# 3com wirless 802.11g 3CRWE154G72 card & prism52 [OPEN]

## JoKerTheFirst

Hi guys,

I've got this problem: I recently bought a 3com wirless 802.11g (also known as 3CRWE154G72) pcmcia card which is supposed to be supported by the prism dirver and they score it as a top supported one -> http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php

I followed many how-to's I found but none seems to work

gentoo specific -> http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~bwthomas/prism54.shtml

from this forum ->

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=139674&highlight=3crwe154g72

but I got a problem and apparently I'm not the only one.

well, my dmesg, when I plug the card is:

```
Loaded prism54 driver, version 1.2

PCI: Enabling device 0000:03:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
```

the if I do:

```
JoKerBook ~ # ifconfig eth2 up
```

i get on the dmesg:

```
eth2: islpci_open()

eth2: resetting device...

eth2: uploading firmware...

eth2: firmware uploaded done, now triggering reset...

eth2: device soft reset timed out

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response 1000, triggering device

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response 1000, triggering device

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response 1000, triggering device

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response 1000, triggering device

eth2: timeout waiting for mgmt response

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgmt tx queue is still full

eth2: mgt_commit has failed. Restart the device 
```

I'm using gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8-r10, my lsmod is:

```
JoKerBook ~ # lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

prism54                47900  0 

ds                     14084  4 

yenta_socket           18176  1 

pcmcia_core            51724  2 ds,yenta_socket

evdev                   7552  0 

```

I installed the drivers from the prism54.org website and also set the firewire they release

please help me, the card is working properly under windo$e, please don't le me boot that thing to surf on the net (and get viruses, backdoors and so on)

also disabled acpi because it seems to mess up things with irq addresses

thanks a lot,

I'll keep on tryin'

JoKerLast edited by JoKerTheFirst on Wed Nov 10, 2004 3:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

Ok, googling around i found this

http://prism54.org/pipermail/prism54-users/2004-October/001726.html

I hate when things goes wrong like that

 *Quote:*   

> Someone noted earlier on this list that there seem to be two different
> 
> WG511 types; 
> 
> one "Made in China", one "Made in Taiwan", and it's the Chinese ones
> ...

 

...go figure  :Evil or Very Mad: 

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

couldn't make it work with ndiswrapper also,

```
JoKerBook ~ # iwconfig 

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

eth2      NOT READY!  ESSID:off/any  

          Mode:Managed  Channel:6  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00   

          Tx-Power=31 dBm   Sensitivity=0/200  

          Retry min limit:0   RTS thr=0 B   Fragment thr=0 B   

          Encryption key:off

          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
```

the guys @ prism54 should shout it out "made in China version NOT supported"  :Evil or Very Mad: 

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

has anybody succeded in make the made in china card work somehow?

----------

## cpdsaorg

I am atempting to install the ndis wrapper for my "made in china wg511" card now. however I have already picked out another card I will purchase if this is not working by payday.

Also I will be returning this card for a full refund.

----------

## cpdsaorg

It looks like this card works with the ndis wrapper and the windows experience drivers. I will detail my experiences below.

I am assuming here you have alerady configured and compiled your kernel to use wireless. I am also assuming you have the latest ~x86 baselayout installed. and that you have read every other gentoo wireless guide online like i have.

First unload the native linux modules with:

```
modprobe -r prism54 firmare_class
```

I tried ndiswrappers 0.10 with no luck.

edit /etc/portage/package.keywords and add

```
net-wireless/ndiswrappers ~x86
```

emerge ndiswrappers again to get version 0.11

then read this page on how to set this up. it's very detailed:

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?Installation

If you have problems check the original instructions. or FAQ

skip the installation section since you have already done that  :Wink: 

pop in the CD and copy over these files from /mnt/cdrom/Driver/WINXP:

WG511ICB.sys and netwg511.inf

OR just install them straight from the CD:

```
ndiswrapper -i /mnt/cdrom/Driver/WNXP/netwg511.inf
```

This copies all necessary files to /etc/ndiswrapper and creates the config files for your card.

