# [SOLVED] How do I know if PCMCIA is working?

## tofor

How do I know if PCMCIA is working?  I have been having trouble with getting wireless networking to work, and I am beginning to suspect it is not a wireless driver issue at all, but a PCMCIA driver issue.  If I run lspci, the following is one of the lines:

```

:00.0 Network controller: Texas Instruments ACX 111 54Mbps Wireless Interface

```

so it does detect the card at a basic level.  Also, during boot I see several errors or warnings related to PCMCIA, but I'm new and can't figure out where to find those messages in order to paste them.

Finally, when I run dmesg|grep pcmcia I get the following:

```

pcmcia: parent PCI bridge I/O window: 0xc000 - 0xcfff

pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0xcff00000 - 0xcfffffff

pcmcia: parent PCI bridge Memory window: 0x28000000 - 0x29ffffff

pcmcia: Detected deprecated PCMCIA ioctl usage from process: cardmgr.

pcmcia: This interface will soon be removed from the kernel; please expect breakage unless you upgrade to new tools.

pcmcia: see http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/pcmcia.html for details.

```

Not sure what that means.  Thanks for your help.  Basically I want to know if I need to focus on PCMCIA issues, or wireless networking issues.Last edited by tofor on Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## ruivilela

Maybe it is Kernel configuration for PCMCIA, or you have the old pcmcia-cs tools.

 Update for ebuild pcmciatools. Then try it with pccardctl command.

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## tofor

I have both pcmcia-cs and pcmciautils installed on my system, but there does not seem to be any package called pcmciatools.  When you say update for that ebuild, what does that mean?  Also, I know I enabled pcmcia support in the kernel config, but it is definitely possible that I missed some setting in there.  I guess I'm going to need more info on this.  Thanks for that though!

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## ruivilela

Sorry it was pcmciautils, I think you should remove pcmcia-cs, and keep pcmciautils.

try the following command when you insert a card:

"pccardctl ident"

I have this options on my kernel 2.6.20 for PCMCIA, but you should choose the ones that best suits your hw.

Remove the obsolete option that appears on options

```

 <*> PCCard (PCMCIA/CardBus) support                              │ │  

  │ │    [ ]   Enable PCCARD debugging                                    │ │  

  │ │    <*>   16-bit PCMCIA support                                      │ │  

  │ │    [*]     Load CIS updates from userspace (EXPERIMENTAL)           │ │  

  │ │    [ ]     PCMCIA control ioctl (obsolete)                          │ │  

  │ │    ---   32-bit CardBus support                                     │ │  

  │ │    ---   PC-card bridges                                            │ │  

  │ │    <*>   CardBus yenta-compatible bridge support                    │ │  

  │ │    < >   Cirrus PD6729 compatible bridge support                    │ │  

  │ │    < >   i82092 compatible bridge support          

```

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## tofor

Ok, I suppose this is a rather embarrassing question, but I don't think I am compiling the kernel correctly.  I follow the steps:

1. cd /usr/src/linux

2. make menuconfig

3. uncheck the   │ │    [ ]     PCMCIA control ioctl (obsolete)  (which is checked on my system, along with everything else in that menu except the debugging option.)

4. exit the configuration, making sure to save changes

5. mount /boot

6. make install modules modules_install

7. reboot

Grub is already pointed to vmlinux, so it's not that.  I have a feeling it is step 6.  I know it is not working because when I run make menuconfig the option is selected again.  So the question is, how do I recompile to uninstall an option, and is it bad to have too many options selected in the PCMCIA/Cardbus support menu?

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## tofor

Never mind.  I forgot to run make menuconfig as root.

When I run pccardctl ident I get

Socket 0:

  no product info available

I suppose this is bad?

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## ruivilela

Well, not exactly. I also have the same messages when I don't have any card on any slot. Looks normal, or this is with card inserted ?

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## tofor

Yeah...card inserted   :Confused:   :Sad: 

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## tofor

Also, I should be able to start pcmcia, right?  That is, /etc/init.d/pcmcia start?  But such a file does not exist.  I have emerged pcmcia, and pcmciautils.  I have also enabled nearly all the pcmcia stuff in the kernel, as I mentioned.

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## alex6z

You need to do pcmcia<something> -l or whatever list is.  That will show you what's insered in the sockets.  If that doesn't work, it's a kernel issue or modules aren't loaded.

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## widan

 *tofor wrote:*   

> When I run pccardctl ident I get
> 
> ```
> Socket 0:
> 
> ...

 

Your wifi card is Cardbus, not PCMCIA, so it will appear in lspci instead. The "ident" stuff it for real 16-bit PCMCIA cards (which are getting uncommon these days).

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## tofor

 *Quote:*   

> Your wifi card is Cardbus, not PCMCIA, so it will appear in lspci instead. 

 

Well, that's good to know, I guess.  It does show up in lspci

```
02:00.0 Network controller: Texas Instruments ACX 111 54Mbps Wireless Interface
```

but none of the lights come on.  Shouldn't they come on even if the drivers aren't set up correctly?  And why can't I start PCMCIA?

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## widan

 *tofor wrote:*   

> but none of the lights come on.  Shouldn't they come on even if the drivers aren't set up correctly?

 

Not necessarily, it depends on the card. Some cards stay with all LEDs off until the drivers are loaded.

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## tofor

Okay, thanks.  If my card is showing up in lspci does that necessarily mean that the PCMCIA is working properly?  I have tried everything to get the drivers for the card working, including ndiswrapper, madwifi, and ACX111 drivers.  I was driven to the conclusion that there might be a problem with my PCMCIA instead.  This is the first PCMCIA card I have tried to get working with gentoo, so I am rather new to this and I don't know whether the slot is working (HW is alright, because it works in my dual-boot windows installation).

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## tofor

Ok, I know it works because it works with a PCMCIA/Firewire adapter I have.  Also, I have finally gotten the wireless working.  Still not sure how I could have been sure before that this wasn't the problem.

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