[sclug] Odd problem with Netgear wireless adapter and ndiswrapper

[Will Dickson]

Neil Haughton wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm experiencing a strange problem with my Netgear W3G11V3 wireless 
> adapter. Can anyone throw any light on it?

[snip]
> 
> 
> Here's my system log which shows what happens when the wireless adapter 
> fails to initialise:
> 
> 
> Nov  3 10:42:52 localhost kernel: [17179612.936000] ndiswrapper version 
> 1.8 loaded (preempt=yes,smp=no)
> Nov  3 10:42:52 localhost kernel: [17179613.408000] ndiswrapper: driver 
> wg311v3 (NETGEAR,02/22/2005,3.1.1.7) loaded
> Nov  3 10:42:52 localhost kernel: [17179613.408000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 
> 0000:00:0e.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 177

[snip dump]

Just a random thought: some older VIA kit in particular has dodgy ACPI. 
Have you tried setting pci=noacpi as a kernel parameter, or even acpi=off ?

2nd random thought: intermittent faults are usually due to one of a) 
duff connections, b) overheating, c) bad init (fandango on core etc) or 
d) some kind of timing problem - race condition between two processes or 
something like that. Since XP works I'd say a) and b) are out. Since 
ndiswrapper wraps the XP driver (IIRC?) I suspect it isn't c). That 
leaves d). Is there any way to put a few seconds of extra delay between 
the relevant steps in the boot sequence?

Anyway, might be worth looking at.

Will.