After installing you can run

```
ndiswrapper -l
```

to see the status of your installed drivers. If you have installed the correct driver you should see something like this:

```
Installed ndis drivers:

netwg511        driver present, hardware present
```

Where "present" means that you have a card that can be used with the driver installed.

To load the module type:

```
modprobe ndiswrapper
```

If you get no error the driver should now be loaded. You can verify this by checking system log (produced by dmesg). If the driver is loaded successfully, you should see a message in the system log:

```
ndiswrapper version 0.11 loaded (preempt=yes,smp=no)

ndiswrapper: driver netwg511 (NETGEAR,04/06/2004, 2.1.22.0) added

wlan0: ndiswrapper ethernet device xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx using driver netwg511
```

Use iwconfig to configure wireless network interface. First, see if the interface is available, with

```
iwconfig
```

In my case it showed up as wlan0

iwconfig is part of wireless-tools which you can install with 

```
emerge wireless-tools
```

find out if you can see your AccessPoint with

```
iwlist wlan0 scan
```

you should see something like:

```
wlan0     Scan completed :

          Cell 01 - Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

                    ESSID:"your_essid_here"

                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g

                    Mode:Managed

                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel xx)

                    Quality:0/100  Signal level:-38 dBm  Noise level:-256 dBm

                    Encryption key:off

                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:6 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:9 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:12 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:18 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:24 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:36 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:48 Mb/s

                    Bit Rate:54 Mb/s

                    Extra:bcn_int=100

                    Extra:atim=3
```

set the operating mode of the interface according to your setup. In most cases, it is Managed

```
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
```

If you use encryption (WEP), set the key

```
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted XXXXXXXX 
```

Set the network name

```
iwconfig wlan0 essid ESSID
```

here is where my instructions differ from the original:

At this point I noticed my /etc/init.d/ folder did not contain a net.wlan0 file that should have been linked to net.lo 

(if at this point in time you have not installed the latest ~x86 baselayout you may not understand what i am talking about. you may start cursing and spitting all over your machine cause you gotta have that to begin with)

so i created net.wlan0 with:

```
cd /etc/init.d/ && ln -s net.lo net.wlan0
```

then i brought up my card the gentoo way:

```
/etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start
```

you may want to 

```
modules-update
```

 when everything is working to save your work.

 The end, hope this helps someone.

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

thanks a lot,

I'll give it a try and let you know

let's cross fingers in the while  :Wink: 

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

Hello,

I know I'm gettin' somewhere but I still need some help  :Confused: 

I'm stuck on

```
JoKerBook ~ # modprobe ndiswrapper

FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.
```

which is weird because I got

```
JoKerBook ~ # ls /lib/modules/2.6.9-gentoo-r4/misc/ndiswrapper.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.9-gentoo-r4/misc/ndiswrapper.ko
```

which is the right place considering my kernel

```
JoKerBook ~ # uname -a

Linux JoKerBook 2.6.9-gentoo-r4n #1 Wed Nov 17 12:47:12 CET 2004 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
```

what should I do?  :Rolling Eyes: 

thanks a lot

P.S.: the drivers on the cdrom of my card are named 3C154G72.INF and 3C154G72.sys

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

well, I found that if I take a look on dmesg afer I try to modprobe the module I get:

```
JoKerBook ~ # dmesg | tail -n 4

ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3

Unable to load NLS charset iso8859-1

Unable to load NLS charset iso8859-1

ISOFS: changing to secondary root
```

 :Shocked: 

and that's weird because my config is 

```
JoKerBook ~ # cat /boot/config | grep iso8859-1

CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET="iso8859-1"

CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="iso8859-1"
```

any idea?

----------

## cpdsaorg

super strange. I don't have time to look at my setup now but I will examine it in the morning. perhaps check to see if /usr/src/linux is pointing to your correct kernel?? (ln -s) very important.

----------

## jido

I have the Netgear WG511 working on my laptop with Prism54. Let me know if I can do something to help.

(btw shouldn't this be in the networking forum?)

