evad.zone

[root@dell620 ~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Quadro NVS 110M / GeForce Go 7300 (rev a1)
03:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ601/6912/711E0 CardBus/SmartCardBus Controller (rev 40)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)

[root@dell620 ~]# rmmod pcspkr

[root@dell620 ~]# hcitool scan
Scanning ...
00:12:D1:9C:90:C3       Dawid Lorenz
00:E0:03:37:AB:25       evad.6230
00:10:C6:56:D7:BB       Dell 510m

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "Synaptics"
	Driver      "synaptics"
	Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
	Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
	Option      "LeftEdge" "120"
	Option      "RightEdge" "830"
	Option      "TopEdge" "120"
	Option      "BottomEdge" "650"
	Option      "FingerLow" "14"
	Option      "FingerHigh" "30"
	Option      "MaxTapTime" "180"
	Option      "MaxTapMove" "110"
	Option      "VertScrollDelta" "20"
	Option      "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
	Option      "MinSpeed" "0.10"
	Option      "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
	Option      "AccelFactor" "0.2"
EndSection

87 Responses to “Fedora Core 6 on Dell Latitude D620”

1. wojtek Says:
   November 12, 2006 at 20:34

   Hiya dude, good to see you here. Rock on! :D

2. Bulbous, Not Tapered » Blog Archive » Fedora Core 5 on a Dell Latitude D620 Says:
   November 13, 2006 at 23:34

   [...] Fedora Core 6 on the D620 [...]

3. Oscar Says:
   November 20, 2006 at 17:33

   Could you post the solution to speed up your dvd burner? I have the same problem but I can not get to any solution.

   Thank you.

4. Dawid Lorenz Says:
   November 20, 2006 at 17:50

   Oscar: sure, I’ll post it here within next few days (I’m quite busy at work), however link below is the source where I took solution from: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=114586

   Good luck. :)

5. j Says:
   November 26, 2006 at 16:51

   Nice work.

   FYI, on the bluetooth, I’ve had different results by phone — one way only with a Motorola L7 but two way transfer worked as expected with an LG cu500.

6. Dawid Lorenz Says:
   November 27, 2006 at 0:02

   I have no time for nothing lately, but I’m planning to figure out bluetooth problem and also cover it in here. Hopefully I could manage that in next few days. Thanks!

7. Sebastian Says:
   November 30, 2006 at 19:43

   Did you get your volume keys to work (i.e volume down, volume up, and mute). If so, could you post how you did it. Thanks!!!

8. Dawid Lorenz Says:
   November 30, 2006 at 20:46

   Sure. I did it through standard GNOME applet, hidden under System -> Preferences -> Keyboard shortcuts. Choose ‘volume up/down/mute’ and press appropriate hardware volume key, while assigning key bind.

9. Colin Says:
   December 1, 2006 at 11:44

   thanks for this page! it was very helpful.
   I think I’ve got exactly the same system as you do, and I’m a bit worried about the HDD performances.
   running hdparm -t on the device gives 32 MB/sec only.
   I would have expected to get something like 100 or 200 Mb/s. Could you please tell me what you get ? thanks!

10. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    December 3, 2006 at 0:22

    My results were between 41 and 50 MB/s. Well, I don’t complain about overall system’s performance, so I can’t tell definitively if that’s wrong or not. But I’ll do similar test on my old laptop, which hasn’t got SATA drive…

11. Raffaele Says:
    December 3, 2006 at 13:36

    Great!
    I’ve the same system and the same problems (my hd gives a 42MB/s..)!
    but.. I’ve got another problem..
    When I run a 3d games (for test proposal) my X server crash speedly and textual tty don’t works.
    I’ve the linva driver installed.
    Do Anyone know my problem with nvidia?

