# Lucent WLAN card problems with Dell 600m

## MikeHappySmith

I recently purchase a Dell 600m.  The laptop came with an Intel ProWireless 2100 mini-pci card which I knew did not have linux support.  I purchased what I believe to be a TrueMobile 1150 mini-pci card on eBay and have had problems getting it working.

I attempted to follow the post 'Random Juju' made in January in this thread https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=54403&highlight=truemobile+1150

but am not having luck getting the card working. 

The dmesg output suggests a problem.

```
cs: memory probe 0x0c0000-0x0fffff: excluding 0xc0000-0xcffff 0xe0000-0xebfff 0xf0000-0xfffff

hermes.c: 4 Dec 2002 David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au>

orinoco.c 0.13d (David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au> and others)

orinoco_cs.c 0.13d (David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au> and others)

hermes @ IO 0x100: Timeout waiting for card to reset (reg=0x0000)!

eth1: failed to initialize firmware (err = -110)

orinoco_cs: register_netdev() failed

```

As one might guess, ifconfig then doesn't show any eth1.  Any help is appreciated.

For reference,

the output of cardctl ident

```
Socket 0:

  no product info available

Socket 1:

  product info: "O2Micro", "SmartCardBus Reader", "V1.0"

  manfid: 0xffff, 0x0001

Socket 2:

  product info: "Lucent Technologies", "WaveLAN/IEEE", "Version 01.01", ""

  manfid: 0x0156, 0x0002

  function: 6 (network)

```

the output of dump_cis

```
Socket 0:

  no CIS present

Socket 1:

  dev_info

    fn_specific 100ns, 512b

  attr_dev_info

    SRAM 100ns, 1kb

  vers_1 7.0, "O2Micro", "SmartCardBus Reader", "V1.0"

  manfid 0xffff, 0x0001

  config base 0x0220 mask 0x0001 last_index 0x01

  cftable_entry 0x01 [default]

    Vcc Vnom 5V Istatic 13mA Iavg 100mA

    io 0x0000-0x001f [lines=5] [16bit]

    irq mask 0xbeb8 [level]

    memory 0x0000-0x00ff @ 0x0000

Socket 2:

  dev_info

    NULL 0ns, 512b

  attr_dev_info

    SRAM 500ns, 1kb

  vers_1 5.0, "Lucent Technologies", "WaveLAN/IEEE", "Version 01.01", ""

  manfid 0x0156, 0x0002

  funcid network_adapter

  lan_technology wireless

  lan_speed 1 mb/sec

  lan_speed 2 mb/sec

  lan_speed 5 mb/sec

  lan_speed 11 mb/sec

  lan_media 2.4_GHz

  lan_node_id 00 02 2d 46 1e 18

  lan_connector Closed connector standard

  config base 0x03e0 mask 0x0001 last_index 0x01

  cftable_entry 0x01 [default]

    Vcc Vnom 3300mV Vmin 3V Vmax 3600mV Iavg 300mA

    Ipeak 300mA Idown 10mA

    io 0x0000-0x003f [lines=6] [16bit]

    irq mask 0xffff [level] [pulse]

```

----------

## MikeHappySmith

I restarted following the instructions laid out in the thread titled "PCMCIA nic: getting it working with pcmcia-cs (for n00bs!)", here https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=26716, which essentially got me back to the same place.

The slightly different dmesg output is:

```
cs: memory probe 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff: clean.

hermes.c: 4 Dec 2002 David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au>

orinoco.c 0.13b (David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au> and others)

orinoco_cs.c 0.13b (David Gibson <hermes@gibson.dropbear.id.au> and others)

cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding 0x378-0x37f 0x3c0-0x3df 0x4d0-0x4d7

cs: IO port probe 0x0380-0x03bf: clean.

cs: IO port probe 0x03e0-0x04cf: clean.

cs: IO port probe 0x04d8-0x04ff: clean.

cs: IO port probe 0x0a00-0x0aff: clean.

cs: IO port probe 0x0c00-0x0cff: clean.

hermes @ IO 0x100: Timeout waiting for card to reset (reg=0x0000)!

eth1: failed to initialize firmware (err = -110)

orinoco_cs: register_netdev() failed

```

The sources indicate -110 indicates a timeout during initialization within hermes_init (hermes module).  It appears things cascade from there and the device can't be used.

