netbsd and pccard

kg4cjv · 03-10-2015, 06:40 PM

Hi,

I've got a pretty old laptop which I'm running netbsd but I can't get my prism wireless pcmcia card to work. When I plug the card in and turn the laptop on netbsd detects it but it freezes after printing the chip and vender information. How can I go about troubleshooting this?

jefro · 03-10-2015, 09:38 PM

I think you used cardctrl or something like that to help diag state of card/slot.
Some bios issues on some, may have to enable.
Some prism's were known to work in linux. The problem was more that the technology didn't stay for very long and they have more than a few changes to the way they connect. Things like daughter and pci to pci bridges.

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=wi&sektion=4

kooru · 03-12-2015, 02:55 AM

Can you give us more details about laptop and pcmcia card that you're using?

edwardm · 03-13-2015, 06:13 PM

Assume you're using NetBSD 6.1.5, may want to try NetBSD 7.0 beta
Cards supported by the wi -- WaveLAN/IEEE and PRISM-II 802.11 wireless network driver

Code:

Alvarion BreezeNET
           Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 2.0Mb Bronze
           Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 2.0Mb Silver
           Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE Turbo
           Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE Turbo 11Mbps
           Melco AIR CONNECT WLI-PCM-L11, WLI-PCM-L11G
           Melco AIR CONNECT WLI-CF-S11G
           Compaq WL100 11Mbps Wireless
           Corega Wireless LAN PCC-11, PCCA_11, PCCB_11
           DEC/Cabletron RoamAbout 802.11 DS High Rate
           D-Link DWL-520 11Mbps PCI Card, Revs. A1,A2,B1,B2
           D-Link DWL-520 11Mbps PCI Card, Rev. C1 not supported, see atw(4)
           D-Link DWL-520 11Mbps PCI Card, Rev. D not supported, see rtw(4)
           D-Link DWL-650 11Mbps WLAN Card
           D-Link DWL-650 11Mbps WLAN Card, Rev. P not supported (Prism 3
           chipset)
           D-Link DCF-650W CF Card
           ELECOM Air@Hawk LD-WL11
           ELSA AirLancer MC-11
           Ericsson Wireless LAN
           Farallon Skyline 11Mbps Wireless
           Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN PC Card
           ICOM SL-1100
           IO-DATA WN-B11/PCM
           Intersil PRISM Mini-PCI
           Linksys Group, Inc. Instant Wireless Network PC Card, CF Card
           Linksys Group, Inc. Instant Wireless Network WMP11 PCI Card
           Linksys Group, Inc. Instant Wireless Network WMP11v4 PCI Card not
           supported
           NCR WaveLAN/IEEE
           NEC Wireless Card CMZ-RT-WP, PK-WL001, PC-WL/11C
           PLANEX GeoWave/GW-NS110
           Symbol Spectrum24 Wireless Networker PC Card, CF Card
           TDK LAK-CD011WL
           SMC EZ Connect 11M Wireless CF Card SMC2642W
           SMC EliteConnect Wireless Adapter PC Card SMC2531W-B
           Z-Com XI-626 PCI Card

Is your card listed?
Probably your card has a revised chipset not yet supported by wi driver?

suggest to read both wi and awi manpages.

ReaperX7 · 03-13-2015, 07:27 PM

If the system freezes after loading the driver it could be a kernel incompatibility showing it's ugly head, or it could mean you have a hardware issue such as a PCI controller dying, the PCCard/PCMCIA controller dying, or the card itself is dying.

Question, can you find another operating system to test it out and see if it is working with another system to ensure it's not a hardware related issue?

kg4cjv · 03-16-2015, 07:29 AM

Hi all,

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm sorry I've been busy with other things and unable to take a look at this old laptop.
I'm using netbsd 10.1 i386.

Since I don't have the laptop with me right now I can only tell you the following about the hardware. Later on when I get to the laptop I can give you more details.
I'm not sure which pccard adaptor is on the laptop, I suspect that the adaptor is maybe a pacard II or I adaptor and not a III (if anyone knows how to find out, the manual does not say anything about it, let me know).

I've tried an orinoco adaptor, prism adaptor, a linsys adaptor (not sure what chipset), and a cisco adaptor. All of them freeze at bootup which is why I think there maybe a problem with the pccard adaptor in my laptop. I also suspect the pccard adaptor is attached to the usb controller and not the pci controller (I don't remember why i suspect this, I think it had something to do with the dmesg output of netbsd).

The laptop is so old that I cannot boot linux on it. it's only got 32mb of ram (more is on the way which will give it 96mb). If anyone has an idea about what I can boot on it to check out the hardware let me know. So far i've only been able to get netbsd to boot up everything else freezes (linux freezes after decompressing the kernel from live cds).

thank you for your input.

kg4cjv · 03-16-2015, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

I think you used cardctrl or something like that to help diag state of card/slot.
Some bios issues on some, may have to enable.
Some prism's were known to work in linux. The problem was more that the technology didn't stay for very long and they have more than a few changes to the way they connect. Things like daughter and pci to pci bridges.

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=wi&sektion=4

Is cardctrl part of the base netbsd install or do I need to install that separately?

edwardm · 03-16-2015, 10:56 PM

Quote:

=
The laptop is so old that I cannot boot linux on it.

If you have not, I suggest to try booting Deli(cate) linux distro;
it is targeted at computers with legacy hardware and low amount of ram.
And see if it is possible to configure your pccard.

http://delicate-linux.net/

jefro · 03-17-2015, 09:31 PM

I get the feeling it did but can't find info on it.