This is an abbreviated version of an e-mail that I also posted to the ndiswrapper mailing list. Compressing the long story, I ran into the same problem using CentOS 5 as I had with Fedora Core 6 and ndiswrapper: my laptop (HP Pavilion zv6000 series with a Broadcom BCM43xx wireless NIC) would lock up or spontaneously reboot after a few hours if I brought up the wireless interface. I also tried using the native bcm43xx driver but the system wouldn't even boot. On a whim, I tried the current "plain vanilla" kernel (2.6.21) from kernel.org. My laptop has been up and stable running the 2.6.21 kernel with the wireless NIC up using ndiswrapper ever since. Does anyone have any idea why the un-patched kernel from kernel.org works fine with ndiswrapper but both the FC6 and CentOS (RHEL) kernels lock up or spontaneously reboot? I built the 2.6.21 kernel by copying the config file for 2.6.18-8.1.1 from /boot and doing a "make oldconfig". Everything is x86_64. Cheers, Dave P.S. Frosting on the cake: the secure digital card reader built into the laptop also works with the 2.6.21 kernel. -- Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. -- Ambrose Bierce
> Does anyone have any idea why the un-patched kernel from kernel.org works > fine with ndiswrapper but both the FC6 and CentOS (RHEL) kernels lock up or > spontaneously reboot? I built the 2.6.21 kernel by copying the config file > for 2.6.18-8.1.1 from /boot and doing a "make oldconfig". Everything is > x86_64.<http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/joomla/index.php?/component/option,com_openwiki/Itemid,33/id,faq/> See Item #2. Summary: Red Hat/Fedora uses a 4k stack size. Doesn't work well with ndiswrapper, or rather with the drivers you are trying to use with ndiswrapper. Barry
Barry Brimer <lists at brimer.org> wote:> Does anyone have any idea why the un-patched kernel from kernel.org works > > fine with ndiswrapper but both the FC6 and CentOS (RHEL) kernels lock up or > > spontaneously reboot? I built the 2.6.21 kernel by copying the config file > > for 2.6.18-8.1.1 from /boot and doing a "make oldconfig". Everything is > > x86_64. > > > <http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/joomla/index.php?/component/option,com_openwiki/Itemid,33/id,faq/> > > See Item #2. > > Summary: > > Red Hat/Fedora uses a 4k stack size. Doesn't work well with ndiswrapper, > or rather with the drivers you are trying to use with ndiswrapper. > > BarryThat seems to be the stock response but it doesn't seem to apply to an x86_64 kernel. 32 bit (e.g., i686) kernels have: CONFIG_4KSTACKS=y in the kernel config file. The equivalent beasty doesn't exist in the x86_64 config file. Also, I built my 2.6.21 kernel by using the Red Hat/CentOS 2.6.18-8.1.1 kernel configuration file and did a "make oldconfig" which just prompts for how to handle changes in the kernel config from the old config file version. Nothing came up about the stack size (shouldn't have the way "make oldconfig" works) so I should have the same options set for my kernel. It works but the RH/CentOS kernel doesn't. I'd prefer to stay with the standard kernel if possible but I need to be able to "fix" whatever is causing the reboot. If it's as simple as turning off some option, I can automate that. I'm just hoping it's not some patch that applies a 4K stack limit without even having the ability to turn it off. Cheers, Dave -- Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. -- Ambrose Bierce