No WLAN when using PCIe graphics card

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi all,

I have got a very strange problem. After my computer crashed I tried to install OpenSuse 12.1 and as I always did the past years I used the network installation. As is happens this change went along with a new graphics card as my old died (GeForce GT210 / GeForce GT8400 tried both) though I am not sure whether that causes the problem.

During the installation process I am asked to provide the WLAN details but the network is not detected / connected. It is accessible and there are not typos (went through that process >20 times). Accidentally I tried the installation without the PCIe graphics card (with on Board GeForce 7050) and then it does work to install OpenSuse off the internet which is a step forward but results in the same connection problems once I put in the PCIe graphics card (it detects the network but stops at ‘waiting for authorisation’). I have also an installation of Windows 7 on the same computer and no connection problems whatsoever whichever hardware configuration I use. I have tried both ifup and KNetworkManager but neither worked.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Michael

2

Michael,

I’ve always used the DVD install. Have you considered downloading it?

3

Are you able to connect a cable to you laptop or PC and then set up your wireless via Yast?

4

Romanator,

for the first installation I used the network installation (graphics card was broken at that time). When I received my new card I noticed that I could not connect to the internet. Frustrated I then downloaded the DVD version (installed with PCIe graphics card) and could not connect to the internet either. The third trial was network again but via ethernet with the same WLAN connection problems after the system was installed. I used YAST to setup the graphics card and tried with ifup and NetworkManager to no avail.
It doesn’t really make sense but every time I boot with onBoard graphics card it connects and every time I boot with PCIe graphics card it does not.

Michael

5

I should probably add that both Yast and NetworkManager detect available networks (scan) during the setup, it just does not connect (‘Waiting for autorisation’). I even removed the password from the router (open network) which didn’t help either.

6

Are you sure you have properly configured all settings in YAST > Network Settings and YAST > Firewall ?
Especially the ones found in the tabs when you click ‘Edit’ in ‘Network Settings’ (while the connection is selected off course), and mainly the ‘Activate Device’ and ‘IP address’ parts. Also make sure IPv6 is properly configured in ‘Global Options’ of ‘Network Settings’.

7

You must have a separate wlan wifi card or chip on your motherboard? What is the brand? Broadcom, Intel, Atheros etc?
In addition, make sure you have the correct IP address and Subnet Mask entered through Yast → Network Devices…

FYI After checking Bugzilla, there seems to be an issue with the “Waiting for authorization” message.
Try disconnecting the wifi and connecting the cable directly to your laptop or PC. There are some updates for the knetworkmanager, plasmoid-nm and kernel that should help resolve this problem.

Again… What brand of laptop or PC are you using?

8

My hardware is as follows:

AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ with 4GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 210 PCI (onBoard: GeForce 7050M-M)
WLAN: RaLink RT2500 8023.11g (mini PCI)

I moved the computer to the living room and during the past days the computer was cable connected to the internet and last night it installed a few updates including knetworkmanager. Tried it this morning but it did not improve the situation.

I just ran the following experiment:

  1. Wireless network setup through Yast (networkmanager)

  2. Reboot without PCIe graphics card (no change of configuration)
    I need to disable wireless network in knetworkmanager and start it again and it connects.

  3. Shutdown, put in PCIe graphics card, boot (no change of configuration)
    I need to disable wireless network in knetworkmanager and start it again and it does not connect to the router! Since the update last night it does ask for the router password three times until a message appears “not connected”. But there was no change to before except for the hardware.

  4. Shutdown, remove PCIe graphics card, boot (no change of configuration)
    I need to disable wireless network in knetworkmanager and start it again and it connects!!!

I checked the boot log while booting the system during all trials and all messages are [OK].

It does not show me any further required updates. Can I force that somehow?

9

On 05/18/2012 11:56 AM, gakusee wrote:
>
> My hardware is as follows:
>
> AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ with 4GB RAM
> Nvidia GeForce 210 PCI (onBoard: GeForce 7050M-M)
> WLAN: RaLink RT2500 8023.11g (mini PCI)
>
> I moved the computer to the living room and during the past days the
> computer was cable connected to the internet and last night it installed
> a few updates including knetworkmanager. Tried it this morning but it
> did not improve the situation.
>
> I just ran the following experiment:
> 1) Wireless network setup through Yast (networkmanager)
>
> 2) Reboot without PCIe graphics card (no change of configuration)
> I need to disable wireless network in knetworkmanager and start it
> again and it connects.
>
> 3) Shutdown, put in PCIe graphics card, boot (no change of
> configuration)
> I need to disable wireless network in knetworkmanager and start it
> again and it does not connect to the router! Since the update last night
> it does ask for the router password three times until a message appears
> “not connected”. But there was no change to before except for the
> hardware.
>
> 4) Shutdown, remove PCIe graphics card, boot (no change of
> configuration)
> I need to disable wireless network in knetworkmanager and start it
> again and it connects!!!
>
> I checked the boot log while booting the system during all trials and
> all messages are [OK].
>
> It does not show me any further required updates. Can I force that
> somehow?

