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 the system log 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 the system log 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 the system log 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 network adapter card work?

Here's another quick troubleshooting guide.

• Is your card recognized as an ethernet card? Check the system log 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 the system log), 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.
• If you get messages like ``network unreachable'' when you try to access the network, then you have probably set up /etc/pcmcia/network.opts incorrectly. On the other hand, mis-configured cards will usually fail silently.
• To diagnose problems in /etc/pcmcia/network.opts, start by trying to ping other systems on the same subnet using their IP addresses. Then try to ping your gateway, and then machines on other subnets. Ping machines by name only after trying these simpler tests.
• 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 IBM CCAE and Socket EA cards, you need to pick the transceiver type (10base2, 10baseT, AUI) when the network device is configured. Make sure that the transceiver type reported in the system log matches your connection.
• The drivers for SMC, Megahertz, Ositech, and 3Com cards should autodetect the attached network type (10base2 or 10baseT). Setting the transceiver type when the driver is loaded serves to define the card's ``first guess''.
• 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. An example of how to do this is given in the standard config.opts file. 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 driver used by the IBM and 3Com token ring adapters seems to behave very badly if the cards are not connected to a ring when they get initialized. Always connect these cards to the net before they are powered up.

4.3 How do I select the transceiver type for a network card?

The transceiver type can be selected in network.opts using the IF_PORT setting. This can either be a numeric value as in previous PCMCIA releases, or a keyword identifying the transceiver type. All the network drivers default to either autodetect the interface if possible, or 10baseT otherwise. The ifport command can be used to check or set the current transceiver type. For example:

# ifport eth0 10base2
# 
# ifport eth0
eth0    2 (10base2)

Current releases of the 3c589 driver attempt to autodetect the network connection, but this doesn't seem to be completely functional yet. For autodetection to work, the network cable should be connected to the card when the card is configured. Alternatively, once the network is connected, you can force the driver to check the connection with:

ifconfig eth0 down up

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 Multifunction cards such as the 3Com 3c562

Starting with the 1.3.73 Linux kernel, a single interrupt can be shared by several drivers, such as the serial driver and an ethernet driver. When using a multifunction card under a newer kernel, all card functions can be used simultaneously.

Earlier kernels do not support interrupt sharing between different device drivers, so it is not possible for the PCMCIA drivers to configure this card for simultaneous ethernet and modem access. The ethernet and serial drivers are both loaded automatically. However, the ethernet driver ``owns'' the card interrupt by default. To use the modem, you can unload the ethernet driver and reconfigure the serial port by doing something like:

ifconfig eth0 down
rmmod 3c589_cs
setserial /dev/modem autoconfig auto_irq
setserial /dev/modem

The second setserial should verify that the port has been configured to use the interrupt previously used by the ethernet driver.

4.6 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. The snag in supporting the Aero floppy is that the Aero seems to use a customized 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.

If the floppy adapter card is present when an Aero is booted, the Aero BIOS will configure the card, and Linux will identify it as a normal floppy drive. When the Linux PCMCIA drivers are loaded, they will notice that the card is already configured and attached to a Linux driver, and this socket will be left alone. So, the drive can be used if it is present at boot time, but the card is not hot swappable.

4.7 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.

Recently, Xircom seems to have had a change of heart about their non-disclosure policy, and it now seems that this information will be more readily available in the future. However, please do not pester me with questions about Xircom cards: drivers will be announced when they become available, and I will not try to guess when that will be.

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