Socket 10/100 Ethernet CF Card not quite working - ideas?

[Matti]

I\'ve got an SL-C760 running cacko rom 1.18 and a socket 10/100 Ethernet CF card that  is exhibiting some strange behaviour, in that it pretends to be connected but doesn\'t actually receive/transmit information.  

The qtopia networking applet allows you to create an entry for it and it runs through a pretence at connecting.  If it is given an IP address it \"connects\", if it is asked to DHCP it fails.  Assuming that it has a legit IP address and it thinks the interface is up and has connected happily (little world icon not flashing any more), the link/duplex/100 LEDs light up appropriately (incidently it seems to think that half duplex 100mbit is full duplex from the LED anyway but recognises 10 in half and full correctly, but I don\'t know if that is relevant, doesn\'t everyone use 100baseT full duplex nowadays?) and the TX and RX LEDs flick encouragingly.  If you try and send information the TX LED flicks apparently correctly.   The RX flicks in response to traffic on the net (in sync with the activity LEDs on a switch) but there is no connection.   The zaurus can ping itself on the address you assigned but that presumably gets routed back through a loopback.  

ifconfig has TX and RX counts and these increment *as if* the card is receiving data.  Namely you ping it from a remote machine and the RX and TX LEDs flash (simultaneously) and the RX count bytes received increment by 60 bytes.  Incidently a copy of ethereal (packet sniffer) running on the pinging windows box sees nothing coming from the socket card.  

I\'ve tried the card at different speeds on different switches/hubs/crossovers/networks with known working patch leads and had exactly no joy.  

The cardctl ident information matches that in /etc/pcmcia/config and it is bound by default to the pcnet_cs driver.  I *just* installed the cacko 1.18 rom in the hopes that it would solve the problem but whilst there is now an entry in /etc/pcmcia/config for it unlike in 1.17 where I had to add it, it  still exhibits the same issues... :-(  And no, I\'ve not fiddled with any config files.

It is possible that the card is dead, it was one of those spontaneous ebay 2nd hand purchases (ahem!) but it seems to be so *nearly* working...!

Any ideas would be greatly welcomed...what have I missed?!


Matti

--------

Pertinent info :

cardctl ident gives :
Socket 0:
  product info:\" Socket\", \"CF+ 10/100 Ethernet\", \"1.0\"
  manfid: 0x104, 0x145
  function: 6 (network)
...

appropriate snippet from /etc/pcmcia/config

card \"Socket 10/100 Ethernet CF Card\"
  manfid 0x0104, 0x0145
  bind \"pcnet_cs\"


dmesg snippet on inserting and using the qtopia networking to start a given ip type connection

pxa_pcmcia_init(0)
eth0: NE2000 (DL10022 rev 05): io 0xf6000300, irq 39, hw_addr 00:E0:98:4B:0D:15
pxa_pcmcia_suspend(0)
eth0: found link beat
eth0: autonegotiation complete: 100baseT-FD selected


Everynow and then you see a
pcnet_cs:  ParseTuple: Bad CIS tuple
in dmesg if inserting/removing the card, am unsure if this is relevant.

[cmoman]

Hello,

I am sorry that I might not be able to help you on this one but I am also experiencing problems with my pcmcia ethernet card.  The card is recognised when the card is inserted but no eth0 interface appears when I type ifconfig -a

I have tried playing around with the /etc/pcmcia/config file and restarting the pcmcia services.  However no module ever seems to load in the kernel to run the Ambicom 8110 card.  The correct modules are loaded and the interface configured when I insert my WiFi Sandisk card..

[root@zaurus ~]# cardctl ident
Socket 0:
  product info: \"CF\", \"100Base-Ethernet\", \"V\", \"1.0\"
  manfid: 0x021b, 0x0202
  function: 6 (network)
Socket 1:
  no product info available
[root@zaurus ~]#

The install documentation suggests the following.

If you can\'t perform the PING function, please follow the steps below:
 1. In /etc/pcmcia/config file modify following lines

   Existing lines in document-]

       device \"pcnet_cs\"
       class \"network\" module \"net/8390, \"pcnet_cs\"

   Add three lines-]
       card \"PCMCIA FastEthernet\"
       version \"PCMCIA\", \"FastEthernet\"
       bind \"pcnet_cs\"

I was just wondering if you know perhaps what I should be putting in my

/etc/pcmcia/config file that would get the driver loaded.

Incidentally dmesg is not showing anything when the ethernet card is installed
Both lights are up on the card whenever it is inserted.

I am running the tkcROM 1.0.

Do you think OZ or the like may offer some possbilities

Chris

[Matti]

I\'ve come to the conclusion that my card is stuffed (to use the technical term ;-)). I borrowed a fluke lanmeter from work and it didn\'t know what to make of the card either, it was as if it didn\'t exist.  That said, I\'ve not met anyone who has come across a network card like mine with this sort of failure...

Anyhow.  Your problems.  

I think that you need a line in your /etc/pcmcia/config that relates to the information that you get back from running \"cardctl ident\".  AFAIK linux just idents the card and runs down through the file till it matches an entry and then binds to the driver specified, pretty straighforward.  The information you manual told you to add doesn\'t seem to match the ident information though which could well be the problem!  
I would try adding lines in your config that look like

card \"PCMCIA FastEthernet\"
version \"CF\", \"100Base-Ethernet\", \"V\", \"1.0\"
bind \"pcnet_cs\"

if that doesn\'t work you could try matching the manfid info insted so change what you added above to read.

card \"PCMCIA FastEthernet\"
manfid 0x021b, 0x0202
bind \"pcnet_cs\"

I\'d reboot the machine after you change /etc/pcmcia/config.  There is no doubt a cunning linux kung fu way of restarting the networking subsystem but rebooting will take less time than finding out!

Best of luck

Matti

[cmoman]

Gidday,
Thanks for your comments.  I have been doing a little more research into why I can\'t get this card going.
I bought the card from Dick Smith, ie with Dick Smith packaging and branding.  The Zaurus incorrectly assumed it was an Ambicom 8110 and tried to install the axnet_cs module.  So the Ambicom lead was a red herring.

The card. like the original documentation said, required the pcnet_cs driver.  So I commented out the Ambicom entry and put in something that matched the cardctl ident said.  Still no improvement.  I am running the tkc rom and now realise that pcnet_cs isn\'t even in the /lib/modules...directory, in fact it is nowhere on the tke rom.

Now I do not know if have accidently deleted it but that explains why nothing gets loaded as a module into the kernel.

So I am know off to try and find out how to get that modules for the tkc rom.

[Matti]

To close off my part of this tale I chose the consumerist approach to sorting out the problem, namely I bought another one.  ;-)  That\'ll teach me for getting things 2nd hand off ebay... just like that wisgo prism2.5 cf wifi card from hong kong that only works on sundays when there is a Q in the month and with a following wind....!   I digress

I finally found a US retailer who\'d ship (to the UK) a new trendnet 10/100 unit (which looks physically identical to the flaky socket unit).  It just plugged and played and works really well.  It cost me 38 ukp (incl shipping which was over half the cost) as opposed to approximately 100ukp for a new socket card.

So, if anyone wants a socket 10/100 cf card that only *looks* like it works for some bizarre practical joke...

Good luck cmoman  on your finding modules quest.