Nube: Can't get my 3com card to initialise
 

Hi. Appologies if any of this seems stupid but I'm pretty new to the setup side of using Linux.
I'm a home user. We have a one wlan access point on 128bit wep
I just installed Mandrake 10.1 on my laptop( a rather old one: Compaq Armada E500)

All went well, and during the install I chose the "wireless" option, it saw my card, recognised the type etc. I entered the ssid and the encryption key but i didn't understand the other bits so i left them blank.
So once the install was finished networking was down
the card seems to be in a recognised but not active state. The lights are on, but only faintly. wiconfig says: (I can't paste it in )

eth01 NOT READY! ESSID:off/any
Mode: managed CHannel: 10 Access Point 00:00:00:00:00:

and the rest is all zeros
(the values that is)

wpriv -a gives a lot of:
Interface doesn't accept ioctrl...
dgb_get_oid (88EF): Input/output error

style errors for eth1 (which is the wlan card)

the prism54 site is down, and i have NO idea where to go from here
my card is: 3CRWE154G72) 3Com® OfficeConnect® Wireless 11g PC Card
my access point is: 3CRWE454G72 OfficeConnect Wirless 11g Access Point (3com)

both card and access point work fine on w2k & xp

any other info i've forgoten let me know
i hope you can help
Thanks

Hello kgmf,

Welcome to LQ. Check out the HCL on this site for your card - it looks like you'll probably have to wait until the prism54 site comes back online as you need to get the firmware loaded.
Regards
Chris

Hi Chris,
will the firmware effect my card when working with windows and the software there?
And whats HCL?
Thanks

HCL is the Hardware Compatibility List. See link at the top navigation bar.

No, it only loads it onto your card whilst linux is running.
See more at prism54.org which seems to be back up now.
Regards
Chris

I'll take my problems there then :)
Thanks

Hi .
I just got the card working on the mandrake 10.1

easy steps :

1) configure the network with drakconf ( don't bother if the card is not turned on or it seems not working)
2) download the firmware from prisma54.org to somewhere nice (eg /tmp/)
3) as root :
1) create (if don't exists) /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware
2) cp /tmp/1.0.4.3.arm /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/isl3890
3) ifconfig eth2 up (or whatsoever your card is)

have fun !

here's my kernel version :
Linux 2.6.8.1-24mdk #1 Fri Jan 14 03:01:00 MST 2005 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz unknown GNU/Linux

p.s. : I am connected via wireless while writing this !