# ISL3886 [Prism Javelin/Prism Xbow] with p54pci driver

## xororand

A few days ago I got a PCI WiFi card with an ISL3886 chipset. It runs okay-ish with Ndiswrapper but of course I'd rather use proper open source drivers.

The islsm drivers (http://jbnote.free.fr/) support the chipset and have been integrated in vanilla Linux 2.6.24, as a module called p54pci. The card is recognized and I can scan for networks though the connection quality is worse than with ndiswrapper and I get constant packet loss. I'm using the 2.7.0.0 firmware (http://prism54.org/firmware/2.7.0.0.arm) which is recommended by the Prism54 project. 

Does anyone run a ISL3886 WiFi card without problems, using the p54pci module?

```

lshw -C network:

product: ISL3886 [Prism Javelin/Prism Xbow]

vendor: Intersil Corporation

physical id: 1

bus info: pci@0000:02:01.0

logical name: wlan0

version: 01

serial: 00:60:b3:60:19:9a

width: 32 bits

clock: 33MHz

capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless

configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+wlancig driverversion=1.51+,02/16/2005, 3.3.20.0 ip=192.168.178.24 latency=56 link=yes maxlatency=28 mingnt=10 module=ndiswrapper multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g

```

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## bob1977

Hi Xororand,

 I just saw your message and tried unsuccessfully to get p54pci to work.

 *Quote:*   

>  It runs okay-ish with Ndiswrapper but of course I'd rather use proper open source drivers. 

 

 I wasn't able to use ndiswrapper because I'm running in 64 bits and the windows drivers are in 32 bits. If you're in 64 bits, could you tell me how you made it to work, please?

For the p54pci module, I'm on 2.6.24r2, I use the the firmware 2.7.0 I found on prism54.org and I get this when modprobing p54pci ( prism54 and ndiswrapper not loaded):

```
localhost ACPI: PCI interrupt for device 0000:05:04.0 disabled

Feb 17 02:19:43 localhost udev-net.sh: /etc/init.d/net.wmaster0: does not exist or is not executable

Feb 17 02:19:47 localhost ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:05:04.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17

Feb 17 02:19:47 localhost p54: LM86 firmware

Feb 17 02:19:47 localhost p54: FW rev 2.7.0.0 - Softmac protocol 4.1

Feb 17 02:19:48 localhost phy2: Selected rate control algorithm 'simple'

Feb 17 02:19:48 localhost phy2: hwaddr 00:07:ca:03:68:94, isl3886

Feb 17 02:19:48 localhost udev-net.sh: /etc/init.d/net.wmaster0: does not exist or is not executable

Feb 17 02:19:49 localhost ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Feb 17 02:19:49 localhost wlan0: Trigger new scan to find an IBSS to join
```

iwconfig gives this:

```
wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.422 GHz  Access Point: Invalid   

          Tx-Power=27 dBm   

          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 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

```

```
iwlist scan

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

sit0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0  Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

```

Perhaps I forgot something...

----------

## xororand

Hi Bob, I didn't realize that I can't scan with the p54pci driver neither because I only tried authenticating directly so far.

dmesg after loading p54pci:

```
p54: LM86 firmware

p54: FW rev 2.7.0.0 - Softmac protocol 4.1

phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'simple'

phy1: hwaddr 00:60:b3:60:19:9a, isl3886

```

Scanning doesn't work neither:

```
krikkit ~ $ iwlist wlan0 scan

wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

```

Authenticating & connecting does though:

```
krikkit ~ $ wpa_supplicant -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 -Dwext

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported

WEXT auth param 4 value 0x0 - ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported

WEXT auth param 5 value 0x1 - ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Resource temporarily unavailable

Trying to associate with 00:12:34:56:89:0c (SSID='Foo' freq=2457 MHz)

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported

WEXT auth param 5 value 0x1 - Associated with 00:15:0c:82:89:0c

WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:15:0c:82:89:0c [PTK=TKIP GTK=TKIP]

CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:15:0c:82:89:0c completed (auth) [id=0 id_str=]

```

This driver still seems to be rather incomplete. I hope that the integration into the vanilla kernel leads to more testing, bug reports and fixes.

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## bob1977

Hi Xororand,

 Nice to see it "working" a little. I can't test because I don't have any acces point that I know. I just want to make connections with peoples who come at home( I think it's the ad-hoc mode or even better AP mode). So, I think developpers have some things to do on this driver before I can use it. The kernel integration is a good thing for this driver.I just filled a bug on bugzilla.kernel.org. In case it is useful...

----------

