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.
Contents
Drivers
ipw2100 (supported devices)
- Supports the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 802.11b chipset.
- Introduced in Linux 2.6.14.
Source previously packaged in ipw2100-source, removed from Debian to resolve bug 441055.
ipw2200 (supported devices)
- Supports Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 802.11bg and 2915 802.11a/bg chipsets.
- Introduced in Linux 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
Both drivers are included for use by the Debian installation program (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 (i386, amd64) of the Installation Guide.
It's now also available in the 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 version 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 device operation.
Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list for your Debian version, for example:
# Debian Lenny/5.0 deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free
or
# Debian Squeeze (testing) deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free
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.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
Verify your device has an available interface:
iwconfig
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
ifconfig eth1 up
Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.
Troubleshooting
Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg(1)) to verify required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. If requested firmware is not available, no wireless interface will be created.
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:
echo options ipw2200 led=1 >> /etc/modprobe.d/ipw2200.conf && modprobe -r ipw2200 ; modprobe ipw2200
Supported Devices
The page HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI explains how to identify a PCI device.
ipw2100
The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo ipw2100 in Debian 2.6.26 (2.6.26-25lenny1) kernel images.
PCI: 8086:1043 Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter
ipw2200
The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo ipw2200 in Debian 2.6.26 (2.6.26-25lenny1) kernel images.
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
iwlwifi - Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 and WiFi Link 4965 devices
iwlagn - Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965, 5100, 5300, 5350, 5150, 1000, 6000, 6250 devices
External Links
http://ipw2100.sf.net - ipw2100 driver homepage
http://ipw2200.sf.net - ipw2200 driver homepage
irc://irc.freenode.net/#ipw2100 - driver IRC channel
ToDo: Rename page to ipw2x00 (ipw2100 is now covered) or create an 'ipw2100' redirect to here.