PCMCIA->CompactFlash adapter card freezes my laptop

geeksunny · 12-01-2004, 12:04 AM

i got another problem :P

I have a PCMCIA-to-CompactFlash card that i pretty much use for my iPaq but i thought it'd be nice to just plug it into my laptop to transfer files rather than having to boot the windows box up all the way and wait for te slower transfer rates since its going through activesync and my cradle. the problem is that ONLY when the hotplug system is running, the laptop suffers a hardfreeze when i put the card in. i have to pull the battery to shut the thing down.

I am running kernel 2.6.10_RC2 but it also had the same problem on 2.6.9. i've done a little trial and error on this problem. i've narrowed it down to the hotplug system that is making it freeze. when doing tail -f /var/log/messages i've noticed that it does modprobe ide-cs when the card is inserted. doing this manually with the card inserted, my PCMCIA services started, and without the hotplug system enabled didnt do anything.

has anyone esle had this problem? has anyone found a solution? doing some google searches has turned this up. it's a patch to prevent the system freeze when inserting this type of card but its for kernel 2.4.15.

any and all input is appriciated

thanks.

geeksunny · 12-29-2004, 01:21 PM

I have SOLVED the problem! I'm posting the fix for reference to others. I hate it when people just say they solved it but don't say how... anyhoo.

The fix came from the Gentoo forums. here is the link to the post. CLICK HERE. for the sake of redundancy, I am posting a copy of it here.

Quote:

Solved: complete freeze upon pcmcia-card insertion

Some notebook-users (including me

) in conjunction with specific pcmcia-cards experience the following problem:

When you insert your card, your computer completly freezes. Even the /var/log/messages isn't updated, nor a kernel-panic comes up.

It took me hours to find out, what's the reason for that:
conflicting resources!

There are two resources, that might conflict:

io-ports

io-memory

First try the io-ports, I think, it's more often the io-ports, which make trouble...

1. IO-ports

In /etc/pcmcia/config.opts are entries for the included io-ports:

Code:

cat /etc/pcmcia/config.opts
#(...snip...)
include  port 0x100-0x4ff, port 0x800-0x8ff, port 0xc00-0xcff
#(...snip...)

Now take a look at your already used/reserved io-ports:

Code:

cat /proc/ioports

Make sure, to remove all entries in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts, which are already in use!
Note: cat /proc/ioports shows 4-digit (okay, it's no digit, it's hex) numbers, in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts are 3-digit numbers, so you have to read the 0x100 in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts as 0x0100,

If all of the predefined io-ports are in use, try to choose an adressrange from 0xp00-0xpff, where p, insert a hex-number from 0,1,2,...,9,a,...,f.
This adress must not be listet in /proc/ioports!

1. IO-memory

In /etc/pcmcia/config.opts are entries for the included io-memory:

Code:

cat /etc/pcmcia/config.opts
#(...snip...)
include memory 0xc0000-0xfffff
include memory 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff, memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff
#(...snip...)

In the normal case, the cardmgr (it's the "pcmcia-daemon") scans these adress-ranges and searches a free segment, that's not used by another device.
Unfortunately, this could sometimes fail, so you have to comment the predefined "include memory..." entries out and insert new ones.
Try to search an memory-range from 0xp0000-0xpffff and/or 0xp0000000-0xp0ffffff that's not used! Again, check that with:

Code:

cat /proc/iomem

Don't try to use the adressrange, that's assigned to your pcmcia-controller, that will not work.

One last hint... a little bit off-topic, but I wasted too much time, before knowing this: Many pcmcia-Cards are so called pc-cards, the are 16 bit cards!! To use 16-bit pcmcia cards, you must have ISA-support compiled into your kernel.
One example for acutal 16-bit cards: wlan-cards with the atmel chipset seem to be mostly (all of them?) 16-bit cards.

So, wish you good look

I only had to do the IO PORTS part. I just uncommented the Port ranges that had devices using them, rebooted, and it worked!

gbb123 · 01-30-2005, 07:26 AM

Hey,

Thanks for detailing your fix. I am getting very frustrated however because even though I went through and modified the io ports so they would not conflict, I am still having the same exact problems. Every time I insert my Proxim Orinoco /ageres card with the wlags_49 driver module installed the whole system crashes. The same thing happens when I insert my SMC 2632W-V2 card that uses the atmel driver. I know its something to do with memory but I did exactly what you said to fix that problem.