12. Nathaniel Firethorn Says:
    December 9, 2006 at 2:14

    I’m in exactly the same situation (D620, FC6) and the X login screen won’t come up after boot. I tried booting the installer with linux resolution=1440??900 but this still dropped me into the low-res graphics. I managed to get startx working by installing 915resolution, but that doesn’t get me the nice boot into X11. Any suggestions would be welcome!

13. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    December 9, 2006 at 2:21

    Which video card do you have, actually? Nvidia or Intel?

14. Akela_gay Says:
    December 24, 2006 at 13:14

    Nice! Happy New Year!
    —
    hydrocodone

15. Adam Stokes Says:
    December 25, 2006 at 4:37

    I have had troubles with battery life. XP seesm to give me 2 to 3 times more from a charge…anyone else getting this…or testing more scientifically?

16. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    December 26, 2006 at 23:44

    I’m thinking WinXP has better power management, and Dell’s dedicated software (Dell QuickSet) is Windows-only, so it can manage power in better way. But it’s just guessing, as I’m not using WinXP for a periods longer than 15-20 minutes usually, so I can’t tell for sure. ;) Maybe some Windows-user could post his/hers notes here?

17. Tommy Denton Says:
    January 1, 2007 at 1:18

    I have a rocking D620. I use XP because I have not had the time to slick and install FC6. With the internal NIC turned off, and the screen dimmed I get about 3.5 hours. with out wireless I get about 4.25 hours.

    I have flow from DC to LAX with out a charge, but had to charge when I got to LAX, before I could work more.

18. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 1, 2007 at 13:46

    So it looks like XP just has better power management, as I thought… Thanks for your entry!

19. Mike Lococo Says:
    January 1, 2007 at 23:11

    Thanks for the comprehensive compatibility listing. A question about wireless networking with the ipw3945, though: None of the packages you listed (dkms-ipw3945, ipw3945d, ipw3945-firmware) appear to contain a kernel module, and after installing them on my system no wireless enabled interface is found by iwconfig. Are there other packages involved or is there some post-installation step that I’m missing?

20. Mike Lococo Says:
    January 2, 2007 at 4:24

    I’ve solved my issue, dkms-ipw3945 is (or actually, will build) the kernel module. I didn’t have the kernel-devel package for my kernel installed which apparently caused dkms to choke without visible complaint. I was able to resolve the issue with the following steps:

    1) Install the right kernel-devel package.
    2) As root, ‘dkms status’ to learn the module name and version.
    3) As root, ‘dkms build -m ipw3945 -v 1.1.3-2′ to build the kernel module.
    4) As root, ‘dkms install -m ipw3945 -v 1.1.3-2′ to install the module.
    5) As root, ‘modprobe ipw3945′ to load the module.
    6) As root, ‘iwconfig’ to see that the card is now working.

    Thanks again for the post.

21. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 2, 2007 at 9:34

    After you install those packages, reboot machine and dkms installer will install kernel module automatically while booting up the system. Worked well with me. Actually, it will do the same after upgrading kernel, so don’t worry about downloading proper kernel-modules before updating kernel any more (which was quite annoying back with ipw2200). :)

22. Mike Lococo Says:
    January 2, 2007 at 15:03

    Thanks for the follow-up. I think the one thing to reiterate for other folks that might experience the same issue I did is that you need to have the right kernel-devel package installed otherwise the dkms process fails. There’s no explicit dependency that your package manager will force you to satisfy, so it’s up to the end-user to ensure that it’s there.

23. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 2, 2007 at 15:08

    Good note, I’ll add that into article. Thanks!

24. Adil Javed Says:
    January 10, 2007 at 6:08

    Hi,
    I’m new to Linux. where do I get the kernel-devl package? Can I just double click on the icons to install the packages? How do I check whether Kernel-devel package is already installed on my computer?
    Thanks,
    AJ

25. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 10, 2007 at 7:40

    There are several package managers for Linux/Fedora, above these standard ones included in FC6. Personally, I’m using yumex – try installing it first, then launch it, go to Install tab and find kernel-devel package. Then choose ‘Add to queue & process’, which will start installation process. Good luck.

