Interesting Problem With Ambicom Wl1100c, Maybe it is Zaurus itself? Options

[matrix200]

A few weeks ago my wifi card got a little shaky.
Sometimes it would just loose connection (either led goes off or stays on but connection is dead).
In dmesg a lot of messages with code -110 or -61.
I recently replaced the router to a new WRT54GL one flashed with dd-wrt.
Yesterday I saw a new problem with it.
Sometimes after I plug it in and start browsing my screen washes out !
When card is unplugged the screen goes back to normal.
Card is so shaky even when it works doesn't hold more then a few minutes connected.
Is it card problem?Maybe Zaurus power supply or compact flash problem?

I tried just putting in some regular cf cards 1 and 4 gig and everything seems to work fine with them.

[zedkatuf2]

A few weeks ago my wifi card got a little shaky.
Sometimes it would just loose connection (either led goes off or stays on but connection is dead).
In dmesg a lot of messages with code -110 or -61.
I recently replaced the router to a new WRT54GL one flashed with dd-wrt.
Yesterday I saw a new problem with it.
Sometimes after I plug it in and start browsing my screen washes out !
When card is unplugged the screen goes back to normal.
Card is so shaky even when it works doesn't hold more then a few minutes connected.
Is it card problem?Maybe Zaurus power supply or compact flash problem?

I tried just putting in some regular cf cards 1 and 4 gig and everything seems to work fine with them.

I have similar problems - screen washout, wifi sometimes switches off, similar dmesg & my terrier sometimes grinds to a halt (ie very slow), until I remove the card.

No idea if it's:

* a kernel issue
*A wlan card issue

..probably not a problem with the 3200, as it's absolutely fine with CF memory & BT card.

[mikeones]

I am seeing the samething "screen washout" It was fine with my older firmware but I have just reflashed.
wifi0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.1 (primary firmware is 1.1.1)
wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.7.4 (station firmware is 1.7.4)

3.5.4.1 GPE

[Da_Blitz]

i have seen the screen white out and belive it is related to masive poower draw (ie a bug in the firmware) that knocks out the screen, it would also explain the resets and why everything keeps working when you pull it out

however i have no proof

[Drake01]

i have seen the screen white out and belive it is related to masive poower draw (ie a bug in the firmware) that knocks out the screen, it would also explain the resets and why everything keeps working when you pull it out

however i have no proof

I recently purchased a new AmbiCom WL1100C-CF and I'm experiencing similar problems:
- screen fades to white, unplugging card returns screen
- Zaurus sometimes bogs down, becoming extremely slow to respond while card is inserted
- card will shutdown intermittently for no reason
- card generates significantly more heat than the Symbol LA-4137 it is replacing
- battery runs down much more quickly than with Symbol card

I've found a couple posts where people suggest that it may be an issue with excessive power draw. I've also read people make vague complaints about both the "new" firmware being buggy and the "old" firmware being buggy. I don't know which firmware might work!

When I run hostap_diag, I got the following:
NICID: id=0x801b v1.0.0 (PRISM III PCMCIA (SST parallel flash))
PRIID: id=0x0015 v1.1.1
STAID: id-0x001f v1.8.0 (station firmware)

I assume the v1.8.0 is my firmware. In mikeones' post, he claims to be using 1.7.4 and is having the same problem. Is there a stable firmware version that someone would recommend?

Another thing I noticed was some apparent inaccuracy with the data that cardctl is returning. I don't know if status and control are supposed to match, but the Vcc data that cardctl config is returning seems to be corrupt. I get a similar result with my Symbol card, but my wired CF NIC is showing Vcc=0.0V (which also seems wrong).

root> cardctl status
Socket 0:
3.3V 16-bit PC Card
function 0: [ready]
Socket 1:
no card

root> cardctl config
Socket 0:
Vcc 19035983719525297636657645800639437755846826507098900494933073014962157839226327
64257503625692538193687080073656962260337350743672718950020012608958018253793535
251354149570021102190592.0V Vpp1 0.0V Vpp2 0.0V
interface type is "memory and I/O"
irq 135 [exclusive] [level]
function 0:
config base 0x03e0
option 0x41
io 0xf6000000-0xf600003f [16bit]
Socket 1:
not configured

Since my old Symbol card works, I'm assuming it's a firmware issue with the AmbiCom, but is the cardctl data possibly contributing to the problem? Or is it possible that this card is defective and should be returned? It seems that the problem is actually getting worse.

[desertrat]

Me too. I thought my card had died (in fact I had left it for dead). I'm not sure I understand it being a firmware issue - it's the card's firmware we're talking about? I've used the card for nearly a year before it started misbehaving. Is the firmware being transferred to the card each time it is "initialised"?

[zedkatuf2]

I have a similar issue with my Ambicom card (I have had this problem since day one).

My primary & secondary firmware are also 1.1.1 & 1.8.0

...I wonder if we all bought our cards from Taiwan/Ebay ?!

...anyway, now that I've found my CF to PCMCIA adapter, I was considering trying to upgrade the firmware at some point....what's putting me off is overcoming the ambiguities in the firmware-flashing instructions on the websites posted elsewhere on oesf.....it's not that they're particularly bad, it's more that I don't seem to read the instructions at the right time of day (too knackered/kids asking questions/baby crying etc )

[alijames]

I have a similar issue with my Ambicom card (I have had this problem since day one).

My primary & secondary firmware are also 1.1.1 & 1.8.0

...I wonder if we all bought our cards from Taiwan/Ebay ?!

