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How-To IPW2200: Getting Intel Pro Wireless 2200 BG to work on debian/ubuntu

A lot of laptop computers using Centrino processor use the Intel Pro Wireless 2200 BG wireless interface, also known as ipw2200.

This one is not supported by default (at the time of writing) on a linux computer.

Here is the way to get it run and enjoy wireless connection.

First of all, you will need the wireless-tools packages, this package gives you the availaility to configure wireless interfaces under linux.

tester@laptop:~$sudo apt-get install wireless-tools

This gives you access to tools such as iwconfig for configuring your network interface, iwlist for scanning network in your laptop scope, iwevent... Since we are going to compile a kernel module, we also need to get the kernel headers, gcc-4.0:

Please note that since Ubuntu Dapper, ipw2200 drivers are included in the standard kernel

tester@laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) module-assistant gcc-4.0

module-assistant allows you do easily compile kernel modules.

As the ipw2200 does not include ieee80211 subsystem, we have to compile the module, here comes module-assistant.

tester@laptop:~$ sudo module-assistant

Choose SELECT then tick the ieee80211 checkbox, press ENTER, and choose BUILD, module-assistant is going to build the kernel module and at the end will ask you wether you want to install it or not, choose yes :).

At the time of writing, there were no ubuntu package available for ipw2200, therefore, you had to download it from the internet and compile it by hand. Get it from the official ipw2200 website.

tester@laptop:~$ tar -xzvf Desktop/ipw2200-1.1.1.tgz

tester@laptop:~$ cd ipw2200-1.1.1/

tester@laptop:~/ipw2200-1.1.1$make IEEE80211_INC=/usr/src/modules/ieee80211/driver/

The IEEE80211_INC allows us to tell ipw2200 makefile where to find ieee80211.h file, if you don't do so, compiling will exit with error status.

Now it is time to install our freshly compile ipw2200 kernel module.

tester@laptop:~/ipw2200-1.1.1$ sudo make install

This will end up with the following message:

Don't forget to copy firmware to your hotplug's firmware directory and have the hotplug tools in place.

In order to make the ipw2200 card working, with need to copy the appropriate firmware in ''hotplug directory.

Get the appropriate firmware from ipw2200 website, click the I Agree link at the bottom of the page (after reading the licence issues... sure ;))

tester@laptop:~/ipw2200-1.1.1$ cd ..

tester@laptop:~$ tar -xzvf Desktop/ipw2200-fw-3.0.tgz

And now copy all the *.fw files to /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/

tester@laptop:~$ cd ipw2200-fw-3.0/

tester@laptop:~/ipw2200-fw-3.0$ sudo cp *.fw /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/


Submitted by chantra on Mon, 2006-03-27 21:16.

Help ieee80211 subsystem,

Submitted by ortrag on Wed, 2008-11-12 23:01.

I just install lastest edition of ubuntu studio to my dell inspiron 700m laptop, when i install wubi before change to ubuntu the wireless is fine detect. Now i need to get inside the bios and on the wireless but that didnt work now with your tutorial i cant create the subsystem im new in this stuff could you help me?

fher@ortraglin:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) module-assistant gcc-4.0
[sudo] password for fher:
E: No se pudo bloquear /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Recurso temporalmente no disponible)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

I change de uname to fher and it is the same.

fher@ortraglin:~$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(fher -r) module-assistant gcc-4.0
bash: fher: orden no encontrada
E: No se pudo bloquear /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Recurso temporalmente no disponible)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

When i test the hardware recognize the Pro/Wireless 2200BG but in the network tools i only have the ethernet why i cant see the icon for wireless detection? I urgent help. I couldnt enjoy the OS jet trying to solve this problem :S


This tutorial was made more

Submitted by chantra on Sun, 2008-11-23 19:31.

This tutorial was made more than 2 years ago, and I am not sure this is still required.
BTW, the error message you are getting is related to the fact that a process is already lockink the process database.

Debuntu

$echo "options ipw2200 led=1"

Submitted by chantra on Mon, 2007-07-30 19:18.

$echo "options ipw2200 led=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200.modprobe
$ rmmod ipw2200
$ modprobe ipw2200
This will activate the led if one is available.
Thanks to AndreaCE

I did all the steps, now how do I connect to my WLAN?

Submitted by Bou (not verified) on Mon, 2007-01-22 19:15.

Hello

The instructions work well but now I'd like to try and connect to my WLAN.
How do I do that?
I have WPA-security at my WLAN.

Thanks for any clues

Bou

you might need to use a

Submitted by chantra on Mon, 2007-01-22 19:30.

you might need to use a command line like:

$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid mywlan mode managed key xxx-vvv-dddd-eeee-vvvv-sss

then, it depends if you are going to use a dhcp enabled network or not.
If so, simply trigger:

$ sudo dhclient wlan0

if not, you will need to manually configure your network.
If you prefer a graphical interface, give a try to:

$ sudo network-admin

Hope this helps
Debuntu

I can't choose WPA

Submitted by Bou (not verified) on Mon, 2007-01-22 20:00.

If I do
$ sudo network-admin
I can change the properties of eth1, but there I can only choose WEP. How do I get WPA?


Check out

Submitted by chantra on Mon, 2007-01-22 20:10.

Check out wpa_supplicant.
This thread on ubuntu forums might help you: WPA with wpa_supplicant
Debuntu

Everything went well untill

Submitted by Bongo264 (not verified) on Sat, 2006-11-04 03:08.