----------

## cpdsaorg

 *jido wrote:*   

> I have the Netgear WG511 working on my laptop with Prism54. Let me know if I can do something to help.
> 
> (btw shouldn't this be in the networking forum?)

 

networking forum? perhaps

jido, can you look on your card and see if it was made in thaiiwan or china?

thanks.

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

yep, the /usr/src/linux is pointing correctly to the right source, I'll post this tomorrow because I'm not in front of my box right now, but I remember I checked it...any guess?

-sigh-  :Crying or Very sad: 

I'll be back fighting for wifi very soon  :Smile: 

----------

## jido

 *cpdsaorg wrote:*   

> 
> 
> jido, can you look on your card and see if it was made in thaiiwan or china?
> 
> thanks.

 

Made in Taiwan.

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

Ok, the problem about the charset is solved, I didn't compiled in

file systems -> native language support

```
<*>   NLS ISO 8859-1  (Latin 1; Western European Languages) 
```

but the main problem still remains

```
JoKerBook linux # modprobe ndiswrapper

FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.
```

 :Question:   :Evil or Very Mad:   :Crying or Very sad: 

why ?!?!?!??!!?

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

I did found something on 

```
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=256780&highlight=fatal+module+ndiswrapper
```

and apparently I've got the same problem that Codo has had.

I'm currently compiling the kernel with the "general setup -> append to localverion ()" blank, I had "n" in between the "(n)"

I'll keep you updated   :Neutral: 

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

still getting closer; leaving blank the append to local verion brought me a bit closer to the end of the problem...well, perhaps.

now I'm having 

```
JoKerBook ~ # modprobe ndiswrapper

FATAL: Error inserting ndiswrapper (/lib/modules/2.6.9-gentoo-r6/misc/ndiswrapper.ko): Invalid module format
```

but it seems that I'm not the only one whose having this...I'll keep fighting and let you know

```
Linux JoKerBook 2.6.9-gentoo-r6 #1 Fri Nov 26 14:47:32 CET 2004 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
```

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

As I'm always getting the last error I tryied to recompile ndiswrapper but It doesen't recompile, my /usr/src/linux is pointing right.

I also wrote to a second thread to solve the compiling problem

...the other thread

[url]

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=1807003#1807003[/url]

...the compiling error

```
>>> md5 src_uri ;-) ndiswrapper-0.11.tar.gz

>>> Unpacking source...

 * /usr/src/linux is a symbolic link

 * Determining the real directory of the Linux kernel source code

 * Building for Linux 2.6.9-gentoo-r6 found in /usr/src/linux

>>> Unpacking ndiswrapper-0.11.tar.gz to /var/tmp/portage/ndiswrapper-0.11/work

>>> Source unpacked.

make -C driver

make[1]: Entering directory `/var/tmp/portage/ndiswrapper-0.11/work/ndiswrapper-0.11/driver'

make[1]: warning: jobserver unavailable: using -j1.  Add `+' to parent make rule.

Can't find kernel sources in //usr/src/linux;

  give the path to kernel sources with KSRC=<path> argument to make

make[1]: *** [prereq_check] Error 1

make[1]: Leaving directory `/var/tmp/portage/ndiswrapper-0.11/work/ndiswrapper-0.11/driver'

make: *** [all] Error 2
```

----------

## JoKerTheFirst

gotcha !!!

I did:

removed /lib/modules/2.6.9-gentoo-r4/misc/ndiswrapper.ko

removed /usr/src/linux

removed /usr/src/gentoo-dev-source-2.6.9-r6

removed /usr/portage/distfiles/ndiswrapper-0.11.tar.gz

and then

emerged gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.9-r6

recompiled it with the old config

emerged ndiswrapper

...now I can modprobe it, let's see if it works

----------

## cpdsaorg

Told ya! it's those dam dirty links!!

----------

## sourcez

I have the same error with this wireless-card, are you found a solution?

The problem seems to be in IRQ acpi, the card don't work even with windows.

----------

## cpdsaorg

in my /boot/grub/grub.conf  i have pci=noacpi and pci=usepirqmask to prevent acpi messing with the powersettings of the pci bus.

----------

