Setup pcmcia card as 10baseT

Turner · External Since: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 5

Hi,
i just purchased a very old pcmcia card. The advantage is it's a type 1
instead of the more common type 2.

The problem is, my system will set it up as 10base2 by default, and I've been
trying to override this for a little while now. The idea is that the card is
labeled as "10baseT / 10base2" and looking at the source of the driver
"3c589_cs" gives that the if_port controls this.

I'm using slackware 11, and I followed many docs, trying to configure
/etc/pcmcia/config.opts or /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia or some others, nothing seems to
change the problem.
For example, I'm not sure if this is incorrect but I've simply added the
following line in my /etc/pcmcia/config.opts:
module "3c589_cs" opts "if_port=1"
[i read 1 was for 10bT, but i tried from 0 to 3]
It doesn't do anything.

And here's the output of dmesg | grep the interesting stuff
PCI: Bus 1, cardbus bridge: 0000:00:02.0
PCI: Bus 5, cardbus bridge: 0000:00:02.1
pcmcia: registering new device pcmcia0.0
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0x1800, 00:a1:b0:ec:74:c7, IRQ 11
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8139C'
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
eth1: 3Com 3c589, io 0x300, irq 5, hw_addr 00:60:97:CC:56:F3
eth1: flipped to 10base2
-------
Note that eth0/Bus5 is a type2 ethernet card that I'm trying to replace with
this type1 (eth1)

If anybody can help me out, that would be awesome, cuz at this point i'm almost
willing to recompile the driver, i just believe this will be a greater pain...

Thanks!
Simon

flatline5 · External Since: Jun 23, 2007 Posts: 10

> > modinfo 3c589_cs
> > should give you the parameters that the module will accept.
>
> Hmm, i'm at work, cant try but I remember its output, it didn't
> mention any options if i remember right... =(

I remembered wrong:

filename: /lib/modules/2.6.20/kernel/drivers/net/pcmcia/
3c589_cs.ko
license: GPL
description: 3Com 3c589 series PCMCIA ethernet driver
author: David Hinds <dahinds.TakeThisOut@users.sourceforge.net>
alias: pcmcia:m0101c003Df*fn00pfn*pa*pb*pc*pd*
alias: pcmcia:m0101c0035f*fn00pfn*pa*pb*pc*pd*
alias: pcmcia:m*c*f*fn*pfn*pa58D93FC4pb992C2202pc*pd*
alias: pcmcia:m0101c0589f*fn*pfn*pa*pb*pc*pd*
alias: pcmcia:m*c*f*fn00pfn*paF03E4E77pb*pc*pd*
alias: pcmcia:m0101c0562f*fn00pfn*pa*pb*pc*pd*
depends: pcmcia_core,pcmcia
vermagic: 2.6.20 SMP mod_unload 486
parm: if_port:int

> > For the automagic way of doing things, you will have to read up on your
> > distro's way of handling modules. Most likely in /etc/modprobe.d/foo
>
> Huhuh, that's what I read too... can you explain what "foo" would be?
> as my modprobe.d was empty and I had a hard time finding examples...
> (in fact, i didn't bother a lot since I wasnt sure if it was the way
> or not).

Ok, looking into this now, as I understand I would just need to give
any name to my file and put the modprobe line in there, I'll read the
man on modprobe too... and i'll see what happens with this...

Thanks, Simon

flatline5 · External Since: Jun 23, 2007 Posts: 10

> eth1: flipped to 10base2

Hi, it's me from work... just to clarify my problem, what I need to
know is where and how to tell the driver to use a specific option.
I've researched and I believe changing the if_port option would do the
trick, setting it to 1 if i remember right (but I might be wrong,
anyway it's one of {0,1,2,3} )

What confuses me most is that it doesn't appear like a normal module,
as it is loaded by the pcmcia module, so I guess I should follow the
pcmcia driver section of its man page, but that has no effect at
all... and besides, lsmod shows that the module 3c589_cs is loaded,
which confuses me even more...