26. Adil Javed Says:
    January 11, 2007 at 3:34

    Hi,
    I was able to install Kernel-devel package and ipw3945d. When I install dkms-ipw3945, I get the message that Error: Missing Dependency: ipw3945-firmware is needed by package dkms-ipw3945. However, when I try to install ipw-3845-firmware, I get “can not install source pakages.”
    Not sure what is going on. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
    AJ

27. Adil Javed Says:
    January 11, 2007 at 3:58

    Hi,
    please ignor my previous post.
    I used package update to install Kernel-devlop package and then installed the below packages.
    ipw3945-firmware-1.13-1.noarch.rpm
    ipw3945d-1.7.22-4.i386.rpm
    dkms-ipw3945-1.2.0-1.noarch.rpm

    However, when I type iwconfig, I get:
    lo no wireless extensions.

    eth0 no wireless extensions.

    sit0 no wireless extensions.

    what should I do?
    Thanks for your help,
    AJ

28. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 11, 2007 at 11:27

    Did you reboot your computer first? dkms installer will install ipw3945 driver while booting. Do you have wireless switched off by hardware button on the left side of laptop? That’s first thoughts which come to my mind, I’m not sure what else could I advise…

29. Adil Javed Says:
    January 12, 2007 at 4:43

    Hi,
    thanks for your help. I did reboot the computer after installing dkms and my wireless switch is on.
    Following are the errors I get, esp with modprobe.
    any comments?
    appreciate all your help,
    AJ

    [root@localhost ~]# dkms status
    ipw3945, 1.2.0-1, 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6, i586: installed
    [root@localhost ~]# dkms build -m ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1

    Error! This module/version has already been built on: 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6
    Directory: /var/lib/dkms/ipw3945/1.2.0-1/2.6.18-1.2798.fc6/i586
    already exists. Use the dkms remove function before trying to build again.

    [root@localhost ~]# dkms install -m ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1

    Error! This module/version combo is already installed
    for kernel: 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6 (i586)

    [root@localhost ~]# modprobe ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1
    FATAL: Module ipw3945 not found.

30. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 12, 2007 at 7:31

    Weird. Try uninstalling all ipw-related packages, reboot, install them again and reboot.

31. Adil Javed Says:
    January 13, 2007 at 3:53

    Hi,
    did all this, and again same exact problem. When I type:
    [root@localhost ~]# dkms status
    ipw3945, 1.2.0-1, 2.6.18-1.2798.fc6, i586: installed
    Doesn’t that mean that the driver is already installed?
    Thanks,
    AJ

32. Adil Javed Says:
    January 13, 2007 at 6:34

    Hi when I type lspci, I get: 0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
    .
    But under system-config-network, when installing eth1 wireless connection, I don’t see the 3945ABG driver.

    Any solutions?
    AJ

33. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 13, 2007 at 14:24

    Last thought: do you have wireless adapter enabled in BIOS?

34. Adil Javed Says:
    January 14, 2007 at 6:09

    Thanks for your help.
    Yes, the wireless adapter is enabled in BIOS. Actually, I have a dual boot. Windows XP wireless works fine.
    AJ

35. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 14, 2007 at 12:22

    In that case I don’t know what else to advise. :( On my Dell, after installing dkms-ipw3945, ipw3945d, ipw3945-firmware, kernel-devel packages wireless just worked straight away.

36. Michael C. Says:
    January 15, 2007 at 10:08

    Hi,

    My D620 has Intel 945GM Express video card..
    Where can I find a suitable driver?

    I can start X, so i’m using text mode to install anything I could

    I did a complete “yum update” after installation of the FC6, but I still haven’t figure out the way to start X.

    Any solutions?

