3Com 3CRSHPW_96 PC Card & Mandrake 9.1

August 27, 2003

Hi guys,

I've been a Windows user for 10 years now, and even though WinXP works just fine for me, I've had this urge to try Linux ever since I first heard of Mandrake a year back. Finally, after much thought, I went on and downloaded the Mandrake 9.1 ISOs and now, the OS is installed on my Dell Latitude C810 laptop (XP's still there though, since I'm still new to Linux).

Installation went thru smoothly, practically everything was auto-detected, mounted or configured.. One problem though, I have a Wifi PC card that seems not to be seen by the OS. It's a 3Com OfficeConnect 11Mbps 3CRSHPW196 card. I've Googled quite a bit and found source files for the card's Atmel's chipset on SourceForge, but I've got absolutely no idea on how to have the source files compiled or added into my Mandrake 9.1 OS.

Tried the kernel re-compilation or driver re-compilation procedures listed on the various websites I've come across, and even the instructions in the readme of the driver archive, but no joy so far - there were so many errors/warnings during compilation that it's not even funny anymore.. (is Linux always this hard??).

Has anyone experienced this problem before with Mandrake 9.1 and the card? Does someone have a detailed step-by-step procedure to make the card work in the OS? I am totally lost.... <help>.. Am I not ready for Linux, should I just give up on the OS and go back to WinXP?? Aarrgh..

# ran "cardctl ident", got the output below..

Socket 1:

product info: "3Com", "3CRSHPW_96 Wireless LAN PC Card"

manfid: 0x0101, 0x0696

function: 6 (network)

:cry:

liquidzoo · August 27, 2003

Ok, you got the output of cardctl ident. That's a great start. If you follow my FAQ here: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...p?p=40515#40515 you should be able to get that card up and running in no time. I did a little googling and it looks like that card actually uses the orinoco_cs driver. That is the exact same driver that my card uses so the instructions in the post will be the same for you.

Let me know if you have any problems with it. I'm sure we can work them out between everyone here.

August 27, 2003

Liquidzoo, r u sure that the 3com PCMCIA Wifi card uses the orinoco driver? The link below indicates that it uses an Atmel chipset (hence, Atmel driver?)..

http://ggcs.org/pipermail/ggcs-wifi/2003-J...une/000061.html

I'll check out your link, anyways..

liquidzoo · August 27, 2003

I've read conflicting reports on that. On the Amtel page, it looks like that driver is made for USB adapters, but others are talking about how to get it working mostly under RedHat 9 and having problems. Your best bet might be to backup the 2 config files that you have to edit (copy them to another location, or to another filename) and give it a try with the orinoco driver. It is supposed to work with all AirConnect cards from 3Com and your card, even though it is labled as OfficeConnect, falls under that category according to the 3Com knowledgebase.

If it doesn't work, or even (especially) if it does, come on back and let us know. If it doesn't, we'll find another route.

August 27, 2003

LiquidZoo, thanks for taking the time and effort to help me.. I've got good news, and I've got some bad news..

1. Followed the FAQ you listed. Sorry, the orinoco_cs.o driver did not work.

2. Checked on the web some more, the 3CRSHPW196 is based on the Atmel AT76C502A chipset. See here - http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/atmeld...v/usbtable.html .

3. Downloaded drivers from this link - http://www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/atmeldrv/linux.zip - ran "make pcmcia" to compile and load the driver (suprise suprise, no errors). Edited the /etc/pcmcia/config file. No go.. DrakConnect could not detect the card even after multiple reboots.