Thanks in advance for any info!
Simon

CptDondo · External Since: Oct 05, 2005 Posts: 309

flatline5 wrote:
>> eth1: flipped to 10base2
>
> Hi, it's me from work... just to clarify my problem, what I need to
> know is where and how to tell the driver to use a specific option.
> I've researched and I believe changing the if_port option would do the
> trick, setting it to 1 if i remember right (but I might be wrong,
> anyway it's one of {0,1,2,3} )
>
> What confuses me most is that it doesn't appear like a normal module,
> as it is loaded by the pcmcia module, so I guess I should follow the
> pcmcia driver section of its man page, but that has no effect at
> all... and besides, lsmod shows that the module 3c589_cs is loaded,
> which confuses me even more...
>
> Thanks in advance for any info!
> Simon
>

modinfo 3c589_cs

should give you the parameters that the module will accept.

Then it's just a matter of

modprobe 3c589_cs param1=blah

For the automagic way of doing things, you will have to read up on your
distro's way of handling modules. Most likely in /etc/modprobe.d/foo

--Yan

flatline5 · External Since: Jun 23, 2007 Posts: 10

Thanks a lot for your repy Yan!

> modinfo 3c589_cs
>
> should give you the parameters that the module will accept.

Hmm, i'm at work, cant try but I remember its output, it didn't
mention any options if i remember right... =(

> Then it's just a matter of
>
> modprobe 3c589_cs param1=blah

Huhuh, that looks like what I tried at one time... This modprobe call
could be written in a file like rc.modules?

> For the automagic way of doing things, you will have to read up on your
> distro's way of handling modules. Most likely in /etc/modprobe.d/foo

Huhuh, that's what I read too... can you explain what "foo" would be?
as my modprobe.d was empty and I had a hard time finding examples...
(in fact, i didn't bother a lot since I wasnt sure if it was the way
or not).

Thanks,
Simon

flatline5 · External Since: Jun 23, 2007 Posts: 10

> Ok, looking into this now, as I understand I would just need to give
> any name to my file and put the modprobe line in there, I'll read the
> man on modprobe too... and i'll see what happens with this...

Ok, it worked as far as sending the info and setting the card in
10baseT, but that didn't help at all! =(

I even tried to remove the module and re-add it with the option and I
could see it was automatically passed my if_port=1 option... I tried
with all 4 variations with the same result: no connection.

Not even a link on my router. Loading the card in win95 (the original
os on this old laptop) recognizes the card, but i don't have the
drivers for it. I tried on another laptop, fairly new, with winxp, it
could recognize the card perfectly and it was configured correctly but
was saying "net cable unplugged", still no light on the dongle.

Am I correct in thinking the issue is with this dongle being dead or
maybe with the connection with the card?

Thanks!
Simon

CptDondo · External Since: Oct 05, 2005 Posts: 309

flatline5 wrote:
>> Ok, looking into this now, as I understand I would just need to give
>> any name to my file and put the modprobe line in there, I'll read the
>> man on modprobe too... and i'll see what happens with this...
>
> Ok, it worked as far as sending the info and setting the card in
> 10baseT, but that didn't help at all! =(
>
> I even tried to remove the module and re-add it with the option and I
> could see it was automatically passed my if_port=1 option... I tried
> with all 4 variations with the same result: no connection.
>
> Not even a link on my router. Loading the card in win95 (the original
> os on this old laptop) recognizes the card, but i don't have the
> drivers for it. I tried on another laptop, fairly new, with winxp, it
> could recognize the card perfectly and it was configured correctly but
> was saying "net cable unplugged", still no light on the dongle.
>
> Am I correct in thinking the issue is with this dongle being dead or
> maybe with the connection with the card?

Chances are good that it's dead....

Go to your local recycler and get another one for US$5. (If you don't
have a recycler, start one!) Smile

--Yan

Turner · External Since: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 5

> Chances are good that it's dead....
>
> Go to your local recycler and get another one for US$5. (If you don't
> have a recycler, start one!) Smile

Thanks Yan, for confirming!

Before you did I communicated with the guy who sold it to me and the reply was
something like "Return it [here] please"... It was bought on ebay so i guess the
"honor" of the vendor was at cause, happily for me! =)

Thanks!
Simon