    Michael

37. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 15, 2007 at 13:25

    Edit xorg.conf file in order to user vesa driver and then try starting X

38. Bulbous, Not Tapered » Blog Archive » Fedora Core 6 on a Dell Latitude D620 Says:
    January 17, 2007 at 5:05

    [...] Dawid Lorenz already has a very comprehensive set of notes on running Fedora Core 6 on the Dell Latitude D620, but I’m going to drop in my two cents as well for variety’s sake. [...]

39. Mike Lococo Says:
    January 17, 2007 at 5:23

    @Oscar: A fix for the DVD sluggishness can be found at this thread on FedoraForum.org. It’s described as being for FC5, but I’ve tested it and found that works on FC6 as well with my D620.

40. Ron Weales Says:
    January 18, 2007 at 21:05

    Adil, I have a similar issue to yours in regard to the wireless on the D620 with FC6. I’ve installed and uninstalled the rpm’s several times with similar problems. Mainly that dkms can’t see kernel-devel. Try http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/.

41. Erik Forkalsrud Says:
    January 26, 2007 at 3:25

    I have a very similar stup as you, and it has been working well with NetworkManager for a few months.

    But a couple of days ago, after I installed a new kernel version (2.6.19-1.2895.fc6) NetworkManager is convinced that my eth1 (the ipw3945 interface) has no link, and won’t get anywhere past step 2 of 5 in the setup sequence. However, using dhclient or iwconfig/ifconfig works just fine. Even if I boot up with and older kernel version that worked before, it fails the same way. I don’t know how to get NetworkManager to forget everything it has learned and start over.

    I see that you gave up on NetworkManger in favor of wifi-radar; I’ll give that a shot too. I hope it will handle the WPA/TKIP/PEAP/MSCHAP2 authentication that’s needed at work…

42. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    January 26, 2007 at 17:05

    I haven’t managed to make wifi-radar work with WPA encryption (which IS possible), however I didn’t try very hard. But once I manage to do it, I’ll post new entry covering that matter.

43. ProgonkaOne Says:
    February 8, 2007 at 6:18

    NSU – 4efer, 5210 – rulez
    [url=http://bk-magazin.com][/url]

44. Mike Lococo Says:
    February 9, 2007 at 0:52

    @Adam and Dawid regarding battery life: When I upgraded from FC5 to FC6, my battery life dropped from around 4.5 hours (dimmed backlight, wifi/bt off, 9-cell battery, locked to 1GHz) to less than three. At first I thought it was the nvidia driver, but I recently disabled it and found the battery life is still poor. The laptop also runs notieably warmer than it did when I was using FC5. I haven’t identified a specific cause or solution, but am on the lookout for ideas.

45. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    February 9, 2007 at 6:54

    Mike: friend of mine has exactly the same D620, but with 9-cell battery. He is getting sth around 4 hours, which is not that bad, but again – I think it should be more.

    One more question: how is your fan working? On my D620, once it starts work, then it never stops, even when processor’s temp is less than 40 degrees C (I mean FAN2, as FAN1 is *always* on). I’ve tried tweaking i8kctl settings, but with no luck… Maybe this is the key to poor battery life?

46. Lakshmi Kannan Says:
    March 1, 2007 at 9:29

    I have the nvidia card in my dell d620. I followed the steps to get thew desktop-effects working. X wouldnt start. It complains

    Parse error on line 44 of section Device in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
    The Option keyword requires 1 or 2 quoted strings to follow it

    line 44 is

    Option

47. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    March 1, 2007 at 9:41

    Hm, looks like double-quotes are wrong, I guess…

48. Lakshmi Kannan Says:
    March 1, 2007 at 17:38

    You are awesome (and am so dumb). It worked. I think this one is way too easy compared to my experience with ubuntu. Thanks a ton.

49. Lakshmi Kannan Says:
    March 1, 2007 at 18:56

    One more thing. When i point to minimized windows in the taskbar, i thought you will get an image preview of the window. I dont see it. How do i get it?

50. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    March 1, 2007 at 21:57

    Actually, I don’t know nothing about such effect.

