4. Problems with specific cards

4.1 Why doesn't my modem work?

That's a broad question, but here's a quick troubleshooting guide.

• Is your card recognized as a modem? Check /usr/adm/messages and make sure that cardmgr identifies the card correctly and starts up the serial_cs driver. If it doesn't, you may need to add a new entry to your /etc/pcmcia/config file so that it will be identified properly. See section 3.6 for details.
• Is the modem configured successfully by serial_cs? Again, check /usr/adm/messages and look for messages from the serial_cs driver. If you see ``register_serial() failed'', you may have an I/O port conflict with another device. Another tip-off of a conflict is if the device is reported to be an 8250; most modern PCMCIA modems should be identified as 16550A UART's. If you think you're seeing a port conflict, edit /etc/pcmcia/config.opts and exclude the port range that was allocated for the modem.
• Is there an interrupt conflict? If /usr/adm/messages looks good, but the modem just doesn't seem to work, try using setserial to change the irq to 0, and see if the modem works. This causes the serial driver to use a slower polled mode instead of using interrupts. If this seems to fix the problem, it is likely that some other device in your system is using the interrupt selected by serial_cs. You should add a line to /etc/pcmcia/config.opts to exclude this interrupt.
• If the modem seems to work only really, really slowly, this is an almost certain indicator of an interrupt conflict.
• Make sure your problem is really a PCMCIA one. It may help to see if the card works under DOS with the vendor's drivers. Also, don't test the card with something complex like SLIP until you are sure you can make simple connections. If simple things work but SLIP does not, your problem is most likely with SLIP, not with PCMCIA.

4.2 Why doesn't my ethernet card work?

Here's another quick troubleshooting guide.

• Is your card recognized as an ethernet card? Check /usr/adm/messages and make sure that cardmgr identifies the card correctly and starts up one of the network drivers. If it doesn't, your card might still be usable if it is compatible with a supported card. This will be most easily done if the card claims to be "NE2000 compatible".
• Is the card configured properly? If you are using a supported card, and it was recognized by cardmgr, but still doesn't work, there might be an interrupt or port conflict with another device. Find out what resources the card is using (from /usr/adm/messages), and try excluding these in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts to force the card to use something different.
• If your card seems to be configured properly, but sometimes locks up, particularly under high load, you may need to try changing your socket driver timing parameters. See section 2.3 for more information.
• Make sure your problem is really a PCMCIA one. It may help to see see if the card works under DOS with the vendor's drivers. Double check your modifications to the /etc/pcmcia/network.opts script. Make sure your drop cable, ``T'' jack, terminator, etc are working.

Here are some comments about specific cards:

• With Socket EA and 3Com 3c589 cards, you need to pick the transceiver type (10base2, 10baseT, AUI) when the driver module is loaded. Make sure that the transceiver type reported in /usr/adm/messages matches your connection.
• The Farallon EtherWave is actually based on the 3Com 3c589, with a special transceiver. Though the EtherWave uses 10baseT-style connections, its transceiver requires that the 3c589 be configured in 10base2 mode.
• If you have trouble with an IBM CCAE, NE4100, Thomas Conrad, or Kingston adapter, try increasing the memory access time with the mem_speed=# option to the pcnet_cs module definition. Try speeds of up to 1000 (in nanoseconds).
• For the New Media Ethernet adapter, on some systems, it may be necessary to increase the IO port access time with the io_speed=# option when the pcmcia_core module is loaded. Edit CORE_OPTS in /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia to set this option.
• The New Media Ethernet driver has a bug that causes connections to slow down severely over time. Currently, there is no fix for this bug.

4.3 How do I select the transceiver type for my 3c589 card?

It would be nice if the driver could autodetect the difference between a 10baseT and a 10base2 connection, but I don't know how to do that. For now, you need to edit /etc/pcmcia/config and add an if_port=# option to the 3c589_cs module definition. Check the tc589_cs man page for more details, but to select 10base2 (also known as BNC, or thin net, or coax), change:

module "3c589_cs"

to:

module "3c589_cs" opts "if_port=3"

4.4 How do I add support for an NE2000-compatible ethernet card?

First, see if the card is already recognized by cardmgr. Some cards not listed in SUPPORTED.CARDS are actually OEM versions of cards that are supported. If you find a card like this, let me know so I can add it to the list.

If your card is not recognized, follow the instructions in section 3.6 to create a config entry for your card, but bind the card to the memory card driver, pcmem_cs for now. Restart cardmgr to use the new updated config file.

You will need to know your card's hardware ethernet address. This address is a series of six two-digit hex numbers, often printed on the card itself. If it is not printed on the card, you may be able to use a DOS driver to display the address. In any case, once you know it, run:

dd if=/dev/pcmem0a count=20 | od -Ax -t x1

and search the output for your address. Record the hex offset of the first byte of the address. Now, edit modules/pcnet_cs.c and find the hw_info structure. You'll need to create a new entry for your card. The first field is a descriptive name. The next field is the offset multiplied by two. The next three fields are the first three bytes of the hardware address. The final field contains some flags for specific card features; to start, try setting it to 0.

After editing pcnet_cs.c, compile and install the new module. Edit /etc/pcmcia/config again, and change the card binding from pcmem_cs to pcnet_cs. Follow the instructions for reloading the config file, and you should be all set. Please send me copies of your new hw_info and config entries.

If you can't find your card's hardware address in the hex dump, as a method of last resort, it is possible to ``hardwire'' the address when the pcnet_cs module is initialized. Edit /etc/pcmcia/config and add a hw_addr= option, like so:

module "pcnet_cs" opts "hw_addr=0x00,0x80,0xc8,0x01,0x02,0x03"

Substitute your own card's hardware address in the appropriate spot, of course.

4.5 How do I use my PCMCIA floppy interface?

The PCMCIA floppy interface used in the Compaq Aero and a few other laptops is not yet supported by this package. If your laptop can initialize this card before Linux boots, you should be able to use it by telling Card Services to ignore that socket. Note that you will not be able to hot swap this card.

The snag in supporting the Aero floppy is that the Aero seems to use a proprietary PCMCIA controller to support DMA to the floppy. Without knowing exactly how this is done, there isn't any way to implement support under Linux.

To configure Card Services to ignore a socket, use the ignore=# parameter when you load the i82365 or tcic driver. See the man pages for more details.

4.6 What's up with support for Xircom cards?

Xircom does not share technical information about its cards without a non-disclosure agreement. This means that it is not really possible to develop freely distributable drivers for Xircom cards without doing legally dubious things like reverse engineering DOS drivers.

There is some indication that Xircom may start supporting Linux directly. Xircom tech support says that future products will include Linux drivers. Their plans for older Xircom products are less clear.

The Xircom CreditCard Ethernet+Modem II card can be used as a modem under Linux, with no special configuration.