[laptop-discuss] 1. Kernel is 64 2. Driver is 32

[Rick Hedin]

Good evening.  

I followed the instructions at
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/wireless/ndis/ to build and
install a driver for Intel's PRO/Wireless 3945ABG network interface card.
However, when I got to the modload ndisapi step, I got the complaint:  

	Can't load module:  Invalid argument

I bravely went ahead and did add_drv -i 'pci8086,4222' 3945abgndis and got:


	No 64-bit version of 3945abgndis found; 32-bit version of this
driver exists.  
	32-bit driver (3945abgndis) not loadable on 64-bit kernel.  
	System configuration file modified but 3945abgndis driver not loaded
or attached.  

I was shocked to discover that I was running a 64-bit kernel.  I downloaded
and installed Solaris Express 10/06.  The processor chip in my laptop is
certainly 32-bit.  It's an Intel Core 2.  

So I said, okay, I'll build the 64-bit stuff, according to the instructions.
But when I tried to run ndiscvt, I got the error message:  

	section relocation failed

I put some debugging writes into ndiscvt.c, until I got this output:  

#
#
# ./ndiscvt -i W39N51.INF -s W39N51.SYS -o ndis.h
offaccum starts out at 0
offaccum is changed to -1744830464
sect_hdr->ish_vaddr = 0, oldraddr = 1744830496, opt_hdr.ioh_filealign = 128
offaccum is changed to -1744830464
insert_padding: Reallocating newimg failed.
*imglen + offaccum = -1743402368
*imglen = 1428096, offaccum = -1744830464
img = 0x0041aba0, fsize = 1428096
section relocation failed
#
#

What it seems to amount to, is that the image section header in W39N51.SYS
doesn't match the fields in the structure.  In other words, I should be
working with a 64-bit driver, not a 32-bit driver.  

To summarize:  

1.  My operating system requires a 64-bit driver.  

2.  The driver Intel supplies is a 32-bit driver.  

I would say there's just no way to get this nic working in Solaris, except
Intel has a version that works with Linux.  http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/


What am I missing?  


		Regards, 

		Rick

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