Still looking for someone to save the day!

----------

## Joebel

Don't know if it'll save your day   :Smile:  , but this how I got it an avaya wireless goldcard to function in my Dell L600 laptop:

- I did not use wlan-ng: tried it, just gave me a whol lotte trouble

- contrary to the info on the threads you mention above, I did not use the drivers from pcmcia-cs.

What I did do: I compiled pcmcia and the orinoco drivers from the kernel source as modules. To me the biggest help was to use the yenta-socketdriver available in the kernel-source.  That both identified my card the right way, and started it up the right way.

I emerged pcmcia-cs afterwards: pcmcia-cs then detects that you use moduled from the kernel-source itself, and only installs the extra tools it can deliver.

I don't know if this 'll work for you, but it did for me. And for me the info in the threads you mentioned above didn't work either. Good luck!

----------

## MikeHappySmith

 *Joebel wrote:*   

> What I did do: I compiled pcmcia and the orinoco drivers from the kernel source as modules. To me the biggest help was to use the yenta-socketdriver available in the kernel-source. That both identified my card the right way, and started it up the right way.

 

Unfortunately, this did not fix the problem.  I wind up with the exact same error.  It appears that the module source (kernel or pcmcia-cs) does not make a difference.

What are other possibilities ....

+ I'm using the -ac kernel  (I'll try vanilla)

+ Bad hardware (Not sure how to settle on that)

----------

## MikeHappySmith

 *MikeHappySmith wrote:*   

> It appears that the module source (kernel or pcmcia-cs) does not make a difference.
> 
> What are other possibilities ....
> 
> + I'm using the -ac kernel  (I'll try vanilla)
> ...

 

The same problem appears if I use linux-wlan-ng or the vanilla kernel.

So, I left thinking it must be either

+ not the hardware I think it is

+ defective hardware

+ obsolete firmware

Anyway to confirm any of the 3 options above?

----------

## ScubaStreb

I got a Truemobile 1150 working in my Acer Travelmate 800 Centrino notebook. It may be of some help as the machines seem to have very similar specs.

I had no luck installing it with 2.4 ac sources and felt like banging my head against the wall after trying for hours on end.  After about ten kernel recompiles, different 2.4 kernels, pcmcia-cs, linux-wlan-ng, and other stuff, I gave up and tried a 2.6 kernel - the latest mm sources.

Check out this thread for my kernel settings.  It works great!!!

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=491541#491541

In the future, I'm going to try to compile the PCMCIA stuff as modules, but everything works statically now.  

Good luck!

----------

## MikeHappySmith

 *ScubaStreb wrote:*   

> I gave up and tried a 2.6 kernel - the latest mm sources.
> 
> Check out this thread for my kernel settings.  It works great!!!
> 
> https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=491541#491541
> ...

 

I did go through the exercise of trying the 2.6 kernel.  As expected,   :Sad:  , I got the exact same behavior.  The hermes code spit out a timeout error (as shown in the initial post).

Maybe that reinforces the idea that there is a legitimate hardware problem, not a software configuration problem.  I don't want to pay to experiment with more hardware, but that appears to be the only further course of action I have.

----------

## ScubaStreb

I don't know if this will be any help, but I am aware of some laptops, mainly IBMs, that whitelist WLan cards that can be used in the bios.  If that card isn't one of the approved models, it does not work. 

I haven't heard that Dell is doing that, but it may be something to check up on.

I know that you aren't looking for this, but you could temporarily use a cheap PCMCIA wireless card until you find a true success story with that particular laptop.

Good luck!

----------

## hpux

I doubt that's what it is.

I have a Netgear MA401 (I think) with the Orioco chipset and a Toshiba Satellite and the card worked beautifully, for a while.  But my laptop is falling apart, on account of it being a piece of shit, and I slowly started getting more and more of those errors...   so My feeling is that it isn't some kind of serupticious code in the BIOS, but a legitimate hardware thing.

I even installed gentoo again cleanly, same issue.  2.4.24, 2.6.4, 2.6.3, doesn't matter!  argh.

----------

