Intel PRO/Wireless 2100, 2200 and 2915 devices

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Intel 2100, 2200 and 2915 chipsets on Debian systems.

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Drivers

• ipw2100 ([#supported-ipw2100 supported devices])
  • Supports the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 802.11b chipset.
  • Included in the mainline kernel starting from 2.6.14.

  • Source previously packaged in ipw2100-source, removed from Debian to resolve bug 441055.

• ipw2200 ([#supported-ipw2200 supported devices])
  • Supports Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 802.11bg and 2915 802.11a/bg chipsets.
  • Included in the mainline kernel starting from 2.6.15.

  • Source previously packaged in ipw2200-source, removed from Debian to resolve bug 441057.

Non-free firmware is required for both drivers, which can be provided by installing the firmware-ipw2x00 package.

Installation via Debian Installer (Lenny)

Both drivers are included for use by the Debian installation program ([:DebianInstaller:Debian Installer]) and are also within the installed kernel image.

Debian Installer may prompt for the required firmware (ipw2100-1.3.fw or ipw2200-bss.fw). You will have to download, extract and provide the firmware, as explained in section 6.4 ([http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/i386/ch06s04.html i386], [http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/amd64/ch06s04.html amd64]) of the [http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/installmanual Installation Guide].

It's now also available in the [http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/lenny/current/ nonfree-firmware tarball] which we build regularly on cdimage.debian.org. Supply this blob on a CD/floppy/USB drive etc. and d-i will do the right thing. -- SteveMcIntyre

Installation on Established Systems

The ipw2100 and ipw2200 drivers are included in the mainline Linux kernel since 2.6.14 and 2.6.15 respectively. They are included as modules in Debian kernel images.

Firmware is required to be installed prior to driver operation.

Lenny

1. Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

   # Debian Lenny/5.0
   deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free

2. Update the list of available packages and install the firmware-ipw2x00 and wireless-tools packages:

   aptitude update
   aptitude install firmware-ipw2x00 wireless-tools

   You are required to accept the license agreement before the firmware is installed to your system.

3. As the driver may already be loaded, reinsert the relevant driver module to access installed firmware:

   modprobe -r ipw2100 ; modprobe ipw2100

   or

   modprobe -r ipw2200 ; modprobe ipw2200

4. Verify your device has an available interface:

   iwconfig

5. Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:

   ifconfig wlan0 up

6. [:WiFi/HowToUse:Configure] your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

• Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.

  • Ensure the firmware-ipw2x00 package is installed, then reinsert the relevant driver module as described above.

  • ipw2200: If you receive a "Failed to send TX_POWER: Command timed out." message, add irqpoll to your kernel command line.

• LED control (ipw2200): If the LED does not switch on automatically:
  1. Determine your device's PCI ID (["HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI"]).

  2. echo options ipw2200 led=1 >> /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200 && modprobe -r ipw2200 && modprobe ipw2200

  3. echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:\[PCI ID\]/led

Etch

1. Install the wireless-tools package:

   aptitude update
   aptitude install wireless-tools

2. Manually acquire the lenny/firmware-ipw2x00 package from http://packages.debian.org/lenny/all/firmware-ipw2x00/download. For example:

   wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-ipw2x00_0.14_all.deb

3. Install lenny/firmware-ipw2x00 via ["dpkg"]:

   dpkg -i /path/to/firmware-ipw2x00*deb

   You are required to accept the license agreement before the firmware is installed to your system.

4. As the driver may already be loaded, reinsert the relevant driver module to access installed firmware:

   modprobe -r ipw2100 ; modprobe ipw2100

   or

   modprobe -r ipw2200 ; modprobe ipw2200

5. Verify your device has an available interface:

   iwconfig

6. Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:

   ifconfig wlan0 up

7. [:WiFi/HowToUse:Configure] your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

• Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.

  • Ensure the lenny/firmware-ipw2x00 package is installed, then reinsert the relevant driver module as described above.

  • ipw2200: If you receive a "Failed to send TX_POWER: Command timed out." message, add irqpoll to your kernel command line.

• HP Compaq nx8220 users: The ipw2200 v1.1.2kmq driver (included with Etch/2.6.18) is unable to load firmware v3.0 on this system. Either:

  • Install the ipw2200 v1.2.0mq driver: Add a 'contrib' component to /etc/apt/sources.list, then: modprobe -r ipw2200 && aptitude install ipw2200-modules-$(uname -r) && modprobe ipw2200

  • Install an [:EtchAndAHalf:] kernel image (apt-cache search linux-image-2.6.24-etchnhalf and install a package appropriate for your system) then restart your system to boot using this kernel.

• LED control (ipw2200): If the LED does not switch on automatically:
  1. Determine your device's PCI ID (["HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI"]).

  2. echo options ipw2200 led=1 >> /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200 && modprobe -r ipw2200 && modprobe ipw2200

  3. echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:\[PCI ID\]/led

Supported Devices

The page ["HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI"] explains how to identify a PCI device.

?Anchor(supported-ipw2100)

ipw2100

The following list is based on the alias fields of  modinfo ipw2100 on Lenny.

• PCI: 8086:1043 Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter

?Anchor(supported-ipw2200)

ipw2200

The following list is based on the alias fields of  modinfo ipw2200 on Lenny.

• PCI: 8086:1043 Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter
  PCI: 8086:104F Intel Corporation (Device name unknown)
  PCI: 8086:4220 Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection
  PCI: 8086:4221 Intel Corporation (Device name unknown)
  PCI: 8086:4223 Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection
  PCI: 8086:4224 Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection

See Also

• ["ipw3945"] - Help page for Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 devices
• ["iwlwifi"] - Help page for Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 and 4965 devices

• ["iwlagn"] - Help page for Intel WiFi Link 5100 and 5300 devices

• [:WiFi/HowToUse:?HowToUse] WiFi adapter

External Links

• http://ipw2100.sf.net - ipw2100 driver homepage

• http://ipw2200.sf.net - ipw2200 driver homepage

• irc://irc.freenode.net/#ipw2100 - driver ["IRC"] channel

• http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ipw2200#Installation_on_Debian_Etch - ipw2200 page on ThinkWiki

CategoryHardware

ToDo: Rename page to ipw2x00 (ipw2100 is now covered) or create an 'ipw2100' redirect to here.