My opinion is that this is an interference between the PCIe graphics card and
the wireless card. It could be an interrupt problem. If so, then ‘cat
/proc/interrupts’ might show something. You should also compare with and without
the PCIe graphics device installed.

In addition, you need to compare the output of the dmesg command with and
without. DO NOT POST the entire output, but find things that are wildle different.

10

Spot the difference … (I understand why not to post the complete report)

Hope that helps.

cat /proc/interrupts (without PCIe graphics card)
21: 0 1 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb2
22: 338 69537 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb1, snd_hda_intel
NMI: 14 18 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 332134 425862 Local timer interrupts
PMI: 14 18 Performance monitoring interrupts
RES: 254946 213594 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 2036 1592 Function call interrupts
TLB: 11337 5692 TLB shootdowns
MCP: 17 17 Machine check polls

cat /proc/interrupts (with PCIe graphics card)
17: 0 139 IO-APIC-fasteoi snd_hda_intel
18: 23 12401 IO-APIC-fasteoi nvidia
21: 0 216 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb2, snd_hda_intel
22: 21 5536 IO-APIC-fasteoi ehci_hcd:usb1
NMI: 2 3 Non-maskable interrupts
LOC: 49263 65772 Local timer interrupts
PMI: 2 3 Performance monitoring interrupts
RES: 64365 55749 Rescheduling interrupts
CAL: 2645 1495 Function call interrupts
TLB: 692 653 TLB shootdowns
MCP: 1 1 Machine check polls

dmesg (without PCIe graphics card)
12.214342] Registered led device: rt2500pci-phy0::radio
12.214359] Registered led device: rt2500pci-phy0::quality
12.244282] input: HDA NVidia Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/sound/card0/input6
12.245519] forcedeth: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.64.
12.245751] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LMAC] enabled at IRQ 21
12.245757] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LMAC] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
12.245761] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: setting latency timer to 64
12.767722] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: ifname eth0, PHY OUI 0x50ef @ 1, addr 00:1e:90:f8:fc:a4
12.767727] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: highdma pwrctl mgmt lnktim msi desc-v3
12.768905] i2c i2c-0: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x2d00
12.768924] i2c i2c-1: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x2e00
12.770029] k8temp 0000:00:18.3: Temperature readouts might be wrong - check erratum #141
12.771214] EDAC amd64: DRAM ECC disabled.
12.771222] EDAC amd64: ECC disabled in the BIOS or no ECC capability, module will not load.
12.771224] Either enable ECC checking or force module loading by setting ‘ecc_enable_override’.
12.771225] (Note that use of the override may cause unknown side effects.)
13.257098] ifup[739]: Service network not started and mode ‘auto’ -> skipping
13.257109] ifup[736]: Service network not started and mode ‘auto’ -> skipping
13.783580] nvidia: module license ‘NVIDIA’ taints kernel.
13.783584] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
13.928781] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
13.928785] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
13.928788] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.928790] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.928793] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.928795] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.928797] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

dmesg (with PCIe graphics card)
12.176151] Registered led device: rt2500pci-phy0::radio
12.176169] Registered led device: rt2500pci-phy0::quality
12.494724] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: ifname eth0, PHY OUI 0x50ef @ 1, addr 00:1e:90:f8:fc:a4
12.494729] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: highdma pwrctl mgmt lnktim msi desc-v3
13.131427] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
13.131431] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
13.131434] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.131436] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.131438] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.131440] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.131442] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
13.354042] ifup[692]: Service network not started and mode ‘auto’ -> skipping
13.354052] ifup[690]: Service network not started and mode ‘auto’ -> skipping
14.020217] nvidia: module license ‘NVIDIA’ taints kernel.
14.020221] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint

79.693903] wlan0: direct probe to 00:24:17:64:9c:d1 (try 1/3)
79.893135] wlan0: direct probe to 00:24:17:64:9c:d1 (try 2/3)
80.093061] wlan0: direct probe to 00:24:17:64:9c:d1 (try 3/3)
80.293071] wlan0: direct probe to 00:24:17:64:9c:d1 timed out
98.030757] phy0 -> rt2x00queue_write_tx_frame: Error - Dropping frame due to full tx queue 0.
99.143366] phy0 -> rt2x00queue_write_tx_frame: Error - Dropping frame due to full tx queue 0.
(this continues for another 20 lines)

There were a few other smaller differences but I believe this was the important part.

11

On 05/18/2012 02:36 PM, gakusee wrote:
>
> Spot the difference … (I understand why not to post the complete
> report)
>
> Hope that helps.

> 13.783580] nvidia: module license ‘NVIDIA’ taints kernel.

As a kernel developer, I should quit trying to help here. In fact, it may be the
Nvidia driver that causes the problem. Have you tried running with the card in,
no nvidia driver, and with ‘nomodeset’ on the boot options line? If you have not
done so, then di it immediately.

