pcmcia network card not working since dsl2.1b

Forum: Networking
Topic: pcmcia network card not working since dsl2.1b
started by: okko

Posted by okko on May 07 2006,11:40

I have searched lots of forums but I haven't solved this problem.

I'm using hp omnibook 5700ctx.
My 3com 3cxfe575ct pcmcia network card worked fine with dsl2.1b but it doesn't work with newer versions of dsl. Card is detected but the text "Network device eth0 detected" doesn't show up in start phase and ifconfig doesn't show eth0.

I noticed that 2.1b uses kernel 2.4.31 and 2.4RC2 kernel 2.4.16. Is my system missing something important? Is the support removed?

I can always use 2.1b but I'd like to use my network card in 2.4RC2 too. I have tested dsl 2.2, 2.3, 2.4RC2 and it doesn't work in any of those.

Can somebody please help me?

Posted by cbagger01 on May 08 2006,04:40

I would either stick to DSL version 2.1b or I would give DSL-N (Damn Small Linux - Not!) a try since it uses a newer kernel version.

Posted by okko on May 08 2006,08:08

My laptop has 166MHz cpu and 96MB ram. It can't boot from cdrom. I have to use DSL boot floppy and syslinux cd.

So is it possible to boot DSL-N? Isn't that isolinux cd image, that is available?
And I think DSL-N might be much slower on my laptop but I could give it a try.

Posted by cbagger01 on May 08 2006,16:35

There are two possible ways that I can think of.

1) Get the "Smart Boot Manager" and create a SBM floppy disk. Hopefully you can use it to boot DSL-N CD disk.

2) Do a "Loadlin Install" where you place the linux kernel file and miniroot file on a FAT or FAT32 partition and boot up DOS/Win95/Win98 and then run the loadlin bootloader.

I am sure there are other ways, but these ones should work.

Posted by okko on May 08 2006,17:25

I downloaded Smart Boot Manager and DSL-n but it didn't work either with my network card. I guess I'm going to stick with 2.1b. Thanks for your help.

Is it safe to use 2.1b or is there important security updates in newer releases?

Posted by cbagger01 on May 10 2006,17:12

2.1b is fine.

As far as I know, none of the updates have been security-focused.

Posted by okko on May 10 2006,18:59

Ok. Thanks.

Posted by roberts on May 10 2006,21:13

I would also suggest to try DSL v2.4RC2 with ndiswrapper.
With the new ndiswrapper in v2.4RC2 I have been sucessfull with three different wifi cards. Check the ndiswrapper list on their website for support.

Posted by okko on May 11 2006,16:30

Ndiswrapper with non-wireless card?

Talking about ndiswrapper...
I tried wireless A-link WL54pc (based on rt2500) card in 2.4RC2 with ndiswrapper. (I know that the card isn't in the list of supported cards.) I even dowloaded drivers from ndiswrapper sites.
Card was detected and I configured it. Dmesg displayed ndiswrapper errorcode... something like :199)... I don't remember it anymore

. I didn't get that card working.

Posted by roberts on May 11 2006,18:17

Ruuning fine here with an Airlink101 SuperG AWLC4030.
A super cheapo card from Fry's. But it used atheros chipset.

I have yet to hear of any rt2500 chipset card working with an SMP kernel.

Posted by ecaroh on May 21 2006,21:28

Quote (okko @ May 07 2006,07:40)

Hi okko,

do you have any news? I have the same notebook and the same problem. I have no idea what to do, even knoppix does not work. Unfortunately german chars do not work on pre 2.1b. So i can have network or german umlaut. :-(

Thanks if you have solution for me.

Ecaroh

Posted by okko on May 22 2006,15:30

Hi ecaroh,

Unfortunately no... I'm using 2.1b again.

Somebody here in the forum talked about /etc/init.d/pcmcia script which is missing in 2.4 but exists in 2.1b. I tried to copy the file into 2.4RC2 and for a moment I saw some sparks of hope... I don't remember it anymore but it almost did work... at least I got some other messages...

Maybe we should compile correct kernel module for 2.4.16... but I wonder why the card didn't work even with DSL-N

I wonder if dsl 2.4 with 2.4.31 kernel would work... maybe we should try.

Nice to hear that somebody uses same laptop too. I have some display problems... (hardware, I think it's the cable) but still it's a good laptop.

Posted by jonam on June 08 2006,13:52

Okko, Ecaroh,

I have an HP 5700 and a Compaq 1530d. I have had similar problems with getting DSL 2.4 working with my wireless card (DWL-G650). Both computers have the same PCMCIA chips - TI PCI1131's. Apparently these chips have problems working with PCI interrupts under Linux and there is a fix for this.

I have finally managed to get the wireless card working with DSL 2.1b on the Compaq 1530d. DSL 2.1b has cardmgr 3.2.5 while DLS 2.4 has cardmgr 3.2.2. I suspect that cardmgr 3.2.5 (or one of the PCMCIA modules) has the fix for the TI PCMCIA chips in it. By moving back from kernel 2.4.31 (DSL 2.1b) to 2.4.26 (DSL 2.4), the fix is no longer there and hence the PCMCIA controllers do not work properly.

The way to find out is to do a "cat /proc/interrupts". If the interrupts for the PCMCIA controllers remain at zero, then you have this problem. I will load DSL 2.1b on my HP5700 over the next week and let you know if I can get my wireless card working on this to confirm the problem.

Regards,

Jonam

Posted by okko on June 10 2006,11:32

Quote (jonam @ June 08 2006,16:52)

The way to find out is to do a "cat /proc/interrupts". If the interrupts for the PCMCIA controllers remain at zero, then you have this problem. I will load DSL 2.1b on my HP5700 over the next week and let you know if I can get my wireless card working on this to confirm the problem.

In DSL 2.4 they remain zero.

I compiled drivers for my DWL-G650+ for DSL 2.1b and got it working. Now I have my both network cards working under DSL 2.1b.

Posted by jonam on June 11 2006,05:15

Okko,

Confirmed. I tested DSL 2.4 on my Omnibook 5700ct and it refused to work with DWL-G650. I could only get as far as "ifconfig ath0 up" after which the card failed to produce any scan results.

Changed over to DSL 2.1b and the card works fine. I am pretty certain it is the difference in cardmgr versions between 2.1b and 2.4 that is causing the problem.

Regards,

Jonam