My entry in the /etc/pcmcia/config file was like this :

card "3CRSHPW_96 Wireless LAN PC Card"

manfid 0x0101, 0x0696

bind "fastvnet_cs"

I've even tried <bind "fvnetr_cs"> - nothing worked... <sigh>

liquidzoo · August 27, 2003

From the readme for those drivers:

D. In order for the applications to run you have to enable
CONFIG_NET_RADIO in the kernel.

in /usr/src/linux

# make menuconfig

Select Network Device Support

|--->Wireless LAN (non-hamradio)

|--->Wireless LAN (non-hamradio)

Have you done that? Also, before messing with the kernel, you could try this:

In order to reconfigure any card you have to
use one of the applications which comes with the

driver.(lvnet(command line utility) or xvnet (a

graphical interface for the X windows)

liquidzoo · August 28, 2003

DrakConnect could not detect the card even after multiple reboots.

Does the Hardware wizard show that there is another card there? DrakConnect won't recognize the card until you run the config tool from within the hardware wizard (at least, it never has for me). Strange, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

September 1, 2003

Well, sorry for coming back to this days later, but I still haven't been able to do anything about the bloody driver compilation.. I'm back to WinXP, for now, but I haven't given up yet.. :oops:

Liquidzoo.. yes, the KDE control center sees the card.. Funny thing though, Mandrake's Hardware Wizard doesn't list the card in its list.

After compiling the driver (I think), these are the messages I saw in the /var/log/messages file :

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7729]: watching 2 sockets
Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost kernel: cs: IO port probe 0x0c00-0x0cff: clean.

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost kernel: cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding 0x4d0-0x4d7

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost kernel: cs: IO port probe 0x0a00-0x0aff: clean.

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7730]: starting, version is 3.2.3

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost kernel: cs: memory probe 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff: clean.

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7730]: socket 1: 3CRSHPW_96 Wireless LAN PC Card

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7730]: executing: 'modprobe fvnetr_cs'

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7730]: + modprobe: Can't locate module fvnetr_cs

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7730]: modprobe exited with status 255

Aug 28 18:56:42 localhost cardmgr[7730]: module /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/pcmcia/fvnetr_cs.o not available

Aug 28 18:56:43 localhost cardmgr[7730]: get dev info on socket 1 failed: Resource temporarily unavailable

When I tried compiling the driver, these were the things displayed on the console :

[root@localhost setup]# make pcmcia
make[1]: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

Kernel Version Running 2.4.21-0.13mdk

Found Kernel Source Directory (/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/build)

grep: /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/build/.config: No such file or directory

setup.sh: line 158: [: -eq: unary operator expected

Pcmcia card services source needed but not found

Please give desired path.If you have the kernel

support for the PCMCIA card services you still

have to install the corresponding version of

the card services

for d in misc man; do make -C $d;done

make[1]: Entering directory `/home/kumar/tmp/setup/misc'

install -m 755 lvnet /bin

install -m 755 xvnet /sbin

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/kumar/tmp/setup/misc'

make[1]: Entering directory `/home/kumar/tmp/setup/man'

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/kumar/tmp/setup/man'

for d in pcmcia_src ; do make -C $d pcmcia;done

make[1]: Entering directory `/home/kumar/tmp/setup/pcmcia_src'

gcc -DLINUX_OS -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -O3 -I/include -I/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13md k/build/include -c fastvnet_cs.c -o fastvnet_cs.o

gcc -DLINUX_OS -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -O3 -I/include -I/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13md k/build/include -DRFMD -DRX_CRC -c fastvnet_cs.c -o fvnetr_cs.o

gcc -DLINUX_OS -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -O3 -I/include -I/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13md k/build/include -DRFMD -DR504 -c fastvnet_cs.c -o fvnet4_cs.o

gcc -DLINUX_OS -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -O3 -I/include -I/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13md k/build/include -DRFMD -DRX_CRC -DREV_D -c fastvnet_cs.c -o fvnetrD_cs.o

gcc -DLINUX_OS -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -O3 -I/include -I/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13md k/build/include -DRFMD -DRX_CRC -DREV_E -c fastvnet_cs.c -o fvnetrE_cs.o

