hi, i'm using a dell laptop with built-in wireless. lspci lists it as

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)


and the module i'm using is 3c59x


now, my wireless connection works fine. i can obtain my IP through dhcpd, i can see other computers using nbtscan, and get on the internet, etc no problem.

however, when i try iwlist scan, this is what i get:


root@lightstar $ iwlist eth0 scan
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Operation not supported


root@lightstar $




so i suppose it's possible that my card honestly doesn't support scanning, but i think it's a pretty common piece of hardware and googling hasn't turned up anything useful.

any suggestions?

The 3c59x device is not a wireless device. The 3com Tornado adapter is a wired eithernet device.

root@lightstar $ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM USB (Hub #1) (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 42)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801CAM IDE U100 (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M7 LW [Radeon Mobility 7500]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)
02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420
02:01.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420
02:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01)




root@lightstar $ lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
usb-storage 66176 0
snd-pcm-oss 37736 0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss 12504 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
uhci 24444 0 (unused)
usbcore 59308 1 [usb-storage uhci]
snd-intel8x0 18924 0
snd-ac97-codec 49500 0 [snd-intel8x0]
gameport 1420 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-pcm 56072 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-intel8x0]
snd-timer 13604 0 [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 6328 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
snd-mpu401-uart 3200 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 12740 0 [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 3888 0 [snd-rawmidi]
snd 30852 0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm snd-timer snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device]
soundcore 3396 4 [snd]
3c59x 25648 1
orinoco_cs 4244 0
orinoco 33076 0 [orinoco_cs]
hermes 5668 0 [orinoco_cs orinoco]
ds 6548 3 [orinoco_cs]
yenta_socket 10336 3
pcmcia_core 39972 0 [orinoco_cs ds yenta_socket]
ide-scsi 9328 0
agpgart 43940 0 (unused)


so what is my wireless card? is it that intel modem device?

The orinoco/hermes modules are the ones used by the wireless device.

It probably doesn't show up in lspci because it doesn't appear to be a PCI device, it appears to be a pcmcia device by the look of that list of loaded modules.

I'd guess that the device name is probably eth1 or wlan0, I can't remember what naming convention the orinoco driver uses.

Type iwconfig and you should get a list of all ethernet devices and the ones that is the wireless device will be the only one that has anything other then "no wireless extensions" listed for it.

ok, so it's eth0. is there a difference between the eth0 listed by ifconfig and the one listed by iwconfig? out of curiosity?


so i'm trying to figure out what this means. if it is a pcmcia device, how can i tell? i can't think of any lspcmcia command, is there something like that

also, i thought pcmcia were the cards you inserted into the side of the laptop, can pcmcia also be built into the laptop?

my wireless interface is definitely eth0. like i said, it's working great, i can connect to the internet, i've encrypted my access point and i can connect to that no problem. i just can't scan for available access points. iwlist eth0 scan returns Operation not supported. iwspy eth0 returns No statistics to collect. the only thing i can think of is maybe i'm using a old driver, or one that doesn't quite match my hardware. but i don't know what my hardware is...

is there a command like lspci for pcmcia hardware? there's got to be a way for me to see it's make and model number right?

well, it sounds like i need to upgrade to a newer kernel (i'm using 2.4.26) and the newer orinioco drivers if i want to be able to scan. i'll give that a shot.

You probably will get be able to get scan support if you upgrade your kernel. However, you also might want to try the HostAP driver for your wireless card isntead of the orinioco driver. The HostAP drive supports most of the same hardware and is way better in all respects.

well i got a 2.6.10 kernel working, but i still get the same message when i try iwlist scan: not supported. i'm gonna see if the host ap driver supports the truemobile 1150.

i'm confused. i found the entry for my card (Dell TrueMobile 1150) under Wavelan IEEE. here's the entry:

3.2 Wavelan IEEE/Orinoco, PrismII and Symbol cards
Driver status : stable
Driver name : Pcmcia : orinoco_cs.o
PLX : orinoco_plx.o
PCI : orinoco_pci.o
Version : v0.13e, v0.15rc2
Where : Linux kernel (2.4.21 ; 2.5.71)
Pcmcia package (3.1.34)
http://www.ozlabs.org/people/dgibson/dldwd
http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/orinoco/
Maintainers : David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au>
Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>
Web page : http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_...x/Orinoco.html
Mailing list : http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=44338
Documentation : man page, headers
Configuration : Wireless Extensions only
Statistics : Wireless Extensions
Modes : Managed, Ad-Hoc and Ad-Hoc-demo
Security : WEP (based on hardware support), 802.1x
Scanning : Wireless Extensions (v0.14 and later)
Monitor : Yes (v0.14 and later)
Multi-devices : Yes
Interoperability : 802.11-DS and 802.11-b, interoperate with Windows
Other features : MTU selection, multicast, promiscuous mode, power management, SMP, multi-firmware, multi vendors, PPC & ARM support, PLX and PCI support.
Non implemented : Does not support HermesII.
Bugs : WEP not functional on old Prism2 firmwares, some older driver versions don't handle properly some Symbol cards.
License : MPL and GPL
Vendor web pages : [Too many to list here]



so it looks like orinoco_cs supports scanning after all. or at least, it does after v 0.14. how can i find out which version i'm using?

and it also says this:

The latest version (v0.13b) seems to have fix most of the hardware reset problems of previous versions and seems to have fixed problems with Symbol firmwares. Pavel has integrated in v0.14 many previously external patches, such as support for Wireless Scanning and Wireless Events, support for Monitor mode and support for 802.1x. Pavel also fixed support for kernel 2.6.X, dramatically improved Symbol firmware support and fixed a tons of bugs in v0.14.

2.4.29 and 2.6.10 kernels here.

iwlist eth0 scan works on both ORiNOCO classic and Prism cards with the 0.13e, the patched 0.13e and 0.15RC versions.

To find the version of a module -- use

or whatever module you are interested in.

Best,

Ott

severian@lightstar $ modinfo orinoco_cs
author: David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au>
description: Driver for PCMCIA Lucent Orinoco, Prism II based and similar wireless cards
license: Dual MPL/GPL
vermagic: 2.6.10 486 gcc-3.3
depends: pcmcia,orinoco,pcmcia_core,hermes
severian@lightstar $ man modinfo
severian@lightstar $ modinfo -V orinoco_cs
module-init-tools version 3.0
severian@lightstar $


i don't get it, it's supposed to be version 0.13 or something...

Since you're using the Orinoco drivers, like I do, here's something you can try:
You have to download orinoco-0.15rc2.tar.gz (I think that's the one), untar it, go to the directory it makes, run "make" (no quotes), then gzip the .ko files it makes, su to root, and copy and paste those .ko files (now .ko.gz files) in your /lib/modules subtree (usually /lib/modules/(kernel version)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless).
Then, when you reboot (the safest way to figure it out) you should be running the 0.15rc2 version, which DOES support scanning! AND you dont have to go through the hassle of messing with pcmcia_cs!
Although it does require you to have the kernel sources in place, chances are that your kernel sources are on your install cd's, so go dig 'em out and let us know how it goes!

Good luck!