was indeed not "supported" by the driver, at least it didn't show up in the output. Channel 9 was there, so probably my router didn't switch the channel right after changing the setting.
Adding this to modprobe.conf solves the problem:

options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=EU

It seems that you actually have to tell the driver which regulatory restrictions to apply, before adding that line channel 12 was somehow "forbidden"

edit: added a hint to the wiki page "Wireless setup".

Last edited by andr3as (2008-11-08 23:21:37)