Here is the contents of my /etc/pcmcia/config.opts file(I modified the ports to not conflict) :

Code:

#
# Local PCMCIA Configuration File
#
#----------------------------------------------------------------------

# System resources available for PCMCIA devices

# This are the official ports to use from pcmcia-cs, but ...
# include port 0x100-0x4ff, port 0x800-0x8ff, port 0xc00-0xcff
# ... ports 0x810-0x81f hurt on some DELL machines and ...
# ... ports 0x3b0-0x3df hurt on some FSC machines.

#include port 0x300-0x375, port 0x380-0x3af, port 0x3e0-0x3f5, port 0x400-0x4ff, port 0x800-0x80f, port 0xc00-0xcf7
include memory 0xc0000-0xfffff
include memory 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff, memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff
#testing
#include memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff
#include memory 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff

#testing smc io range
#include memory 0x01bf-0xb301
#include port 0x01bf-0xb301

# High port numbers do not always work...
# include port 0x1000-0x17ff

# Extra port range for IBM Token Ring
#include port 0xa00-0xaff

# Resources we should not use, even if they appear to be available

# First built-in serial port
exclude irq 4
# Second built-in serial port
#exclude irq 3
# First built-in parallel port
exclude irq 7

#----------------------------------------------------------------------

# Examples of options for loadable modules

# To fix sluggish network with IBM ethernet adapter...
#module "pcnet_cs" opts "mem_speed=600"

# Options for IBM Token Ring adapters
#module "ibmtr_cs" opts "mmiobase=0xd0000 srambase=0xd4000"
#module "fvnetr_cs" opts "manfid=0x01bf, 0xb301"
# Options for Raylink/WebGear driver: uncomment only one line...
# Generic ad-hoc network
module "ray_cs" opts "essid=ADHOC_ESSID hop_dwell=128 beacon_period=256 translate=1"
# Infrastructure network for older cards
#module "ray_cs" opts "net_type=1 essid=ESSID1"
# Infrastructure network for WebGear
#module "ray_cs" opts "net_type=1 essid=ESSID1 translate=1 hop_dwell=128 beacon_period=256"

# Options for WaveLAN/IEEE driver (AccessPoint mode)...
#module "wvlan_cs" opts "station_name=MY_PC"
# Options for WaveLAN/IEEE driver (ad-hoc mode)...
#module "wvlan_cs" opts "port_type=3 channel=1 station_name=MY_PC"

# Options for Xircom Netwave driver...
#module "netwave_cs" opts "domain=0x100 scramble_key=0x0"

This is what I get when I issue cat /proc/ioports :

Code:

linux:/etc/pcmcia # cat /proc/ioports
0000-001f : dma1
0020-003f : pic1
0040-005f : timer
0060-006f : keyboard
0070-007f : rtc
0080-008f : dma page reg
00a0-00bf : pic2
00c0-00df : dma2
00f0-00ff : fpu
0170-0177 : ide1
01f0-01f7 : ide0
0376-0376 : ide1
0378-037a : parport0
037b-037f : parport0
03b0-03bb : RadeonIGP
03d3-03d3 : RadeonIGP
03f6-03f6 : ide0
03f8-03ff : serial(auto)
0cf8-0cff : PCI conf1
3000-307f : PCI CardBus #02
4000-40ff : PCI CardBus #02
8000-803f : ALi Corporation. [ALi] M7101 PMU
8040-805f : ALi Corporation. [ALi] M7101 PMU
8080-808f : ALi Corporation. [ALi] M5229 IDE
  8080-8087 : ide0
  8088-808f : ide1
8090-8093 : PCI device 1002:cab0 (ATI Technologies Inc)
8400-84ff : ALi Corporation. [ALi] M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device
  8400-84ff : ALI 5451
8800-88ff : ALi Corporation. [ALi] M5457 AC-Link Modem Interface Controller
8c00-8cff : National Semiconductor Corporation DP83815 (MacPhyter) Ethernet Controller
  8c00-8cff : eth0
9000-9fff : PCI Bus #01
  9000-90ff : PCI device 1002:4336 (ATI Technologies Inc)

This is what /var/log/messages is giving me when I insert the smc card with the atmel driver:

Code:

Jan 30 07:09:12 linux cardmgr[1629]: socket 0: SMC 2632W V2 11Mbps 802.11b WLAN Card
Jan 30 07:09:12 linux cardmgr[1629]: executing: 'insmod -v /lib/modules/2.4.21-243-athlon//pcmcia/pcmf502r.o'
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux cardmgr[1629]: + Using /lib/modules/2.4.21-243-athlon//pcmcia/pcmf502r.o
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux cardmgr[1629]: + Symbol version prefix ''
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: pcmf502r: ATMEL 11Mbps Wireless PCMCIA LAN driver version 2.0.1.0
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: -> vnet_attach()
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: -> vnet_event(registration complete, 0, 0xc011ef2e)
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: -> vnet_event(card insertion, 0, 0xc011ef2e)
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: -> vnet_config(0x00000011)
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: pcmf502r: GetNextTuple: No more items
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: -> vnet_release(0x0804c360)
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: <- vnet_release() - success
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: SPI FLASH
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: ************************************************************
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: *****************    BSR = 0xFF00         *****************
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: ************************************************************
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: IFACE base = 0xFFFF
Jan 30 07:09:13 linux kernel: --> Possible Card Removal <--
Jan 30 07:09:14 linux cardmgr[1629]: get dev info on socket 0 failed: Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 30 07:09:14 linux kernel: -> vnet_detach(0x0003d090)

This is what /var/log/messages is giving me for the Proxim Orinoco / ageres card:

Code:

Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: cs: memory probe 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff: clean.
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: socket 0: Agere Systems Hermes-II based PCMCIA Wireless Adapter
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: executing: 'insmod -v /lib/modules/2.4.21-243-athlon//pcmcia/wlags49_h2_cs.o'
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: + Using /lib/modules/2.4.21-243-athlon//pcmcia/wlags49_h2_cs.o
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: + Symbol version prefix ''
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: + Warning: loading /lib/modules/2.4.21-243-athlon//pcmcia/wlags49_h2_cs.o will taint the kernel: no license
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: +   See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted modules
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>:init_module
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs v7.22 for PCMCIA, Jan 29 2005 21:31:28 by Agere Systems, http://www.agere.com
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>:wl_adapter_init_module
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:wl_adapter_init_module wl_adapter_init_module() -- PCMCIA
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<:wl_adapter_init_module
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<:init_module
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux cardmgr[1629]: + Module wlags49_h2_cs loaded, with warnings
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>:wl_adapter_attach
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>:wl_device_alloc
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>>:wl_wds_device_alloc
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<<:wl_wds_device_alloc
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<:wl_device_alloc
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>:wl_adapter_event
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<:wl_adapter_event
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>:wl_adapter_event
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>>:wl_adapter_insert
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs: RequestIO: Resource in use
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>>>:wl_adapter_release
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>>>>:wl_release
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<<<<:wl_release
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<<<:wl_adapter_release
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<<:wl_adapter_insert
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<:wl_adapter_event
Jan 30 07:07:29 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<:wl_adapter_attach
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux cardmgr[1629]: get dev info on socket 0 failed: Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>:wl_adapter_detach
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>:wl_device_dealloc
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>>:wl_wds_device_dealloc
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<<:wl_wds_device_dealloc
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<:wl_device_dealloc
Jan 30 07:07:30 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<:wl_adapter_detach
Jan 30 07:07:41 linux kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 30 07:07:52 linux last message repeated 3 times
Jan 30 07:07:55 linux pppd[1701]: sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x5 magic=0xed641af8]
Jan 30 07:07:55 linux pppd[1701]: rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x5 magic=0x35c86ecd]
Jan 30 07:08:01 linux kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 30 07:08:22 linux last message repeated 7 times
Jan 30 07:08:25 linux pppd[1701]: sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x6 magic=0xed641af8]
Jan 30 07:08:25 linux pppd[1701]: rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x6 magic=0x35c86ecd]
Jan 30 07:08:29 linux kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 30 07:08:54 linux last message repeated 7 times
Jan 30 07:08:55 linux pppd[1701]: sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x7 magic=0xed641af8]
Jan 30 07:08:55 linux pppd[1701]: rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x7 magic=0x35c86ecd]
Jan 30 07:08:57 linux kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 30 07:09:01 linux cardmgr[1629]: executing: 'rmmod wlags49_h2_cs'
Jan 30 07:09:01 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>:cleanup_module
Jan 30 07:09:01 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:>>:wl_adapter_cleanup_module
Jan 30 07:09:01 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:wl_adapter_cleanup_module wl_adapter_cleanup_module() -- PCMCIA
Jan 30 07:09:01 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<<:wl_adapter_cleanup_module
Jan 30 07:09:01 linux kernel: wlags49_h2_cs:<:cleanup_module
Jan 30 07:09:03 linux kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 30 07:09:09 linux kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..

I am really desperate to get this problem solved so please take a close look at the info Ive given here before posting please.

Garrett

raffe · 03-20-2005, 10:03 AM

THANKS! I think I love you

You just fixed all my problems here FedoraForum.org > Fedora Support > Laptop > Wireless D-Link DWL-G650 h/w ver.:C2 f/w.:3.1.6 freeze Toshiba 8200 laptop...