51. Lakshmi Kannan Says:
    March 2, 2007 at 5:06

    I got the image previews by installing beryl. It looks nice now.

52. Shaoyu Says:
    March 3, 2007 at 18:45

    I am new to Linux, but when i type [
    root@localhost shaoyu]# dkms status
    bash: dkms: command not found

    [root@localhost shaoyu]# lspci
    bash: lspci: command not found

    Did I miss any package? And my wireless card is
    Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN (802.11g,54Mbps) Mini Card for Latitude

    Is it the same to install it?

    Thanks a lot

53. Bulbous, Not Tapered » Blog Archive » Poor Battery Life on Latitude D620 Says:
    March 4, 2007 at 20:22

    [...] Dawid Lorenz, myself, and a number of other folks (read the comments on Dawid’s page, and also on the product pages for the D620 batteries) have all experienced poor battery life on Dell Latitude D620’s that are typically less than six months old. There may or may not be a high failure rate for this battery model, and this page details my experiences in diagnosing the health of my battery and obtaining a replacement under warranty. [...]

54. Michel Salim Says:
    March 21, 2007 at 21:33

    I’m considering getting the D620 in a few months’ time (seems to be the nicest laptop that can be had without Windows, and Dell actually has a tool for creating BIOS flash images from Linux), and your review is really useful – thanks!

    A couple of points:
    - did you get the card reader working? There’s a driver for it here: http://pieleric.free.fr/o2scr/
    - to disable pcspkr, the best way is to stop it getting loaded in the first place — add a file to /etc/modprobe.d that has the line ‘blacklist pcspkr’ in it
    - Could you check if battery life improves when FC7 comes out? The new kernel is tickless, it should let the CPU idle more than is currently the case. Apparently older Linux kernels would do silly things like checking the PS/2 port multiple times per second (even if you don’t have a PS/2 device!)

55. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    March 22, 2007 at 6:32

    - card reader was actually never tested, as I don’t use SmartCards
    - good point with pcspkr – thanks!
    - check out my separate post regarding battery life, however I’ll be happy to test FC7′s battery life issue ASAP, and cover that as another entry in my blog

56. Adam Says:
    April 5, 2007 at 12:02

    Hi guys, I just got my 620 going. Everything going but the wireless (because i havent yet attempted it) and bluetooth.

57. Derek Says:
    April 15, 2007 at 21:17

    I had some issues with FC6 on a new D620. Here are my solutions.

    1. Slow DVD (jerky playback)
    adding “combined_mode=libata” to the boot config solved this entirely

    2. After suspend there was no screen display
    Follow the instructions in /etc/acpi/events/video.conf (uncomment 2 lines)

    3. After hibernate the network is dead
    Add “/sbin/service network restart” to the thaw section /etc/pm/hooks/99resolution. I tried it in 10NetworkManager but it didn’t help so I put it here as it’s the last file to be run.

    4. Speedstep is disabled after hibernate
    Add “restartservice cpuspeed” to thaw_cpufreq() in /etc/pm/hooks/94cpufreq

    Hope this helps some people who may be experiencing some of the issues I’ve experienced.

58. Lance Says:
    April 16, 2007 at 1:08

    Dawid,
    Just got my D620, same config as yours also new to Linux. Tryed following your post but keep getting this error about my kernel source for kernel 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6 cannot be found at /lin/modules/2.6.20.12944.fc6/build? I’ve installed the kernel-devel-2.6.20-1.2944.fc6.i586.rpm? Any help from anyone would be appreciated.

    Thanks

59. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 16, 2007 at 6:21

    Lance: what exactly the problem is? What do you try to do?

60. Lance Aubry Says:
    April 17, 2007 at 3:22

    figured out the kernel problem. But now getting an:
    FATAL: Error inserting ipw3945 (/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko): Invalid module format.

