Need to run disable_hw_scan=1 to use wlan0 [solved]

Message

alienjon · Post by **alienjon** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:48 am

The computer is a Toshiba Satellite A305 laptop with a Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection wireless device (that's the lspci output) I followed some wiki's and forums and was able to configure the kernel appropriately, but it still was not working. I was, however, able to find a hack to get it to work. I found that if I run my wlan0 init script and then run the following code, it can connect to my router and, subsequently, the internet:

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modprobe -r iwl3945
modprobe iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1

Apparently, by disabling hardware scanning, it'll work just fine, but a) I don't know if there's a way to specify this every time the module loads (right now I have it in a small script I run whenever I start the computer) or better yet if b) there is a way to disable this in the kernel (or as the module is built).

codergeek42 · Post by **codergeek42** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:13 am

If it's built into your kernel statically, you can add it as a boot-time parameter such as 'iwl3945.disable_hw_scan=1'. (This would be appended to your "kernel /bzImage-version" line in your Grub config file.)

alienjon · Post by **alienjon** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:15 am

naw, it's a module (unless I'm misinterpreting what you mean by 'static')

codergeek42 · Post by **codergeek42** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:21 am

alienjon wrote:naw, it's a module (unless I'm misinterpreting what you mean by 'static')

OOOH. I think I see what you're saying.

If you want to add this as a permanent option for the module, you can use the /etc/modprobe.conf file.

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# /etc/modprobe.conf
options  iwl3945  disable_hw_scan=1

Its syntax for the options is very similar to that of modprobe directly, and is explained in the modprobe.conf(5) man page if you're further interested:

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$ man modprobe.conf

This will cause these options to be used every time the module is loaded, without having to explicitly run "modprobe iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1 other_option=foo" etc.

swimmer · Post by **swimmer** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:11 am

Hmm - I don't trust that solution completely since I read this on the top of /etc/modprobe.conf

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### This file is automatically generated by update-modules
#
# Please do not edit this file directly. If you want to change or add
# anything please take a look at the files in /etc/modprobe.d and read
# the manpage for update-modules(8).

I'd suggest creating a file iwl3945 in /etc/modprobe.d/ with the line codergeek42 suggested ...

Sorry codergeek42

Greetz
swimmer

codergeek42 · Post by **codergeek42** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:59 am

swimmer wrote:[...] creating a file iwl3945 in /etc/modprobe.d/ with the line codergeek42 suggested ...

Sorry codergeek42

Heh; That's my "not used Gentoo in 2+ years" solution, so I appreciate your correction. Thanks.

alienjon · Post by **alienjon** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:36 pm

I just added that line to /etc/modules.d/iwl3945 and upon rebooting I had the exact same problem (and again, reloading the module fixes it). Interestingly, though, is that I now see that line in the /etc/modules.conf file. I'm guessing that the modules.conf file loads the options from the modules.d sub-files. But now, I'm wondering, if the problem lays in that the module needs to be reloaded anyway for it to work?

swimmer · Post by **swimmer** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:13 pm

*** /me crashes his head against the table ***

I should have told you that you have to run

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update-modules

after that :-/

Sorry about that

swimmer

alienjon · Post by **alienjon** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:17 pm

Thanks

I actually just finished rebooting after working on another problem and noticed that it's working fine now (actually, it was a second reboot, so I'm not sure why it didn't work the first time, but oh well, it's good now) Thanks for the help

swimmer · Post by **swimmer** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:37 pm

Glad to hear that it works now