Zotac WiFi Drivers - No Linux Support

Question

I built my own computer, and the motherboard is a Zotac ITX GeForce 9300. The Wi-Fi adapter doesn't work and the CD it came with has no Linux drivers. I am using the latest stable release of Linux Mint 7.

Are there any Linux drivers for this adapter, or at least generic Wi-Fi drivers that can work on my adapter?

Here are the results of running lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge (rev b1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge (rev b2)
00:03.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.2 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SMBus (rev b1)
00:03.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Device 0a98 (rev b1)
00:03.5 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Co-processor (rev b1)
00:04.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)
00:04.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)
00:06.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)
00:06.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)
00:08.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio (rev b1)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge (rev b1)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Ethernet (rev b1)
00:0b.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SATA Controller (rev b1)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:18.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 9300 / nForce 730i (rev b1)

Update: Someone said the WiFi module connects to the board via a USB header. Here are the results of running lsusb:

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0518:0001 EzKEY Corp. USB to PS2 Adaptor v1.09
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 160a:3184
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 045e:00e1 Microsoft Corp. Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 Receiver
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

ndiswrapper doesn't help at all.

Update 2: I installed the VT6656 Linux driver CesarB posted, but I can only access the network and not the Internet. In addition, every time I boot the system doesn't recognize the adapter. I can reinstall the driver with every boot, but it will still only connect to the network.

Solution 1

Your lspci output shows only one Ethernet controller (the wired one, a MCP79 which should be supported by the forcedeth driver). Doing a web search, I found a curious piece of information in a review of your motherboard: "The WiFi module [...] connects to the board via a USB header". If that is true, the information you want will be found not in lspci, but in lsusb.

After finding the correct line in the lsusb output, you can do a search for the ID (which will be something like 1d6b:0002) to find other people discussing the same hardware (people usually post the USB ID in that format when asking for help).

It seems Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu 9.04, which uses a 2.6.28 kernel. You could try a more recent kernel (Ubuntu 9.10, which should be released late this month, uses 2.6.31) to see if there is a driver for your device.

EDIT: Now that you posted the lsusb output, I can see that 160a:3184 is your wireless card. A quick search shows it is a VIA wireless card, apparently called VT6656. It seems there is a driver from VIA for it, and it seems to have been added to the staging tree for cleanup and possible future inclusion in the Linux kernel. See also Ubuntu bug #162671.

Solution 2

To get devices to work properly, you need to identify the chipsets they use. You can do this by visually inspecting the motherboard and recording identifying codes on the physical chips, by searching the 'net for other people who have documented the chipsets on your model of motherboard, and by using linux tools like "lspci".

Once you've identified the chipsets, you can use that to search for what other linux users are using to configure that hardware. Ubuntu forums are a good place to start.

Here's what my Ubuntu 9.04 system looks like from lspci:

$ lspci 
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [KM400/A] Chipset Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237/VX700 PCI Bridge
00:08.0 Mass storage controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3124 PCI-X Serial ATA Controller (rev 02)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6120/VT6121/VT6122 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev 11)
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)

You should be able to spot the audio chipset in there, for example. If you can run lspci on your system and post the output into your question, that will help us help you.

Solution 3

I'm not sure about the audio side of things, but I've used ndiswrapper to use Windows Wifi drivers within Linux at times.

If you don't have any luck finding slightly more native drivers that should hopefully be able to give you your wireless (though it can sometimes take a bit of work).

Comments

[Admin]

But it its an install EXE for Windows XP and Vista. What good are the contents in Linux?

[Admin]

The contents of the EXE should contain the drivers to use with ndiswrapper.

[quack quixote]

It's Ubuntu based. here's the project's About page: linuxmint.com/about.php

[quack quixote]

good edit, too. i'd give you another +1 for the update if i could.

[quack quixote]

that bug report lists a PPA that works for some under jaunty: edge.launchpad.net/~jjchico/+archive/ppa .. seems there may be issues with 64-bit.

[errm]

I've downloaded the VT6656 Linux driver, but after installing it and connecting to the wireless network, I can't actually access the internet. It says I'm connected. Plus, every time I turn on my computer I have to re-install the driver because it doesn't recognize the Wireless. Then I'm "connected" again but without internet access.