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I have a TP-Link TL-WN851ND wireless card that doesn't work properly (slow and disconects from time to time) with the regular ath9k driver. I tried to make it work with ndiswrapper and followed the steps here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper#Downloading_Windows_Drivers

sudo ndiswrapper -l

shows: netathrx : driver installed device (168C:002D) present (alternate driver: ath9k)

I did sudo depmod -a, sudo modprobe ndiswrapper and sudo ndiswrapper -m with no errors.

As suggested here: How to keep ndiswrapper configuration after reboot?

I checked with lsmod | grep ndiswrapper if it was loaded and I get this: ndiswrapper 254773 0

So, as I understand, everything is loading fine. However, if I do lspci -k I get this: 06:01.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01) Subsystem: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 0300 Kernel driver in use: ath9k Kernel modules: ath9k

So it seems that the system is still using the open source driver :S

What I am doing wrong?

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Cmorales
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1 Answers1

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Firstly: quite honestly, I doubt you'll be happy with ndiswrapper. It's a hacky solution, that's great when it's the only option, but far from ideal. Normally any other driver, no matter how broken, is better.

That said, You need to blacklist the ath9k driver, so that it doesn't claim the card.

Create a file like /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath.conf with this contents:

blacklist ath9k

Then update yoru initramfs:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Then reboot, and it should be available for ndiswrapper to bind to it. If you want to use ath9k again, comment out that line or delete the file.

tumbleweed
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