# [SOLVED] How to install a Linksys WMP54G PCI Wireless NIC on Fedora 8?



## Need2BAGeek (Nov 24, 2005)

I'm very new to Linux. In fact, I basically know NOTHING about Linux. So I'm starting to wonder why I installed it on my PC. But anyway - my problem is that my Linksys WMP54G Wireless NIC works fine in Windows XP, but Fedora 8 isn't recognizing it. I found numerous "How To" guides on installing the Windows drivers in Linux using ndiswrapper, but these guides are made for advanced Linux users. I (and I'm sure other newbies) have difficulty following these guides. I need a resource that not only tells me what to type, but explains what it's doing so I can get around the road blocks that I continuously run into. 

Can anyone walk me through how to install this Wireless NIC in Linux? Or does anyone know of any how-to guides for a beginner? I've spent countless hours on this and am starting to give up...

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.


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## Need2BAGeek (Nov 24, 2005)

Well, I guess I jumped the gun when I posted this. After wasting several days trying to compile the Linux drivers with NDISWrapper (and running into error after error), I realized that my NIC was able to see my router. So it wasn't a driver issue. I was able to verify this by running the command "iwlist wlan0 scan" as root. This command listed all of the SSIDs my NIC was able to communicate with. I then used the GUI and opened System > Administration > Network, authenticated to root when it prompted, and double-clicked wlan0 after verifying it was Active. This opened the device configuration window, where I went to the Wireless Settings tab and made a few alterations:

SSID - I changed this to "Specified" and entered the specific name of my SSID as shown in the output of the iwlist command I ran earlier.

Channel - I changed this to "6" which was also shown under my SSID in the output of iwlist.

After I made these changes to the device configuration, I still wasn't able to ping or surf the Web. Here's what officially solved my problem: I went into System > Administration > Services and disabled the setroubleshoot service. After that, I went to System > Preferences > Personal > Sessions. Here I disabled the SELinux troubleshooter (and Bluetooth Manager, since I don't use any Bluetooth devices). I then logged off and logged on as root and made the Session changes. I suppose this stopped SELinux from running. Disabling this extra security seemed to solve the problem because I was able to ping and surf immediately afterward.

I hope this helps others who encounter this problem. Before wracking your brain trying to find Linux drivers for your wireless PCI card, try disabling SELinux and configuring the device.

-Ryan


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