61. Lance Says:
    April 17, 2007 at 5:26

    Dawid,
    Here exactly what I’m getting:

    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# dkms build -m ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1

    Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping…

    Building module:
    cleaning build area….
    make KERNELRELEASE=2.6.20-1.2944.fc6 -C /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/build M=/var/lib/dkms/ipw3945/1.2.0-1/build……
    cleaning build area….

    DKMS: build Completed.
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# dkms install -m ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1
    Running module version sanity check.

    ipw3945.ko:
    – Original module
    – No original module exists within this kernel
    – Installation
    – Installing to /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/

    depmod…..

    DKMS: install Completed.
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# modprobe ipw3945.ko
    FATAL: Module ipw3945.ko not found.
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# modprobe ipw3945
    FATAL: Error inserting ipw3945 (/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko): Invalid module format
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]#

    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# dkms build -m ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1

    Kernel preparation unnecessary for this kernel. Skipping…

    Building module:
    cleaning build area….
    make KERNELRELEASE=2.6.20-1.2944.fc6 -C /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/build M=/var/lib/dkms/ipw3945/1.2.0-1/build……
    cleaning build area….

    DKMS: build Completed.
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# dkms install -m ipw3945 -v 1.2.0-1
    Running module version sanity check.

    ipw3945.ko:
    – Original module
    – No original module exists within this kernel
    – Installation
    – Installing to /lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/

    depmod…..

    DKMS: install Completed.
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# modprobe ipw3945.ko
    FATAL: Module ipw3945.ko not found.
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]# modprobe ipw3945
    FATAL: Error inserting ipw3945 (/lib/modules/2.6.20-1.2944.fc6/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ipw3945.ko): Invalid module format
    [root@localhost 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6]#

    [root@localhost grub]# dkms status
    ipw3945, 1.2.0-1, 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6, i586: installed
    nvidia, 1.0.9755-2, 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6, i586: installed

    Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

62. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 17, 2007 at 5:52

    I have never used dkms from command line, but as far as I can see:

    [root@localhost grub]# dkms status
    ipw3945, 1.2.0-1, 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6, i586: installed
    nvidia, 1.0.9755-2, 2.6.20-1.2944.fc6, i586: installed

    It should mean that driver is installed correctly. But I guess it still doesn’t work?

63. Lance Says:
    April 17, 2007 at 23:45

    Dawid,
    So if you didn’t install via the command line, how did you do it? Just curious?

64. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 18, 2007 at 6:03

    Lance: check out ‘Networking’ section of my post above. I’ve just installed these four packages: dkms-ipw3945, ipw3945d, ipw3945-firmware, kernel-devel using yumex and freshrpms repo, and restarted computer. Click click – job done. :)

65. Lance Aubry Says:
    April 18, 2007 at 17:20

    Dawid,
    So you’re saying I didnt need to do the whole dkms build, install, and depmod. I was following your post, but saw further down the post where Mike layed out these additional steps. So I followed that, being the novice that I am. I will uninstall and retry it, guess I was wondering if the problem that I’m running 2.6.20-1, where I believe you were or are on 2.6.18?

    Thanks for all your feedback.

66. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 19, 2007 at 8:14

    That’s right, I was on 2.6.18 (AFAIR), now it’s 2.6.20.

67. Lance Says:
    April 19, 2007 at 22:40

    Dawid/Mike,
    I would truely like to thank you both, I finally resolved my problem and now have my wireless card working on my D620. I went back as you suggested Dawid and just reinstalled and rebooted. But only after rebuilding the linux install and starting fresh and as Mike suggested installing the Kernel-Devel for my kernel as well that solved everything. Thanks again for all your feedback and this blog. Now on to the next issue to solve, getting my wireless to work at the office with their WPA setup. LOL.

    Thanks again

68. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 20, 2007 at 6:01

    For WPA the easiest thing to use is NetworkManager, but NM is also one of the biggest troublemakers ever. Recently I have managed to connect with WPA2 network through wifi-radar and wpa_supplicant. A little bit tricky, but works. :) If I find some time during the weekend, I’ll try to post entry regarding that.