...anyway, now that I've found my CF to PCMCIA adapter, I was considering trying to upgrade the firmware at some point....what's putting me off is overcoming the ambiguities in the firmware-flashing instructions on the websites posted elsewhere on oesf.....it's not that they're particularly bad, it's more that I don't seem to read the instructions at the right time of day (too knackered/kids asking questions/baby crying etc )

Juts be careful, and make sure you do it from a linux box. I tried to flash mine from Windows this week, and it did not update the secondary, so it's now a very small doorstop!!

http://www.geek-fr.com/#update_the_prism2_..._of_a_wifi_card

Cheers,

Alistair

[Drake01]

Juts be careful, and make sure you do it from a linux box. I tried to flash mine from Windows this week, and it did not update the secondary, so it's now a very small doorstop!!

http://www.geek-fr.com/#update_the_prism2_..._of_a_wifi_card

Cheers,

Alistair

Nice.

Sorry to hear about that, but thanks for the warning. I was planning to use Windoze, since I don't have a PCMCIA slot on my desktop box. In fact, now that I think about it, I think the Windoze laptop has the new style slot, not the old PC card slot. I'm starting to wonder how hard it's going to be to flash this thing if I can't even find a slot to put this into.

I'm pretty sure that a multi-format memory card reader will not support an IO device.

[dhns]

I am also using an Ambicom WL1100C-CF but have never seen these effects.

And, please for my clarification - about which firmware and flashing process are you talking about? Where do you get this from? Where do you place the firmware? How do you install it?

I plugged it into an C860 and a C3100 and it simply works out of the box. No driver installation. No flashing required.

Which ROMs are you using?

What are the serial or revision numbers?

-- hns

[Capn_Fish]

I've noticed the heat recently, both with 1.8.0 firmware and 1.7.4. Turning on power management seems to help a great deal. I haven't had issues with disconnects, though.

Firmware flashing requires a special kernel (at least on pdaXrom). You put the firmware somewhere, compile the flashing app, and flash the card. Look around the Aircrack-NG website (Google it). It has a link somewhere to a page about card flashing.

[dhns]

Firmware flashing requires a special kernel (at least on pdaXrom). You put the firmware somewhere, compile the flashing app, and flash the card. Look around the Aircrack-NG website (Google it). It has a link somewhere to a page about card flashing.

Ok, but why should one flash a new firmware at all if the card works?

[dhns]

root> cardctl status
Socket 0:
  3.3V 16-bit PC Card
  function 0: [ready]
Socket 1:
  no card

root> cardctl config
Socket 0:
  Vcc 19035983719525297636657645800639437755846826507098900494933073014962157839226327
64257503625692538193687080073656962260337350743672718950020012608958018253793535
251354149570021102190592.0V  Vpp1 0.0V  Vpp2 0.0V
  interface type is "memory and I/O"
  irq 135 [exclusive] [level]
  function 0:
    config base 0x03e0
      option 0x41
    io 0xf6000000-0xf600003f [16bit]
Socket 1:
  not configured

here is what my card says:

CODE

# cardctl ident
Socket 0:
 product info: "AmbiCom", "WL1100C 802.11b CF-Card", "2.2"
 manfid: 0xd601, 0x0002
 function: 6 (network)
Socket 1:
 no product info available
# cardctl status
Socket 0:
 3.3V 16-bit PC Card
 function 0: [ready]
Socket 1:
 no card
# cardctl config
Socket 0:
 Vcc 3.3V  Vpp1 0.0V  Vpp2 0.0V
 interface type is "memory and I/O"
 irq 39 [exclusive] [level]
 function 0:
   config base 0x03e0
     option 0x41
   io 0xf6000000-0xf600003f [16bit]
Socket 1:
 not configured

I notice these differences:
* different root prompt - are you not using the Sharp ROM?
* Vcc 3.3V is ok
* irq is 39 - are you not using the Sharp ROM?

Please post the cardctl ident as well - there might also be differences.

-- hns

[Drake01]

here is what my card says:
# cardctl ident
Socket 0:
  product info: "AmbiCom", "WL1100C 802.11b CF-Card", "2.2"
  manfid: 0xd601, 0x0002
  function: 6 (network)
Socket 1:
  no product info available

I notice these differences:
* different root prompt - are you not using the Sharp ROM?
* Vcc 3.3V is ok
* irq is 39 - are you not using the Sharp ROM?

Please post the cardctl ident as well - there might also be differences.

-- hns

I'm running pdaXii13 build 5.4.7 (like my sig says ) and this isn't even the default prompt for that ROM, since the default prompt was interpeted as "smileys" by the forum. So I changed the prompts to '>'.

It does appear that your voltage is being recognized correctly. I'm curious if that's a result of the ROM or the firmware on the card. Could you try running hostap_diag wlan0 and post the results? This should indicate the firmware versions you have. Or are you using the orinoco drivers? I don't believe the hostap_diag command will work with orinoco drivers.

My cardctl ident output is:

root> cardctl ident
Socket 0:
product info: "AmbiCom", "WL1100C 802.11b CF-Card", "2.2"
manfid: 0xd601, 0x0002
function: 6 (network)
Socket 1:
no product info available

This looks the same as your output.

I can't say that I'm looking forward the hassle of flashing a new firmware, especially if it's going to require that I install a special kernel in the Z. On the bright side, I suppose I'm glad that it's possible to flash the card using the Z, since I don't seem to have another machine to plug the card into.

[dhns]

I'm running pdaXii13 build 5.4.7 (like my sig says ) and this isn't even the default prompt for

Ok, that could make a difference (different ROM = different device driver)

Could you try running hostap_diag wlan0 and post the results?

CODE

# hostap_diag wlan0
hostap_diag: not found
#

... doesn't help ...
As said, I am using the Sharp ROM with 2.4.20 kernel and it appears to use the prism_cs module.