SMC2642 CF WiFi Works - Sometimes?

[cvd6262]

I got both my 5500 (Sharp ROM 3) and my SMC2642W CF WiFi card second hand, so this shouldn\'t surprise me, but they don\'t like to talk to each other anymore.

They worked great for a few months, so great that I hardly ever removed the card, even when I carried the Z in my pocket (I think that may have been a mistake).

About a month ago, I tried to connect, and the network icon and the CF icon disappeared from the bottom tool bar. I \"cardctl eject\" and then reinserted the card and everything worked. Slowly, though, the problem occurred more and more until now I\'m luckey to get the CF icon to appear when I insert the card.

Some things I\'ve noticed:

1. The CF card works in my ThinkPad.

2. CF memory cards seems to work fine in the Z.

3. When the CF icon appears, but not the networking icon, cardctl ident returns the name of the card, but no other information, whilst it returns several strings when both icons appear, including what appear to be IRQ settings.

4. When I do get everything is recognized correctly, the CF card\'s LED starts blinking, and I have to cardctl scheme CardSuspend to get it to working mode.

5. Sometimes inserting the card causes the screen to flicker, go completely blank, or to have diagonal lines scroll across it. Removing the card causes the screen to return to normal.

6. Even before this was a problem, I frequently would get \"Network Device Busy\" alerts when I tried to disconnect from an access point.

I\'m hoping the problem is nothing more than a dust inside the CF card\'s connection holes, but how would I clean that and wy would the card would in my laptop?

Any help would be appreciated.

-jeremy

PS - I\'ve been considering OZ. How\'s WiFi networking under that OS?
3.

[Morpheus]

Referencing point 5, it seems like it might be a power issue.  Maybe the Zaurus is losing its ability to supply all the current needed to the SMC card, but it is still capable of powering the much lower powered CF memory card.  It could be a pin on the Zaurus socket that has a cracked solder joint.  this would cause the voltage supplied to the SMC card to drop as the current drain increases which would in turn cause the SMC card to behave eratically.

This is speculation, but an educated one as I have a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

If you know someone else with another CF WiFi card that works in a Zaurus, ask nicely to try to see if you have similar problems and see if you can eliminate the SMC card as the problem.

Having the Zaurus in your pocket with the SMC card installed could have accelerated this failure due to the fact that the card protrudes and would be subjected to lateral forces as you sit down...these forces would put pressure on the internal CF connector and its solder connection to the PCB, possibly causing the solder joints to develop micro fractures.

If you do end up opening the Zaurus, dont expect to see big cracks in the solder...you might just see the fractures with a microscope.  just retouch each pin with a fine tipped soldering iron, and some liquid flux and hopefully this would fix the problem.

Please note:  You open your Zaurus at your own risk....do not even think of holding me responsible if something goes wrong!!   Good Luck!

[cvd6262]

Thanks for the response. It does make sense, but could dirty CF holes in the card not have the same effect? If the laptop was capable of putting more juice into the card, it coud run the card while the Z would flounder?

Whatever the case was, I left the CF card in my pocket and my wife ran the jeans through the washer. I caught it before she put it in the dryer, but the card had sat in the pocket through a warm wash, full soap, and a spin cycle. Now I can\'t get the card to NOT work.

I don\'t recommend this method of troubleshooting, your mileage may vary, etc.

[Morpheus]

Maybe, but gold plated pins are usually good at selfcleaning when inserting and extracting.  there could be other reasons too, such as pins shape and size variation between connector manufacturers....the pins on the PC could be slightly larger, and make a better contact with the dirty socket on the SMC card perhaps.

I\'m glad to hear that your problem is fixed, but would agree with you that runnning your electronic equipment through a washing machine cycle is a bit of a harsh method of cleaning them!!