ld -r -o ../fastvnet_cs.o fastvnet_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnetr_cs.o fvnetr_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-RFMD-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnet4_cs.o fvnet4_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-504-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnetrD_cs.o fvnetrD_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-REVD-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnetrE_cs.o fvnetrE_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-REVE-i386

mv ../fastvnet_cs.o /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/pcmcia

mv ../fvnetr_cs.o /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/pcmcia

mv ../fvnet4_cs.o /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/pcmcia

mv ../fvnetrD_cs.o /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/pcmcia

mv ../fvnetrE_cs.o /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdk/pcmcia

rm -f fastvnet_cs.o fvnetr_cs.o fvnet4_cs.o fvnetrD_cs.o fvnetrE_cs.o

make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/kumar/tmp/setup/pcmcia_src'

[root@localhost setup]#

I tried 'make menuconfig', but there was no 'amtel' in the list..

Linux Kernel v2.4.21-0.13mdkcustom Configuration
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

??????????????????????? Wireless LAN (non-hamradio) ???????????????????????

? Arrow keys navigate the menu. <Enter> selects submenus --->. ?

? Highlighted letters are hotkeys. Pressing <Y> includes, <N> excludes, ?

? <M> modularizes features. Press <Esc><Esc> to exit, <?> for Help. ?

? Legend:

[*] built-in [ ] excluded <M> module < > module capable ?

? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?

? ?

[*] Wireless LAN (non-hamradio) ? ?

? ?<M> STRIP (Metricom starmode radio IP) ? ?

? ?<M> AT&T WaveLAN & DEC RoamAbout DS support ? ?

? ?<M> Aironet Arlan 655 & IC2200 DS support ? ?

? ?<M> Aironet 4500/4800 series adapters ? ?

? ?<M> Aironet 4500/4800 ISA/PCI/PNP/365 support ? ?

? ?

[*] Aironet 4500/4800 PNP support ? ?

? ?

[*] Aironet 4500/4800 PCI support ? ?

? ?[ ] Aironet 4500/4800 ISA broken support (EXPERIMENTAL) ? ?

? ?[ ] Aironet 4500/4800 I365 broken support (EXPERIMENTAL) ? ?

? ?<M> Aironet 4500/4800 PROC interface ? |

? ?<M> Cisco/Aironet 34X/35X/4500/4800 ISA and PCI cards ? ?

? ?<M> Hermes chipset 802.11b support (Orinoco/Prism2/Symbol) ? ?

? ?<M> Hermes in PLX9052 based PCI adaptor support (Netgear MA301 et? ?

? ?<M> Prism 2.5 PCI 802.11b adaptor support (EXPERIMENTAL) ? ?

? ?--- Wireless Pcmcia cards support ? ?

? ?<M> Hermes PCMCIA card support ? ?

? ?<M> Cisco/Aironet 34X/35X/4500/4800 PCMCIA cards ? ?

? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

? <Select> < Exit > < Help > ?

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Anyway, I'll keep on trying.. If anyone has a compiled version of the driver for their MDK91 OS, pls tell me.. thanks.

liquidzoo · September 1, 2003

ld -r -o ../fastvnet_cs.o fastvnet_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-i386
ld -r -o ../fvnetr_cs.o fvnetr_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-RFMD-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnet4_cs.o fvnet4_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-504-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnetrD_cs.o fvnetrD_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-REVD-i386

ld -r -o ../fvnetrE_cs.o fvnetrE_cs.o -L../lib -lvnet-REVE-i386

These are the drivers that are made from that packege. You said you tried fastvnet_cs and fvnetr_cs and neither of them worked, how about one of the other three? fvnet4_cs, fvnetrD_cs, fvnetrE_cs are the other three.

Also, looks like you might not ahve the kernel source installed. Might want to do that. As root, in a console, type urpmi kernel-source

It's really strange that the KDE control center sees the card, but the Mandrake Control Center doesn't. I didn't even know that you could view your hardware in the KDE Control Center.

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3Com 3CRSHPW_96 PC Card & Mandrake 9.1

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