1. Introduction

• The following is a full setup guide for the Belkin F5D7000 Wireless PCI network adapter using windows drivers with ndiswrapper.

This was used in v 5.10 (Breezy Badget) but shouldn't change to much in later releases.

Note that there is now a F5D7000 v3 with uses the Ralink RT2500 chipset. For this card, you require the Rt2500WirelessCardsHowTo.

1.1. Find and download driver

• Search for and Download the Dell bcmwl5a.inf files online. I found them under the filename: R74092us.EXE

What is nice about this .EXE file is that you can actually open it as a .ZIP file and extract its contents to any folder you want. Usually a folder in your home directory called drivers works nicely. Where ever you extract them to, make a note of where you extracted it to. You will need this directory in Step 3. The driver file that makes this all come together nicely and enables your network card should be located in the extracted directory in a folder called AR.

1.2. Install driver file

• Open the console (click Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type:

    sudo ndiswrapper -i <driver.inf>

  After the -i should come the .inf driver file.

• Here's is a sample of what it should look like.

    sudo ndiswrapper -i /home/michael/drivers/dellwirelessdrivers/AR/bcmwl5a.inf

  This should display the a message along the lines of "Installing bcmwl5a", as well as other messages such as "Forcing parameter IBSSGMode|0 to IBSSGMOde|2". This is normal. This is good.

1.3. Check for proper install

• Check to see if the installation completed as it should by typing:

    sudo ndiswrapper -l

  This should display the message Installed ndis drivers: bcmwl5a driver present, hardware present

1.4. Setup to load for boot

• Now type:

    sudo ndiswrapper -m

  then:

    sudo ndiswrapper -hotplug

  Once more type:

    sudo ndiswrapper -m

  Finally, type:

    sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

  You should now be able to see and configure your wireless card in System->Administration->Networking You will need to go to that window to configure and connect to your router, as well as "Activate" the connection by clicking Activate after choosing "wlan0". This was taken from:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/Networking/Belkin_F5D7000_USA_Wireless_Card_in_Linux_Complete_Guide

• You may find you have to manually select the broadcast/recieve frequency. Here's how it's done assuming that your NIC is working correctly. From terminal type:

    iwlist <interface name> scan

  This will find your router and find out what frequency it is broadcasting on. Make a note of freq

• Then type:

    iwlist <interface name> freq

  This lists the frequencies and channels your NIC can broadcast/recieve on.

• Now type this command filling in your data where <..> is in the command:

    sudo iwconfig <interface name> channel <channel>

  This will set the NIC's broadcast/recieve channel to the same as your router

• Reboot and you should find that you should be able to connect to your router.

• If you run into problmes, see WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper for more general ndiswraper instructions and troubleshooting steps.

  If you would like to contact the author - Mike - <UltimatePC AT comcast DOT net>

CategoryHardware CategoryNetworking CategoryWireless