# getting sitecom wl-140 pcmcia wireless to work

## HydroDiOxide

Got a sitecom pcmcia wireless card in my notebook. It (obviously) doesn't work out of the box. How do I get this thing up and running? I don't know where to start... iwconfig (I've installed wireless-tools) seems to pick the card up (although the leds for link and activity don't seem to do anything). This is the output: 

```
gentoo-laptop hensen # iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      NOT READY!  ESSID:off/any  

          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Invalid   

          Tx-Power=31 dBm   Sensitivity=0/200  

          Retry 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

```

Also, I allowed to use my neighbours wireless network. I don't know the accesspoint's name, however (got the wep-key obviously). I was wondering how I can scan for available networks.

Again, don't know where to start...

----------

## GNUtoo

as it seems to have reconised your card you just need to configure it

you have a lot of options...

you can:

-install wiri-radar or

-use the gentoo-way to get your card configured or

-do it manualy or

-try networkmanager(didn't work for me)

-... there are realy a lot of options

----------

## HydroDiOxide

Okeh, so how do I do it the gentoo way... or how do I do it manually? Any references? Also, how do I scan for available networks?

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## GNUtoo

for the gentoo way(it's all in the gentoo manual):

if you have a baselayout that is inferior to the version 2(that is the default) add something like this to /etc/conf.d/net

 *Quote:*   

> prefered_aps=("the name of your acess point")
> 
> blacklist_aps=("SpeedTouch3D86B2" "SANTIS50-74F47E" "enda") #the others acess points in your building you don't want to connect to

 

then make the following:

```
su

cd /etc/init.d/

ln -s net.lo net.eth1

and rc-update add net.eth1 default
```

for scanning manualy simply do:

```
ifconfig eth1 up

iwlist eth1 scan
```

----------

## HydroDiOxide

This rises more questions.

1. What is a baselayout and how do I determine which one I have.

2. I suppose I need to know the name of an accesspoint before I can configure ("any" doens't seem to work, but I know from my windows box that there aren't any in the building)

3. ifconfig eth1 up renders an error: 

```
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
```

4. iwlist eth1 scan seems to work but the output is: no scan results. However, there are ap's in the building, so why are there no results?

5. I added eth1 to the default runlevel. When starting up runlevel 3 tries to start eth1. This doesn't work. I get the missing file directory error and something about a firmware problem.

...

----------

## GNUtoo

 *HydroDiOxide wrote:*   

> This rises more questions.
> 
> 1. What is a baselayout and how do I determine which one I have.

 

it's the scripts like the startup scipt that bring your wireless card up...if you didn't know what it is you didn't chage it (unless you are in ~x86)

 *HydroDiOxide wrote:*   

> 2. I suppose I need to know the name of an accesspoint before I can configure ("any" doens't seem to work, but I know from my windows box that there aren't any in the building)

 

yes

[quote="HydroDiOxide"]3. ifconfig eth1 up renders an error: 

```
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
```

what is your card?(you can have the chipset name running lspci)

 *HydroDiOxide wrote:*   

> 4. iwlist eth1 scan seems to work but the output is: no scan results. However, there are ap's in the building, so why are there no results?

 

 *HydroDiOxide wrote:*   

> 5. I added eth1 to the default runlevel. When starting up runlevel 3 tries to start eth1. This doesn't work. I get the missing file directory error and something about a firmware problem.
> 
> ...

 

yes that's what i thought seeing SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

you need to do a lspci:

open a console and type

su

lspci

then search for the firmware assoriated to your chipset in portage(or just send me the lspci i'll tell you wich one you need to use)

----------

## HydroDiOxide

```
00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1632M Northbridge+Trident (rev 01)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation PCI to AGP Controller (rev 01)

00:02.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)

00:04.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c3)

00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device (rev 01)

00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533/M1535 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+]

00:08.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]

00:11.0 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)

00:11.1 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1 (rev 5d)

02:00.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation ISL3886 [Prism Javelin/Prism Xbow] (rev 01)
```

I suppose it's the last one.

----------

## HydroDiOxide

My best guess is that I need the prism54-firmware package (although my specific chipset isn't mentioned). But when I try to emerge it I get the following error:

```
gentoo-laptop hensen # emerge -av prism54-firmware

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!

[ebuild  N    ] net-wireless/prism54-firmware-1.0.4.3  92 kB 

Total: 1 package (1 new), Size of downloads: 92 kB

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No] y

>>> Verifying ebuild Manifests...

>>> Emerging (1 of 1) net-wireless/prism54-firmware-1.0.4.3 to /

>>> Downloading 'http://www.prism54.org/firmware/1.0.4.3.arm'

Error parsing proxy URL http://:8080/: Invalid host name.

!!! Couldn't download '1.0.4.3.arm'. Aborting.
```

What can I do about it?

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## HydroDiOxide

bump

----------

## GNUtoo

mabe try searching for softmac firmware...

because according to http://www.prism54.org/faq.html you need softmac firmware

so mabe you have the good firmware...so mabe:

-you have wrong proxy settings

-your ebuild doesn't work because it's a bug and so you should bugreport

----------

## HydroDiOxide

But can I try if the prism54-firmware ebuild works? Or can you say in advance that it won't work, because it isn't written for the chip on my pcmcia card?

Should pcmcia be loaded as a module or should it be built into the kernel?

----------

## GNUtoo

 *HydroDiOxide wrote:*   

> But can I try if the prism54-firmware ebuild works? Or can you say in advance that it won't work, because it isn't written for the chip on my pcmcia card?
> 
> Should pcmcia be loaded as a module or should it be built into the kernel?

 

try first as module...mine that is a ipw2200 doesn't work when  built into the kenrel

----------

## HydroDiOxide

Still no succes.... I installed te prism54-firmware, but I still get the no firmware error.

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## GNUtoo

mabe try to install the firmware in another location...

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## HydroDiOxide

It seems that an/the ndiswrapper works for this particular chip/card. I've tried it on a Xubuntu system. I still wasn't able to get on the internet, but that might be a config-problem or a signal-problem. Scanning worked, so the card seems to work.

----------