> 13.783584] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint

> 98.030757] phy0 -> rt2x00queue_write_tx_frame: Error - Dropping
> frame due to full tx queue 0.
> 99.143366] phy0 -> rt2x00queue_write_tx_frame: Error - Dropping
> frame due to full tx queue 0.
> -(this continues for another 20 lines)-
>
> There were a few other smaller differences but I believe this was the
> important part.

Your wireless device is not doing any transmits, which is why the TX queue is
full. I still think the interrupts are getting messed up, but check without the
nvidia driver loaded. If it still fails, then post the full output of ‘cat
/proc/interrupts’ with the card in.

12

Thanks. I added ‘nomodeset’ when I booted the system again but it did not help either. A few days ago I downloaded the driver from the Nvidia website and tried to install it but that seemed to to want to recompile the kernel and I saved it for the weekend. Since the system is virgin I have nothing to lose so I’ll try that next.

What I still don’t understand is that knetworkmanager only asks for the password when the PCIe card is used. Even if it was an interrupt problem would that cause the networkmanager to do that?

13

On 05/19/2012 03:16 AM, gakusee wrote:
>
> Thanks. I added ‘-nomodeset-’ when I booted the system again but it did
> not help either. A few days ago I downloaded the driver from the Nvidia
> website and tried to install it but that seemed to to want to recompile
> the kernel and I saved it for the weekend. Since the system is virgin I
> have nothing to lose so I’ll try that next.

It does not need to recompile the kernel; however, it does need to build the driver.

> What I still don’t understand is that knetworkmanager only asks for the
> password when the PCIe card is used. Even if it was an interrupt problem
> would that cause the networkmanager to do that?

Yes, that is exactly what it would do. When NM is unable to connect for any
reason, it assumes that the encryption secret is wrong, and it asks for it
again. In your case, the wifi device is not working, but NM only sees the
connection failure.

14

It is not supposed to happen I think …

I followed these instructions to install the driver (ok) but after rebuilding the Nvidia module I got an error message

ERROR: The file ‘/lib/modules/3.1.10-1.9-desktop/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko’ already exists as part of this driver installation.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file ‘/var/log/nvidia-installer.log’ for details. You may find suggestions on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux driver download page at World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies | NVIDIA.

I then tried to install the driver on a really fresh system to avoid that something I did before could have caused that error but the same happened.

15

On 05/19/2012 12:46 PM, gakusee wrote:
>
> It is not supposed to happen I think …
>
> I followed these ‘instructions’ (http://tinyurl.com/7l85tc4) to install
> the driver (ok) but after rebuilding the Nvidia module I got an error
> message
>
> -ERROR: The file
> ‘/lib/modules/3.1.10-1.9-desktop/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko’ already
> exists as part of this driver installation.
> ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
> ‘/var/log/nvidia-installer.log’ for details. You may find suggestions
> on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
> driver download page at ‘World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies |
> NVIDIA’ (http://www.nvidia.com).-
>
> I then tried to install the driver on a really fresh system to avoid
> that something I did before could have caused that error but the same
> happened.

It is telling you that the driver is already installed, and you don’t need to do
that. If you really want to install it that way, you need to use YaST to
uninstall that package.

That is what I want you to do so that we can test the wireless when the Nvidia
driver is NOT available.

16

A search for “nvidia” in Yast only returned the xorg-x11-driver-video-nouveau and uninstalling it did not make a difference. Neither to the network connection nor to the error message when I tried to install the driver again. So there is another installation unrecognised by Yast?

17

Only if you installed it and you should not have uninstalled the nouveau driver.

Did you install all the other stuff that is needed for a manual (hard way) install of the NVIDIA driver?

it is easier to install via a Yast repo but not that much easier. You just have to install the kernel source and the gc compiler so that the script can compile the driver interface for your current kernel for the “hard way” .

But that is an aside since your troubles have to do with a oddball WLAN card.

18

On 05/19/2012 08:26 PM, gogalthorp wrote:
>
> Only if you installed it and you should not have uninstalled the nouveau
> driver.
>
> Did you install all the other stuff that is needed for a manual (hard
> way) install of the NVIDIA driver?
>
> it is easier to install via a Yast repo but not that much easier. You
> just have to install the kernel source and the gc compiler so that the
> script can compile the driver interface for your current kernel for the
> “hard way” .
>
> But that is an aside since your troubles have to do with a oddball WLAN
> card.

I am trying to get the OP to boot WITHOUT the proprietary Nvidia driver. Once he
does that, we will know more about the interference between the Nvidia card and
the wireless device.

If you want to help him, I will stop.

19

No no you go ahead he just seemed confused about drivers and removed the nouveau driver maybe for no reason.

20

Removing the all Nvidia bits in Yast did not help. Networkmanager still did not connect to the wireless network.

Uninstalling the Nvidia driver sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-295.53.run --uninstall means the computer only boots to init 3. Which driver should I install then? I also tried to install the Nvidia drivers from SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE but neither enables me to connect to the wireless network.

And yes, kernel-source, make and gcc are all installed.