Phil's Wifi (was HELP WINDOWS XP

[Derek Broughton]

Phil Bieber wrote:

> I'm using a DELL Inspiron Notebook with an Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG
> Card. I cannot tell you the exact chipset, but the graphics chip is
> the Intel GMA950 with a Core2Duo @ 1,83Ghz. Its all from the Centrino
> platform.
> 
> I will have a look around for some newer firmware, thanks a lot for the
> hint!

Certainly the Intels do sometimes need firmware updates - I remember
updating my 2200 (when it still worked, before it broke and Dell refused to
honor my warranty, but I'm not bitter...).

Anyway, enough of my problems :-)

Check out: http://intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi

Basically, they say you should be golden if you run the hardy kernel,
otherwise you'll need to do some work.  So let's hope you aren't using
Hardy.  In that case, I'd suggest the simplest thing is to upgrade to hardy
(well worth while imo).  Next simplest, is probably to get the drivers from
the above page.  This will eventually leave you with some orphaned software
not under package control, but should be fairly painless.  Finally, but not
for the faint of heart, is to briefly change your /etc/apt/sources.list to
point to hardy, upgrade just the kernel (and any dependencies), then switch
your apt sources back to whatever you're using.  In the worst case, with
this method, you just find the new kernel doesn't boot, and go back to the
old one.
-- 
derek