69. Adam Says:
    April 24, 2007 at 2:21

    I cannot get my system to boot without the WIFI switch set to on (after loading the drivers for the wireless) Can anyone assist me with this?

70. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 24, 2007 at 8:46

    Adam: this is ipw3945 driver common bug – you need to have wireless switched on during system boot-up, otherwise it’s very likely to crash. :(

71. Lance Aubry Says:
    April 24, 2007 at 21:41

    Dawid,
    I know you’re busy, but when you have a moment would sure appreciate understanding how you got WPA working on your d620. I’ve been searching for an answer for the last couple of days, still no luck.

    Thanks,
    Lance

72. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 25, 2007 at 7:42

    Lance: easiest way of getting WPA connection is through NetworkManager. Should connect straight away, however I found NM very unstable and dropped using it quite quickly.

    Second method is through wpa_supplicant and wifi-radar, which I am using now. Check out these links:
    http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/
    http://hostap.epitest.fi/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/README
    http://hostap.epitest.fi/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=blob_plain;f=wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

    Basically, all is a matter of defining proper configuration in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file, and then in wifi-radar’s ‘Use WPA -> Driver’ field put ‘wext’. Connects to the network quite long, but works. My wpa_supplicant.conf file has two entries – for home (adlnet – WPA2) and work (tangent – WPA) networks. Here you go:

    —-
    ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
    ctrl_interface_group=wheel

    network={
    ssid=”tangent”
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
    psk=”network key goes here”
    priority=2
    }

    network={
    ssid=”adlnet”
    bssid=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
    psk=”network key goes here”
    }
    —-

    Btw, if you have DHCP set up, it could very long to obtain IP address or it could even never get it (request timeout), however network interface should be brought up (you can see ethX up, but with no IP assigned). In that case you can try connecting again, or manually executing dhclient ethX command from the shell. Alternatively, if it’s possible, you can set up static IP configuration, which obvioulsy doesn’t require DHCP request and works straight away.

    Well, looks like I just did quite an explanation. :) I hope to have some time soon to put it as separate post, with some more examples…

73. Adam Says:
    April 25, 2007 at 11:20

    David, thanks for confirming the wifi switch as ‘standard’ behavior. Since you are very knowledgeable on D620, do you have a suggestion to how to re-detect my bluetooth device after coming back out of suspend or on cold boot. I currently have to boot into windows to get the device woken up, then boot into fedora for it to appear. (also disappears after coming back from suspend; localhost kernel: Disabling IRQ #18

74. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    April 25, 2007 at 12:41

    Adam: that’s strange – I never had problems with BT device, neither after resuming or rebooting. Actually it worked perfect since the very beginning (even with FC5 and old Dell Inspiron 510m), so I don’t know how to help you. Maybe you should check BIOS options? It’s just a guess…

75. Lance Aubry Says:
    April 25, 2007 at 23:25

    Dawid,
    That’s exactly what I was looking for, keep reading all these configs for WPA_Supplicant but nothing that told me what I was supposed to put in the WPA Driver field. Thanks again for all the help.

76. Sean Fulop Says:
    June 12, 2007 at 7:41

    Hi all,

    interesting advice; I have a peculiar problem with Core 6 on my D620.

    Most of the time when I start up it refuses to start the xserver, dumping to text login.

    After I log in, I enter “startx” and it says there is already an x server running, so I have to remove /tmp/.X0-lock and try “startx” again. After that things start up OK.

    Most times however, the same thing happens the next time I boot up. What is going on?

    -Sean

77. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    June 12, 2007 at 8:39

    Check out the output when it dumps you back to text mode. It usually says where the problem is – most likely in xorg.conf file.

