Linux and the Linksys NP100 network card

[starlapureheart]

Cute and bewildered chix0r seeking 'Good Samaritan' experienced hax0r for system diagnosis and help. Expedient assistance appreciated!

I'm having quite some trouble making my Linksys NP100 Ver. 2 PCMCIA network card work under RH Linux 7.1. This is on a Compaq Presario 1255, but that shouldn't make a difference...I tried the card on my old Toshiba Satellite T2135, and it didn't work there either.

Here's a copy of the (I think...not quite sure) relevant portion of /var/log/messages...

pcmcia: Starting PCICIA services:
pcmicia: modules
Winbond Super-IO detection, now testing Ports 3F0,370,250,4E,2E ...
SMSC Super-IO detection, now testing Ports 2F0, 370 ...
parport0: PC-style at 0.378 [PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP]
ip_conntrack (1280 buckets, 10240 max)
Linux PCMCIA Card Services 3.1.22
options: [pci] [cardbus] [pm]
PCI: Assigned IRQ 11 for device 00:0a.0
PCI: The same IRQ used for device 00:0a.1
PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:0a.1
PCI:The same IRQ used for device 00.0a.0
Yenta IRQ list 02d8, PCI irq11
Socket status: 30000006
Yenta IRQ list 02d8, PCI irq11
Socket status: 30000007
pcmcia: cardmgr.
rc: Starting pcmcia: succeeded
cardmgr[599]: starting, version is 3.1.22
cardmgr[599]: watching 2 sockets
cs: IO port probe 0x0c00=0x0cff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding 0x330-0x337 0x378-0x37f 0x388-0x38f 0x408-0x40f 0x480-0x48f 0x4d0-0x4d7
cs: IO port probe 0x0a00-0x0aff: clean.

It does the little 'bleep! bloop' thing when I put in or take out the card while Linux is running, so I'm pretty sure it's detecting the presence just fine...it just doesn't want to make the card work.

Please help me! I've Googled myself half to death, and I really need to get this working before Defcon...it's either that or find the nice young man who lent me a spare card last year.

...oh, and anyone who can give me working Linux drivers for the built-in Lucent modem that comes with a Presario 1255 shall be rewarded ^_^

[skroo]

Re: Linux and the Linksys NP100 network card

Originally posted by starlapureheart
I'm having quite some trouble making my Linksys NP100 Ver. 2 PCMCIA network card work under RH Linux 7.1. This is on a Compaq Presario 1255, but that shouldn't make a difference...I tried the card on my old Toshiba Satellite T2135, and it didn't work there either.

Sounds like the kernel's not built with support for that card. Also, are you using a 2.2- or 2.4-series kernel?

Here's a copy of the (I think...not quite sure) relevant portion of /var/log/messages...

Yup, that's the section. Here's the (minimal) relevant section:

rc: Starting pcmcia: succeeded
cardmgr[599]: starting, version is 3.1.22
cardmgr[599]: watching 2 sockets
cs: IO port probe 0x0c00=0x0cff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x0100-0x04ff: excluding 0x330-0x337 0x378-0x37f 0x388-0x38f 0x408-0x40f 0x480-0x48f 0x4d0-0x4d7
cs: IO port probe 0x0a00-0x0aff: clean.

So, pretty much, cardmgr's starting successfully and seeing that *something* is plugged in, it just has no idea *what*, exactly.

It does the little 'bleep! bloop' thing when I put in or take out the card while Linux is running, so I'm pretty sure it's detecting the presence just fine...it just doesn't want to make the card work.

Your suspicions are correct.

Please help me! I've Googled myself half to death, and I really need to get this working before Defcon...it's either that or find the nice young man who lent me a spare card last year.

Either:

a) Check to see if that card is supported by default under a stock RedHat kernel (I'm assuming you're using the stock kernel), which I kinda doubt, so you'll probably have to re-roll the kernel with support for it to get it working

b) Your card is a dud - check if it works under Windows, which should have support/drivers available for it

Or:

c) The card has a chipset that is suitably different from what the driver expects that it's not supported (though it should at least be identifiable by cardmgr, which isn't happening here, which leads me to believe this is probably not the case, though it is a very remote possibility)

Also, the only PCMCIA NIC I've seen work ultra-reliably under Linux is the 3Com 589. You might want to consider getting one of these, since everything under the sun supports it, it's reliable, blah blah blah.

...oh, and anyone who can give me working Linux drivers for the built-in Lucent modem that comes with a Presario 1255 shall be rewarded ^_^

No idea on that. See if it's supported as a normal serial modem.

[Chris]

Re: Re: Linux and the Linksys NP100 network card

Originally posted by skroo


Also, the only PCMCIA NIC I've seen work ultra-reliably under Linux is the 3Com 589. You might want to consider getting one of these, since everything under the sun supports it, it's reliable, blah blah blah.

I have never had a problem with Xircom. But I have played mostly with Slack and SuSE, I avoid RH like the plague.

[skroo]

Re: Re: Re: Linux and the Linksys NP100 network card

Originally posted by Chris
I have never had a problem with Xircom. But I have played mostly with Slack and SuSE, I avoid RH like the plague.

Yeah, the Xircom cards are pretty good, too.

Guess which distro I favour... Go on, guess ;)

[Chris]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Linux and the Linksys NP100 network card

Originally posted by skroo


Yeah, the Xircom cards are pretty good, too.

Guess which distro I favour... Go on, guess ;)

Uhh...Slackware?

[skroo]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Linux and the Linksys NP100 network card

Originally posted by Chris
Uhh...Slackware?

Give the man a cigar! :)

Generally, though, people can run whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. I just really, Really, REALLY dislike HeadRat and derivatives.