4 Problems with specific cards

Contents of this section

4.1 Why doesn't my modem work?

That's a broad question, but here's a quick troubleshooting guide.

4.2 Why does my Megahertz modem sometimes fail to work?

Earlier versions of the PCMCIA drivers often failed to properly initialize some Megahertz modems, specifically the 2144 model. This problem should be fixed in current releases.

I've also received one report from someone with a newer Megahertz modem that has a 16550-type UART. He says that he wasn't able to get this modem to work under Linux with cu until he configured the modem with:

echo 'ATS=QV1X4&C1&D2S95=2W1&K3S36=7S95=255' > /dev/modem

This initialization string was supplied by Megahertz tech support.

4.3 Why doesn't my ethernet card work?

Here's another quick troubleshooting guide.

4.4 How do I select the transceiver type for my 3c589 card?

It would be nice if the driver could autodetect the difference between a 10baseT and a 10base2 connection, but I don't know how to do that. For now, you need to edit /etc/pcmcia/config and add an if_ports=# option to the 3c589_cs module definition. Check the tc589_cs man page for more details, but to select 10base2 (also known as BNC, or thin net, or coax), change:

module "3c589_cs"

to:

module "3c589_cs" opts "if_port=3"

4.5 My network performance stinks. What can I do?

If you have an NE4100 or IBM CCAE adapter, increase the memory access time with the mem_speed=# option to the ibmcc_cs module definition. Try speeds of up to 1000 (in nanoseconds).

For other cards, you may need to try changing your socket driver timing parameters. Check the man page for your socket driver (i82365 or tcic) to see what parameters are available.

4.6 How do I add support for an NE2000-compatible ethernet card?

First, see if the card is already recognized by cardmgr. Some cards not listed in SUPPORTED.CARDS are actually OEM versions of cards that are supported. If you find a card like this, let me know so I can add it to the list.

If it is not recognized, cardmgr will normally bind the ``memory card'' driver to the card. Check your system log to verify this, because you'll need to use this driver. You will also need to know your card's hardware ethernet address. This address is a series of six two-digit hex numbers, often printed on the card itself. If it is not printed on the card, you may be able to use a DOS driver to display the address. In any case, once you know it, run:

dd if=/dev/pcmem0a count=20 | od -Ax -t x1

and search the output for your address. Record the hex offset of the first byte of the address. Now, edit modules/de650_cs.c and find the hw_info structure. You'll need to create a new entry for your card. The first field is the offset multiplied by two. The next three fields are the first three bytes of the hardware address. The final field is just a descriptive name.

After editing de650_cs, install the new module. Edit /etc/pcmcia/config and create an entry for your card. See section 3.2 for details. And please send me copies of your new hw_info and config entries.

4.7 How do I use my PCMCIA floppy interface?

The PCMCIA floppy interface used in the Compaq Aero and a few other laptops is not yet supported by this package. If your laptop can initialize this card before Linux boots, you should be able to use it by telling Card Services to ignore that socket. Note that you will not be able to hot swap this card.

To configure Card Services to ignore a socket, use the ignore=# parameter when you load the i82365 or tcic driver. See the man pages for more details.

4.8 What's up with support for Xircom cards?

Xircom does not share technical information about its cards without a non-disclosure agreement. This means that it is not really possible to develop freely distributable drivers for Xircom cards without doing legally dubious things like reverse engineering DOS drivers. Unless their policy changes, it is doubtful that Linux drivers for Xircom products will ever become available.

4.9 What's up with support for SCSI adapters?

The Qlogic FastSCSI and New Media Bus Toaster cards now work under Card Services. As of 1.1.81, the Linux kernel supports loadable SCSI driver modules, but you should try to use the latest available kernel. The PCMCIA driver modules for these cards are built by linking some PCMCIA-specific code (in qlogic_cs.c and toaster_cs.c) with a normal Linux SCSI driver. The Qlogic PCMCIA driver links with the normal QLogic driver; the Bus Toaster driver links with the Adaptec 152x driver. Pre-1.2.2 kernels require a patch for the Adaptec driver to make it PCMCIA-ready: the patch should be available from all the FTP sites mirroring cb-iris.stanford.edu.

The Adaptec SlimSCSI adapter is not currently supported. This card was originally sold under the Trantor name, and is not compatible with any of the existing Adaptec drivers for Linux. I'm not sure how hard it would be to write a driver; I don't think anyone has obtained the technical information from Adaptec.

Be very careful about ejecting a SCSI adapter. Be sure that all associated SCSI devices are unmounted and closed before ejecting the card. For now, all SCSI devices should be powered up before plugging in a SCSI adapter, and should stay connected until after you unplug the adapter and/or power down your laptop.

Roger Pao (rpao@paonet.org) adds:

Make sure there is a device capable of supplying termination power both to the terminating target device and to the PCMCIA SCSI card. This is vitally important as most PCMCIA SCSI cards do not supply termination power to its own terminators nor to the SCSI bus. This is usually to save laptop battery power and to isolate the laptop from the SCSI bus.

For a recommendation, the APS SCSI Sentry 2 ($100) is an external Centronics active terminator block (male on one end, female on the other) which uses an external power supply (115/230VAC) to supply termination power (5VDC 2.0A) to its own active terminator and to the PCMCIA SCSI card's terminators (be it active or passive). For more details, APS Technical Support can be reached at 800-334-7550.

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