78. Sean Fulop Says:
    June 12, 2007 at 22:23

    OK Dawid,

    that would make sense, but there is no output report when this happens. I just get the good old text login, like from RedHat 8 or something. Then I have to startx manually, but I have to remove /tmp/.X0-lock to do so successfully.

    The next time I shutdown and log in, the graphical login usually works fine; when it boots graphically, it says “starting first-time boot configuration,” which could be because I deleted .X0-lock? I’m not sure why it always says this.

    Anyway, after the one successful graphical login, the next time I shutdown and login again, it will give me the text login. Etc., the whole switcheroo repeats.

    But there is never any output report.

    I think I may just upgrade to Core 7 and see what happens there.

    Thanks for the quick answers,

    Sean

79. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    June 13, 2007 at 5:56

    Well, pretty odd problem, and honestly I don’t have a clue how to solve it. :(

80. Sean Fulop Says:
    June 14, 2007 at 21:04

    Yeah, I tend to have odd problems :)

    But it may have been resolved since I have done tons of these nifty automatic software updates. I updated to kernel 6.20, and that seems to be working more reliably.

    I seriously was just using RedHat 8, I had no idea what has become of my old workhorse OS. It is getting like Windows now, complete with funky little bugs and a frequent need to reboot! I don’t remember ever having to reboot RedHat 8 to install something.

    -Sean

81. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    June 15, 2007 at 6:09

    Like Windows you say – sth must be true about it. Check out my latest entry regarding F7 installation, and ‘default’ set of directories in user’s home dir…

82. Gireesh R Says:
    June 16, 2007 at 14:15

    Hey ppl,
    I am really new to linux and am trying to install fedora 7. However it keeps on saying ‘Unable to load System Description Tables’ then it goes into kernel panic. So then I thought my fedora disk was incomplete or something. I tried installing Fedora Core 6, but it doesn’t go into graphic mode after I do startx, I have no idea what the problem is.

    I would really appreciate some help
    GR

83. Gireesh Says:
    June 17, 2007 at 13:10

    Wait, forget it, it works, thanks anyway

84. Bios Says:
    July 8, 2007 at 6:13

    Thanks for the installation instructions, I’ve already printed this out and am trying it out. Thanks again.

85. Paul Says:
    December 20, 2007 at 6:24

    Just thought I should post my experience with D620 batteries. I have 5 laptops in my company all both 1 year ago. All batteries are gone. They will not last for more than few minutes and Quick Set requires for replacement – “Purchase”. I find this outrageous for professional laptops. Hopefuly I’ll get them replaced on warranty.

86. Dawid Lorenz Says:
    December 20, 2007 at 7:16

    I’ve replaced a battery in my D620 *twice* within less than 5-6 months period – I think there is something dodgy with them. They just sent me a new battery next day without hassle each time. But, on the other hand, I have extended 3 yr warranty period.

87. Nipsjiniope Says:
    October 23, 2008 at 15:03

    There was this guy see.
    He wasn’t very bright and he reached his adult life without ever having learned “the facts”.
    Somehow, it gets to be his wedding day.
    While he is walking down the isle, his father tugs his sleeve and says,

    “Son, when you get to the hotel room…Call me”

    Hours later he gets to the hotel room with his beautiful blushing bride and he calls his father,

    “Dad, we are the hotel, what do I do?”

    “O.K. Son, listen up, take off your clothes and get in the bed, then she should take off her clothes and get in the bed, if not help her. Then either way, ah, call me”

    A few moments later…

    “Dad we took off our clothes and we are in the bed, what do I do?”

    O.K. Son, listen up. Move real close to her and she should move real close to you, and then… Ah, call me.”

    A few moments later…

    “DAD! WE TOOK OFF OUR CLOTHES, GOT IN THE BED AND MOVED REAL CLOSE, WHAT DO I DO???”

    “O.K. Son, Listen up, this is the most important part. Stick the long part of your body into the place where she goes to the bathroom.”

    A few moments later…

    “Dad, I’ve got my foot in the toilet, what do I do?”