Key Points to Make Linksys WMP-54G Work

Note - Grants thread is excellent, but I still could not make my card work no matter what I did. What follows are steps that I used (THE DRIVER IS THE KEY) - if you are like me, doing this will result in the card coming up in 4 simple steps, using Knoppix 3.7, I'm willing to bet even if it didn't before

First - do as the other threads say - create a root level directory in Windows. I called mine wireless. So in windows, the path would be (assuming C is your hard drive) C:\wireless

Second - go to the following link and download the driver package: http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/ files/hpcpqnk/us/download/20513.html (or do a google search for broadcom download 3.40.25.3). This is the only place I could find to download the most current broadcom driver - the linksys driver that shipped with the card and that is available for download is an EARLIER VERSION AND DOES NOT WORK - 3.30.something. Click on the executable to expand it, but do not run the installation program. Instead, copy all of the .inf, .sys, and .cat files to the directory that you created in the first step (you probably do not need them all, but I didn't take the time to figure which ones are needed).

Third - Start knoppix (version 3.7). Using the knoppix start menu like thing (the gear with the K in the lower left corner), click KNOPPIX --> Network/Internet --> ndiswrapper. A dialog box will appear. Click the period to get to the root directory. Then in the left pane, click /mnt. Then /hda1. Then /wireless. IMPORTANT - CHOOSE THE file bcmwl5a.inf (NOT bcmwl5.inf). Click okay or next.

Fourth - click KNOPPIX --> Network/Internet --> Network Card Configuration. Choose DHCP. The network should now be up.

The above assumes that your router is not locked down at all so that ndiswrapper can join any essid it finds. The manual commands in the route shell, as described earlier, will also work - the thing to remember is to DOWNLOAD the 3.40.25.3 broadcom driver and CHOOSE the bcmwl5a (not bcmwl5) driver contained in this package, and you should be good to go.

Hope this helps - if anybody wants to send a quick note on how to get this automated on a floppy or on the hard drive, so that they execute when it boots from the cd, I would appreciate it.

Joe