Ndiswrapper crash solved

I found out why my computer was crashing when I attempted to use Ndiswrapper, Puppy 4.1.1pre and 2.6.25.16 kernel.

Unloading the 'acx-mac80211' module leaves the system in an unstable state. The solution was simple: at first I did not run the Network Wizard, instead I ran the BootManager and blacklisted 'acx-mac980211' then rebooted. The blacklist GUI in the BootManager only offers loaded modules to be blacklisted, however after having rebooted, the old 'acx' module got loaded, so I had to run BootManager again and reboot again.

Then I ran the Network Wizard and Ndiswrapper worked fine.

So, the Network Wizard needs to be changed. In the dialog window where it asks if there is any existing interface that is likely to conflict with what Ndiswrapper needs, there should not be a button to unload the driver. Instead, there should be advice to run the BootManager and blacklist the module then reboot.

Perhaps mention could be made of the special case of 'acx-mac80211' and 'acx' -- note though, this is a peculiar situation and later puppies (with later kernel and more mature acx-mac80211) will not have the old acx module.

Tags: puppy