Networking :: Wireless SMC Card (not working)

I was very hopefull when I seen several SMC cards listed on the WiKi page. Even more hopefull when I saw DSL installs by default with Prism2 support. Because the sales rep for Flying J said this card worked with Linux drivers and the prism2 chipset.

But it doesn't, After some research I find myself digging into a mountain of info I don't understand. Bare in mind I'm not linux ignorant, but I haven't any experiance with Dniswrappers, not even sure what they/it is.

Anyway, I have a SMC 2.4Ghz 802.11b Wireless network PCMCIA card.
Number = SMC2532W-B.

I have DSL 2.0 with a HD install, on a AMD K6 II Laptop

I found this posting on another site when I Googled this number M4Y-X1330HP;

Quote

A warning to all those buying the SMC2532W-B card is that apparently, SMC has changed the shipset of the card recently, without changing the model number. The design on the front of the card is different and the only way to tell the difference is a slight difference on the information on the BACK of the card. The FCCID is M4Y-X1330HP whereas the older card is something different. Also the IC ID has a "V2" at the end and I blieve the Part Number is slightly different. If you buy this card online make SURE to either see the design on the front or the information on the back of the card or else you will be surprised when you see...

pccard0: <unknown card> (manufacturer=0xd601, product=0x0010) at function 0
pccard0: CIS info: SMC, SMC2532W-B EliteConnect Wireless Adapter,

I get that exact same error when I boot, but I'm not sure how to proceed.

The following post from that site is;

Quote

The new version uses an Intersil Prism 3 chipset, both versions of the SMC2532W-B are
re-branded Zcom XI-330HP (Prism 3) and XI-325HP (Prism 2.5) cards! An entry for this
card has been commited to HEAD and will be MFC'd to FreeBSD 5.5 and 6.x

Chipset: Intersil Prism 3
Bus: 16-bit PCMCIA, Type II
Antenna: Detachable microstrip, 2 RP-MMCX Connectors*, RX diversity
Power Consumption; TX: 600mA, RX: 350mA
Voltage: 5V
RF output: 23dBm ~ 23.5dBm
Sensitivity:
11Mbps @ -83dBm
5.5Mbps @ -86dBm
2Mbps @ -87dBm
1Mbps @ -91dBm

The vendor id matches ELSA (0xd601) so add an entry to the ELSA products section,
/sys/dev/pccard/pccarddevs:
"product ELSA XI330_IEEE 0x0010 XI330 Wireless LAN"

added to /sys/dev/wi/if_wi_pccard.c:
"PCMCIA_CARD(ELSA, XI330_IEEE),"

add to /etc/pccard.conf:
# SMC's SMC2532W-B EliteConnect Wireless Adapter
card "SMC" "SMC2532W-B EliteConnect Wireless Adapter"
config auto "wi" ?
insert /etc/pccard_ether $device start
remove /etc/pccard_ether $device stop

now rebuild the kernel

Card 1, default firmware shown:
wi0: <SMC SMC2532W-B EliteConnect Wireless Adapter> at port
0xd000-0xd07f irq 18 function 0 config 1 on pccard0
wi0: using RF:PRISM3(PCMCIA)
wi0: Intersil Firmware: Primary (1.1.1), Station (1.8.2)
wi0: Ethernet address: 00:04:e2:81:e6:43

Card 2, downgraded firmware to work in AP mode with a PCI bridge
controller.
wi0: <SMC SMC2532W-B EliteConnect Wireless Adapter> at port
0xd000-0xd07f irq 18 function 0 config 1 on pccard0
wi0: using RF:PRISM3(PCMCIA)
wi0: Intersil Firmware: Primary (1.1.0), Station (1.4.9)
wi0: Ethernet address: 00:04:e2:81:e1:06

Prism firmware and a how-to guide are available here:
]http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/

Leading me even futher down a road I don't understand.
for example (The new version uses an Intersil Prism 3 chipset, both versions of the SMC2532W-B are
re-branded Zcom XI-330HP (Prism 3) and XI-325HP (Prism 2.5) cards) It sayes these cards are rebranded, mine isn't! It also sayes they use prism3, which I take to mean DSL doesn't support right out of the box.

Then it sayes rebuild the Kernel, I'll be totally honest here I have yet to build a kernel and have it be better than the one I had to start with. I've recomplied kernels, and can often get the function I'm wanting, But somehow I seem to lose a lot of other functions that I had, which of course is very undisireable.

I was over at DnisWrappers site and saw this;

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Important: Do NOT use drivers on your CD. They may work, but you may experience kernel crashes etc., if the driver on your CD has not been tested.
Instead, you need to download appropriate Windows XP driver for your card from the Wiki entry List. To identify the driver that you need, first identify the card you have with 'lspci' and note the first column such as 0000:00:0c.0 and then find out the PCI ID of the card that with 'lspci -n' corresponding to the first column of 'lspci' output.

too late, I had already tried and installed my CD drivers, with no luck. So just for kicks I run the 'lspci' but didn't even see my SMC card there, no listing ':0c.0' there's several listing there but I can account for everything there as being part of the laptop base system.

There is one tiny bit of hope still, the light does come on on the card, so I know linux/bios is powering up the card.

Can anybody help me make plain PC repairmans trems of some of the Geck talk above, or point me to a good tutoial on Dniswrappers for dumbies!

Most of the information above relates to your adaptor not being identified in Linux. But there's a good chance that the Prism2 (linux-wlan-ng) driver will still work with it.
Forget about ndiswrapper for the moment. Launch the Prism2 configuration from the DSLpanel. Enter your SSID and Channel, and preferably don't use WEP encryption until you know it works. Ping your router to see if you have connected.
Later, to enter your WEP key, you must place a colon between every two characters.

If the Prism2 driver is failing to load and connect, I think I know how to modify a configuration file so your adaptor will be recognised. No guarantees, but try this -
Open /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf in a text editor. Under the section "device "prism2_cs"" add this entry for your card -

card "SMC 2532W-B / Z-Com XI330HP WLAN Card"
manfid 0xd601, 0x0010
bind "prism2_cs"

Save the file, and try the Prism2 setup again.

I understand what your saying except where do I find these numbers?

Code Sample

Enter your SSID and Channel, and preferably don't use WEP encryption until you know it works.

Are these something that my service provider has?

Thanks for your help.

Quote

Are these something that my service provider has?

No. These are settings specific to your wireless router. If you bought your wireless router without ever checking its settings then SSID, channel, and encryption will all be factory defaults. In this case, I strongly suggest you find your instruction manual and set up the router, because encryption is probably off by default, and your neighbors may be surfing the web on your connection!

Oh No, we're not on the same page!

I use this wireless nic for my Internet access via Hot Spots of WiFi.

In fact I have two different services I pay for and there are some free Hot Spots.
I drive truck over the road. When I pull into a truck stop, depending on which one it is, which service I use.

The card has a program that installs in windoze Micro Suck, this program then lists all the available connection within reach. And I login via a browser.

So in that case these numbers would come from the HotSpot Admin. Right or Wrong?

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