I have recently got an Advent 7017 laptop, spec :

Pentium IV 3Ghz
512Mb DDr
Radeon M9 (9000) gfx
O2Micro Cardbus PCMCI
Trying to run Mandrake 9.1 (also been trying other distros)

The problem I have is that the supplied wireless card is an ADM8211 based, and trying to set this up totally locks up the laptop, only a powerdown works.

Here is what happens:

Starting the laptop with pcmcia card in
PCMCIA starts on boot up, but the card is not detected.
Log in as root
cardctl insert

I either get :
cardmgr[number]: socket 0: cardbus hotplug device - followed by total lockup
or nothing,

I loaded 2 shells up in kde (usually do this without x running), one with tail -f /var/log/messages running, and did cardctl insert on the other, here's a list of the output

localhost kernel: cs: cb_alloc(bus2): vendor 0x1317, device 0x8201
localhost kernel: PCI: Enabling device 02:00.0 (0000 -> 0003)
localhost /etc/hotplug/pci.agent: pcimodules is scanning more than ...
localhost /etc/hotplug/pci.agent: setup 8211 yenta_socket sis900 ehci-hcd usb-ohci snd-intel8x0 i810_audio_audio ohci1394 for PCI slot 02:00.0
localhost kernel: ADM8211 Linux Driver version 1.05 (June 24, 2003)
localhost kernel: 8211: hardware Address 00:03:6D:FF:0F:0B, IRQ 5

If I boot up with the card in, then eject the card, the system hangs with no messages.

If I boot up without the card in, the system hangs with no messages.

I've been playing around with a number of distro's, most wont even install without crashing, the rest just do what Mandrake is doing and locking up.

I'd love to get a distro running on this system, as it would fly

Any help is appreciated.

Hello
I can tell you that PCMCIA is well managed by mandrake 9.1 on my laptop

But I'am facing some problems with my module ( 8211.o), depmod -ae tells me that there is lots of unresolved symbols in my module... do you have the same issu... ???
is it normal ???
Thanks for any help

yes, I get ***Unsresolves symbols in /lob/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/8211.o

I'm not convinced the problem is that though, as many other distro's (including mandrake 9.0) wont even install without using nopcmcia boot option :/

OK, I decided to try this in slack 9

I've got a lot further, cardctl insert doesn't lockup the system, and the 8211 driver loads

iwconfig reports :
IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Channel:0 Access Point 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Ratr=0kb/s Tx-Power=0 dBm Sensitivity:0/65535
Retry limit:3 RTS thr=2346 B Fragment the=2346 B
Encryption keyff
Power Management : off
Link Quality : 0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
RX invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 RX invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

The Pwr light is on, but not the ACT

eth1 doesnt show in ifconfig, but does in ifconfig -a

The only setting that I can change in iwconfig is from managed mode to ad-hoc
iwconfig eth1 essid Wireless
does nothing.
iwconfig eth1 commit reports :
Error for wireless request "Commit changes" (8B00) :
SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not supported.

Looking at /var/log/messages, it shows : 8211:unhandled ioctl = 00008b00

Trying ifconfig eth1 10.0.0.1 results in a total system lockup, with only power off working. The same happens if I try to use kwifimanager to set the card up

Using wireless_tools 1.26 (tried 1.25), kwifimanager 1.0.2

Any help appreciated

Still not getting anywhere with this :/

Looks as though I may have to try another wireless card, but I'm loathe to get another PCMCIA incase its that thats the issue here, rather than the wireless card.
I've done some digging and found that the laptop is actually a rebadged Uniwill N251S6 if that helps at all

Failing that, if anyone can recommend a small USB Wireless adapter, similar to the ZD1201, it would be appreciated (or even say if that one will work - not found much on it via google)