Everything went well untill module-assistant at that point I got this error when I tried to build..

debian/rules:6: /usr/share/dpatch/dpatch.make: No such file or directory ↑
│ make: *** No rule to make target `/usr/share/dpatch/dpatch.make'. Stop.

Any ideas?

need to install dpacth package

Submitted by chantra on Sat, 2006-11-04 17:59.

Hi Bongo264,
you need to install dpatch package.
Type in a console:

$sudo apt-get install dpatch

and it should be working.

Debuntu

reply

Submitted by mola4ever on Fri, 2007-10-19 15:25.

nice tutorial but you should check my tutorial on wireless signal.

Oops

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2007-01-09 05:11.

I guess I should have read the comments before doing all this. I can't get wireless to work, so I tried this, but I'm on Edgy (which apparently has lpw2200 working out of the box). Do I need to undo what I've done? I got to here:

sudo make install

(after downloading from lpw2200 site)

going back to previous state

Submitted by chantra on Tue, 2007-01-09 10:45.

Hi,
You might want to:
sudo make uninstall
in order to remove the files you have installed.
Then, if some files were overridden by the last sudo make install, try to reinstall your kernel image:
sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.17-10-generic_2.6.17.1-10.34_i386.deb
or some other kernel packages.
I've added a warning telling people that since dapper
Debuntu

it is supported but..

Submitted by sshyperion (not verified) on Wed, 2006-11-22 05:37.

I tried to "update" what was already working fine and ended up making things worse. This is what I got when I followed through this error cropped up:

mkdir -p /home/frank/wireless/ipw2200-1.2.0/tmp/.tmp_versions
cp /usr/src/modules/ieee80211/driver//.tmp_versions/*.mod /home/frank/wireless/i pw2200-1.2.0/tmp/.tmp_versions
cp: cannot stat `/usr/src/modules/ieee80211/driver//.tmp_versions/*.mod': No suc h file or directory
make: [modules] Error 1 (ignored)
cp /usr/src/modules/ieee80211/driver//.tmp_versions/../Modules.symvers /home/fra nk/wireless/ipw2200-1.2.0
cp: cannot stat `/usr/src/modules/ieee80211/driver//.tmp_versions/../Modules.sym vers': No such file or directory
make: [modules] Error 1 (ignored)
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.15-27-386/build M=/home/frank/wireless/ipw2200-1.2.0 MO DVERDIR=/home/frank/wireless/ipw2200-1.2.0/tmp/.tmp_versions modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/lib/modules/2.6.15-27-386/build'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `modules'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/lib/modules/2.6.15-27-386/build'
make: *** [modules] Error 2

anyway to revert back to the driver setup from when it was out of the box or am I on a path I can't go backwards on?

Re:How-To IPW2200: Getting Intel Pro Wireless 2200 BG to work on

Submitted by princelinux (not verified) on Thu, 2007-01-25 08:00.

I have the same problem but it does not relate to wireless equipment. I have seen this issue pop up and it has something to do with files that the "make" command tries to access that either dont exist or are linked incorrectly.


Any more hints?

Submitted by chantra on Wed, 2006-11-22 18:51.

On which distribution is it?
Do you have all the require packages installed?
On my edgy box, it works out of the box. I tried to compile it on another box and it compile fine.
Here is what I did:

$make IEEE80211_INC=/usr/src/linux-headers-`uname -r`/include/

and the module compiled fine :).

mkdir -p /home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0/tmp/.tmp_versions
cp /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic/include//.tmp_versions/*.mod /home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0/tmp/.tmp_versions
cp: cannot stat `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic/include//.tmp_versions/*.mod': No such file or directory
make: [modules] Error 1 (ignored)
cp /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic/include//.tmp_versions/../Modules.symvers /home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0
cp: cannot stat `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic/include//.tmp_versions/../Modules.symvers': No such file or directory
make: [modules] Error 1 (ignored)
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.17-10-generic/build M=/home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0 MODVERDIR=/home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0/tmp/.tmp_versions modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic'
  CC [M]  /home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0/ipw2200.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST
  CC      /home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0/ipw2200.mod.o
  LD [M]  /home/tester/ipw2200-1.2.0/ipw2200.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.17-10-generic'

So yep, make sure you installed your current kernel headers:

$sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

and it should be sweet :)
Debuntu

Dapper Drake 6.06

Submitted by sshyperion on Thu, 2006-11-23 22:11.

I've updated wireless tools, linux headers and module assistant to no avail still. I checked out a few other sites and they mentioned something about updating the core kernel as well? I think I did that too and it still didn't seem to make any improvement. I'm currently running Dapper Drake 6.06 but if this can't be resolved anytime soon I'm just going to install Kubuntu and give that a try overall (not just for the networking glitch but in general).

Oh, it was originally supported out of the box but then I got cocky and tried to update the drivers and made a mess of things.

If you want to go back to

Submitted by chantra on Fri, 2006-11-24 07:22.

If you want to go back to your previous settings, you should try to reinstall:
linux-image-`uname -r`

Hope this helps

Debuntu

In Ubuntu Dapper, ipw2200 is

Submitted by Aalexander Kirillov (not verified) on Mon, 2006-04-03 19:34.

In Ubuntu Dapper, ipw2200 is supported out of the box.


Yes indeed. This actually was

Submitted by chantra (not verified) on Tue, 2006-04-04 09:50.

Yes indeed. This actually was a breezy tutorial, but I found out that dapper included ipw2200 out of the box :). By the way, firmwares are not located in but in /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/ anymore, but in /lib/firmware/`uname -r` instead