Linksys WPC54G PCMCIA

Message

fleamour · #1 Post by **fleamour** » Sat 30 May 2009, 21:24

Hi

I tried Puppy a while back & was wondering if the current version would support a Linksys WPC54G wireless card? Even after some command line jiggery pokery last time, no joy was forthcoming.

#2 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Mon 01 Jun 2009, 09:56

Did you try a new version?
If yes what exactly did you do and what messages or abnormalities do you experience?

fleamour · #3 Post by **fleamour** » Mon 01 Jun 2009, 13:47

Here is my last attempt with a different card.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29313

I was laboriously entering the commands from a print out, would of been easier to make a script. I used this guide to install to HDD:

http://www.ph-islands.net/pupinstall/

Although not the clearest of guides I was able to install OK but never got my wireless card to work. I did buy a Comtrend GN-WMKG, compatible with Linux but did not work under Win2k. Since I was trying to dual boot this seemed a problem.

I have yet to try the latest version of Puppy. Any tips?

spring · #4 Post by **spring** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 06:08

hi fleamour
my linksys wpc54g PCMCIA wifi card was b43xx chipset, and i complied the firmware followed the b43xx web.
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43
and the card works fine on slitaz 2.0 and zenlive 6.0. but i dont know how to complied on puppy, so you could find what's version on the card, and if the chipset were b43xx, and you could recomplied firmware by yourself. above just my experience.

tempestuous · #5 Post by **tempestuous** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 07:43

spring wrote:my linksys wpc54g PCMCIA wifi card was b43xx chipset, and i complied the firmware followed the b43xx web.

The bcm43xx module has been deprecated in recent kernels in favour of the new b43 and b43legacy modules.
Puppy 4.1.x and 4.2.x contain the b43/b43legacy modules, and they also contain the necessary firmware. There's no need to compile anything.

... but there are several different variants of the WPC54G, and not all of them contain the Broadcom chipset.
fleamour, please help identify the exact version of your card by running this command;

Code: Select all

pccardctl ident

and report the Product/Device ID and Vendor ID values.

fleamour · #6 Post by **fleamour** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 13:49

"no product info available"

tempestuous · #7 Post by **tempestuous** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 14:02

Well there's your problem. No wifi driver will work if the Cardbus interface isn't working.
See "How to reset PCMCIA interface"
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 1707#31707

fleamour · #8 Post by **fleamour** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 14:16

Ok, trying...

When typing "pccardctl status" it reads:

"Socket 0: 3.3v 32-bit PC Card"

But when trying eject/insert commands and then ident it reads as no product info.

tempestuous · #9 Post by **tempestuous** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 14:26

After pccardctl eject/pccardctl insert, did you do this

Code: Select all

pcmcia-socket-startup

Also, you could try

Code: Select all

pccardctl info

fleamour · #10 Post by **fleamour** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 14:43

Yes tried your suggestion:

Code: Select all

pcmcia-socket-startup

No dice. But...

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pccardctl info

comes back as:

PRODID_1=""
PRODID_2=""
PRODID_3=""
PRODID_4=""
MANFID=0000,0000
FUNCID=255
PRODID_1=""
PRODID_2=""
PRODID_3=""
PRODID_4=""
MANFID=0000,0000
FUNCID=255

tempestuous · #11 Post by **tempestuous** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 15:10

Mmm. I no longer have a laptop to be able to test this PCMCIA stuff myself, so I can only take some guesses.

I'm wondering whether you might have an IRQ conflict.
What kind of laptop do you have? I would check the bios, and if you have an option for "PnP OS = YES/NO" set it for "NO". This is important in Linux.

Otherwise, use the boot option "pci=biosirq"

And if you have an inbuilt modem, this could be claiming IRQ3, so to make sure that the PCMCIA system does not allocate IRQ3, open /etc/pcmcia/config.opts in geany and uncomment this line -

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#exclude irq 3

Reboot.

fleamour · #12 Post by **fleamour** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 15:37

That last comment has me a bit lost! I have grown up with Windows so unused to Linux.

My laptop is an IBM T21 made in 2000. No PnP options in BIOS far as I can see.

#13 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Mon 08 Jun 2009, 22:47

open /etc/pcmcia/config.opts
edit line 43, which normally reads #exclude irq 3 to read now exclude irq 3

tempestuous · #14 Post by **tempestuous** » Tue 09 Jun 2009, 07:47

fleamour wrote:No PnP options in BIOS far as I can see.

Your problem is currently one of three on the forum concerning PCMCIA interfaces.
It seems a big coincidence, so maybe Puppy 4.2.1 is at fault?

Well I would boot with "pci=biosirq". This has been known to magically solve hardware problems ...
but if no success, I think it would be worth going back to an earlier version of Puppy such as 4.1.2

fleamour · #15 Post by **fleamour** » Tue 09 Jun 2009, 22:09

It already reads "exclude irq 3" without the hash.

Tried special boot option. Will try an earlier version of Puppy.

fleamour · #16 Post by **fleamour** » Tue 09 Jun 2009, 22:34

Same problem with 4.1.2.

spring · #17 Post by **spring** » Wed 10 Jun 2009, 05:10

tempestuous
thank you.
i found the module of b43 on puppy 4.2x and the firmware tarball in /lib/modules/all-firmware/b43.tar.gz

thanks again

Diggs · #18 Post by **Diggs** » Sat 10 Oct 2009, 00:15

I am another that finds the pcmcia card manager frustratingly unreliable under Puppy 4.x. It always seems to work with a fresh install, but is just a manner of time before it disappears never to respond again until another fresh install is done. Been through 4-5 fresh installs.
Status command reveals-
Socket 0: 3.3v 32-bit PC Card

But pccardctl ident is always-
Socket: 0
no product info available (even though a Linksys WPC54GS is slotted)

Exclude Irq #3 is no help.
pccardctl eject and insert does nothing.

pcmcia-socket-startup does nothing.

I have a stack of pcmcia wireless cards from work. Disappointing that Puppy cannot maintain the pcmcia slot it appears.

(Compaq Presario 1692)

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Linksys WPC54G PCMCIA

Linksys WPC54G PCMCIA