MADWifi problem

[Nils Kassube]

Web Master wrote:
> I have a DLink DWA 542 card
> Others adviced me that I should follow the MADWifi Howto's installation
> steps. I should install a madwifi driver.

Does the card really have an Atheros chip set? Otherwise that driver 
probably won't help. Furthermore, the madwifi driver is available in the 
package linux-restricted-modules. There is no need to install from 
source, although it would surely work. It is just far easier to use the 
Ubuntu package.

> When I issued an <ifconfig ath0 down> command I've got the answer,
> that <No such device> .

Well, if the module is not yet loaded, such a device doesn't exist. But 
you could check with the command "ifconfig -a" which devices are 
available.

> Afterwards I followed the all steps of howto, but at the end of
> installation the <ifconfig ath0 up> command shows the same answer:
> <No such device>

Then your card isn't supported by the madwifi driver, unless you made some 
mistake during the installation.

> What should I do? Will I install again my linux OS, after I plugged my
> network interface card?

Reinstalling might help with Windows, but with Linux that only helps very 
seldom.

Let's check, what type of chip set your card uses. Please post the output 
of the command "lspci -v".

If it is really an Atheros chip set, you could install the 
linux-restricted-modules package using your favourite package manager, 
e.g. synaptic. Then use the command "sudo modprobe ath_pci" in a 
terminal. If the card is found, the command "ifconfig -a" should now show 
a device ath0.

BTW: Which Ubuntu version are you using?


Nils