Wireless Inspiron 6400 anyone?

[Patrick Bowen]

Lane wrote:
> On Sunday 22 October 2006 00:06, Patrick Bowen wrote:
>   
>> Lane wrote:
>>     
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I've a new inspiron 6400 running FreeBSD 6.1 and I can't get Wireless to
>>> work. It works on WXP using the Dell WLAN drivers at
>>> http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R115321.EXE
>>>
>>> I've followed the instructions at
>>> http://dannyman.toldme.com/2005/01/05/freebsd-howto-ndisulate-windows-dri
>>> vers/ but no ndis driver shows up after kldload if_ndis.
>>>
>>> ifconfig -a looks like:
>>>
>>> bfe0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
>>>         options=8<VLAN_MTU>
>>>         inet6 fe80::215:c5ff:feb8:39e%bfe0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
>>>         inet 172.16.1.42 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 172.16.1.255
>>>         ether 00:15:c5:b8:03:9e
>>>         media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
>>>         status: active
>>> fwe0:
>>> flags=108943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,NEEDSGIANT>
>>> mtu 1500
>>>         options=8<VLAN_MTU>
>>>         inet6 fe80::304f:c0ff:fe9c:7541%fwe0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2
>>>         inet 0.0.0.0 netmask 0xff000000 broadcast 255.255.255.255
>>>         ether 32:4f:c0:9c:75:41
>>>         ch 1 dma 0
>>> lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
>>>         inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
>>>         inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
>>>         inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
>>>
>>> It seems as if the fwe0 devices wants to be the wireless, as the bfe0
>>> driver is my "wired" ethernet card.
>>>       
>> ...snip...
>>
>>     
>>> Any help is appreciated.
>>>
>>> lane
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
>>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to
>>> "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>>>       
>> Lane;
>>
>> When I did the same thing for a Broadcom wireless card the resulting
>> loadable module was named "bcmwl5_sys". Did you end up with something
>> appropriate to your .sys and .inf files?
>>
>> Also, the .sys and .inf files that came on the disk that came with the
>> card either wouldn't work with ndisgen, or gave a file that didn't work
>> with the card. I ended up using the .sys and .inf files from the Dell
>> website that were reference in another ndis article.
>>
>> Good Luck.
>>
>> Patrick
>> _______________________________________________
>>     
> Patrick, 
>
> Thanks for your attention.
>
> Yes, when I tried ndisgen the file bcmwl5_sys.ko was created, but I got a 
> kernel panic when I tried to kldload it.
>
> Do you remember the filename that you downloaded from DELL?  Did you save it?  
> Or do you have the link for the other ndis article you mentioned?
>
> What about pciconf on your system?  Does it show this card and chip 
> combination?
>
> none4 at pci11:0:0:        class=0x028000 card=0x00071028 chip=0x431114e4 
> rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
>     vendor   = 'Broadcom Corporation'
>     class    = network
>
> Thanks, again
>
> lane
> If nothing else, your response tells me that I'm on the right track.
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
>
>   

Lane;

I can't find the article, but the file is R50907.EXE. You can find it by 
googling "dell R50907". Heres a link....

http://ftp1.us.dell.com/network/R90507.EXE

It's a self-extracting Windows archive.

BTW, you asked about my pciconf. Here ya go...

none3 at pci6:4:0: class=0x028000 card=0x000617f9 chip=0x431814e4 rev=0x02 
hdr=0x00
    vendor   = 'Broadcom Corporation'
    class    = network

Also, if this is on a mini-card, you should be able to crack the case 
and look at the card and see exactly what the chipset is.  Mine is a 
BCM94318.


Hope this helps some.

Patrick