Re: Problem with 3CRWE62092B and 2.6.2 kernel

Michal Janik wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I  have strange problem when trying to run my 3Com 3CRWE62092B PCMCIA card 
> with the kernel (2.6.2) atmel_cs driver on the Mandrake linux. 
> 
> I think I've configured pcmcia and hotplug according to all accesible 
> information. I downloaded and installed Simon's firmware package in 
> the  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware directory.
> 
> When I put the card in the slot pcmcia beeps and loads the kernel module and 
> iwconfig shows new network interface eth1. However when I try to enable 
> network interface running "ifconfig eth1 up" it doesn't work like it should: 
> Card never detects my AP.
> 
> When I look inside /proc/diver/atmel I see something like:
> Driver version:         0.9
> Firmware version:       4.1 build 13
> Firmware location:      atmel_at76c502_3com-wpa.bin loaded by hotplug
> MAC memory type:        EEPROM
> Regulatory domain:      Japan (MKK1)
> Host CRC checking:      Off
> WPA-capable firmware:   Yes
> Current state:          Scanning
> 
> The state is always scanning, doesn't matter how long I would wait. The domain 
> is Japan - while I would expect rather Europe.  
> I've tried the oldest (0.2) and the newest (0.7-1) firmware packages. 
> 
> What is also strange to me - when I try to load not WPA firmware the led at 
> the card blinks at least when scanning. Normaly it's on when kernel module 
> loads, and then of after the firmware is loaded (after eth1 up). What does 
> this WPA means?
> When I try to rename not-WPA firmware to this WPA name and load it not only 
> card starts to blink, but also domain is set to Europe. But it still can't 
> finish searching.
> 
> iwconfig eth1 gives:
>  eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:""
>           Mode:Managed  Channel:4  Access Point: FF:00:00:00:00:00
>           Bit Rate:11Mb/s
>           Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management: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
> 
> Should it be 802.11-DS or rather something like 802.11-b for my card? 
> 
> I run this card before under linux with the atmelwlan driver and 2.4.. kernel. 
> I'm also sure that it works still fine with the access point. I have dual 
> boot system, so I've checked that under Windows wlan works without any 
> problems.
> 
> Could you pls advise me, what can be wrong? Maybe somebody have some similar 
> experince?
> 
> Cheers
> Michal
> 
> 

This is a bug which affects all 3om cards and which was introduced in 
2.6.2. Briefly, the problem is two-fold: the driver attempts to work 
around problems in the old firmware even when the new (WPA) firmware is 
loaded, but the new firmware has the problems fixed and doesn't need the 
workarounds. Secondly the driver gets confused about the old firmware 
and treats it as WPA enabled. This is because the major version number 
for the old 3com firmware is 5, whilst the version number for the other 
old firmware images is 3 and for the WPA firmware, 4. This second bug 
prevents doing a work-around by reverting to the old firmware.

The solution is to upgrade to 2.6.3

Apologies for the inconvenience, I don't currently have and 3com 
hardware to test against, which makes spotting these problems in advance 
hard.


Cheers,

SImon.