I'm back to experimenting with Linux again. The biggest problem I've had with any distro I've tried is getting my wireless card working. Even the latest Ubuntu won't recognize it, but the previous version had no problem. My wireless card is a Zyxel PCI with a Realtek RTL-8185 chip. I tried googling & it seems that wireless cards are a big problem with many distros...or maybe it's just this particular chip?

Anyhow, I went into the PCLOS Control Center & used the NDISWrapper option, popped in my driver CD & pointed it at the XP .inf file. The driver loads & a screen pops up showing my network (& a few others from the neighborhood), but as soon as I select it, the system locks up & I'm forced to reboot via the reset button. For the heck of it, I tried selecting one of the other networks...the system froze. I rebooted & tried again but this time, I didn't select any network from the list...the system still froze!

Any suggestions on what I can try? Thanks.

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

Not sure if this applies (I do not use a wireless connection here), but I just received notification of a Mandriva Update for the drakx-net package for Mandriva 2008.0 users. I include the problem description:

Package : drakx-net
 Date    : May 5, 2008
 Affected: 2008.0
 ____________________________________

 Problem Description:

 This update enhances ndiswrapper drivers support (resolving bugs #28335, #34660, #37026, #37106), and madwifi driver support (resolving bugs #33044, #33531). It also fixes the configuration of cellular cards (bug ##36801). Also, some crashes have been fixed in the net_monitor tool (bugs #36537, #37635).

Looks as if it fixes several bugs in ndiswraopper and madwifi. Since PCLinuxOS is based on Mandriva, I felt it could have some bearing on your problem.

HTH,

Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

Did you try the driver for linux at the realtek site? Might see the realtek site for their latest windows or even linux drivers.

http://pclinuxoshwdb.com/index.php?...
Only claims to be a pcmcia working.

Might see the realtek site for their latest windows or even linux drivers.

Set bios to fail safe or default. Run memtest.

Might have to compile ndis or your drivers for your system even.

Sadly not all systems will work with linux.

Apart from a very few computers, all computers are tested at the factory with windows. Your system, even if others exact same boards run linux, may not ever run linux. We used to have real issues at one company that offered 2 OS's. While one might work fine the other may have an issue. You'd be surprised how many small parts could cause issues.

"Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

This in my Linux test box. It used to be my primary PC several years ago. I haven't run memtest on it in quite a while, but the last time I did there were no errors found...I doubt my problem is RAM related.

So far, I've found MEPIS to work very well on this system. The wireless is detected & setup automatically...all I had to do was enter my network info & go. I consider Mepis to be my baseline for comparison.

The last couple of versions of Ubuntu (Fiesty & Gutsy) worked OK too...it took a little coaxing, but I was able to get the wireless working without having to resort to NDISwrapper/Windows driver. I haven't put much effort into Hardy yet, although I know the wireless doesn't work "out of the box". I explored the driver CD for my wireless card & found that there is a Linux driver included, but I have no experience working with tarballs. I guess it's time to learn :-)

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

Most tar files might already be easy enough to just run a install script after you untar it.

I doubt you'd have to recompile the kernel and all that.

I'd try to slow the system down a bit in bios. It really shouldn't freeze in ndis. Might submit a bug report to pclinuxos team.

The memtest was because of the freeze issue. I can't explain that.

Might move the card to a different slot??? IRQ or other conflict.

Wonder if it would unfreeze after a hour or so??

"Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

I did some more googling & found several posts in different Linux forums regarding the same freeze-up issue with NDISwrapper. Most reported that using the Win98 driver instead of the WinXP driver will fix the problem. I'll give it a try later (I'm at work) & report back. Thanks.

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

Got home from work, booted my Linux box & tried the 98 drivers...worked like a charm. I'm using it right now to post this message!

"And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

Thanks for the info.

"Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10