PCMCIA Linux

[beakmyn]

Ok it's not Linux on my Sager but I've figure I've got at least one brownie point left....
I'm not getting much help on the Gentoo board for this:
Ok I've read through all the posts I could find on getting a PCMCIA NIC working. It seems there's something I'm missing and perhaps someone can help.
The laptop is a DEC Hinote VP575, 166Mhz
NIC: Megahertz CCEM3336, (it's in the supported list for pcmcia-cs docs)

First let me tell you what does work:
During initial install to get my NIC working I had to
Code:

modprobe pcmcia_core
modprobe i82092
modprobe cardmgr -f


then I plugged in my card and everything worked.

So, I got through the install and then got to the point where I was actually booting Gentoo and that's when I had problems. Here's where I am now.
Re-compiled my kernel without PCMCIA support, I've modified my modules.autoload to
Code:

i82092
ds


I've emerged pcmcia-cs, did the rc-updates, followed the noob pcmcia install doc and rebooted
Linux boots up and when it tries to set up the NIC I get
Code:

Loading i82092
Failed to load i82092

It's a no-go, so I login as root and try this
Code:

modprobe pcmcia_core
modprobe i82092
modprobe: Can't locate module i82092


It appears I've somehow removed i82092, how do I get it back? I tried emerge i82092 didn't work. I assume that once this module is found everything will be fine it will get loaded by modules.autoload and pcmcia-cs will take care of the rest. One last thing which may be helpful, when I had previously tried compiling the kernel with pcmcia support and i82092 I got the same problem.[/code]

In a nutshell what steps do I go through to make sure the module i82092 actually exists (location?) and what/how to call it correctly.

[NeoCORE]

Modules are compiled and installed by gentoo when you are doing a new kernel compile...

What I would recommend doing is checking your kernel config... make sure you have the module you need selected... then do the following to remake all the modules and install them...

make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install
cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/myKernel


After that... you should be able to just type modprobe (module) and it will be there :)

Hope that helps,
let us know how you get on :)

NeoCORE


100th post :) don't think I have ever got to tha on any forum :D :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :dude: :headbang:

[beakmyn]

ok I think something isscrewed up I re-compiled the kernel with cardbus and i82092 support still didn't work.
I modprobe i82092 got back the sameerror message an't locate it.

I figured just for the heck of it I try an emerge pcmcia-cs. Doubt that will work though.

I guess i could boot with the install cd, mount my drives, then modprobe but it should work with the current kernel. I just can't figure out what I'm missing.

went to \lib\modules\2.4.20-gentoo-r2\kernel\drivers\net
i would've thought i'd see i82092 there but only dummy.o

trying a recompile with pcmcia set as module (M) instead of (*) can't get i82092 to be module

fyi when i plug/unplug the card i get beeps. when i plug it in i get a 'good'beep then a 'bad' beep

[NeoCORE]

ok... I havent bothered to set up my pcmcia as I have no need for it on my machine... so, what I am saying is stabbing in the dark from my limited experience..

What I can say is, I take it pcmcia-cs is a driver database of card modules... so, it's a lot like when you recompile your kernel when using drm radeon.. you need to emerge xfree-drm every time...

you can try just compiling it into the kernel... and therefore no module would be needed...

I wish I could be of more help...


NeoCORE

[laclasse]

What happens when ya do a make modules and a make modules_install , is the modules directory get wiped out and modules are rebuilt. Somehow you or somit must have interrupted or not completed these step. To resolve it:

cd to your kernel source directory, then:
# make mrproper
( blah blah)
# make menuconfig
Make a new kernel config making sure i82092 is selected as M, module as well as all the rest.

Save the config, then:

# make dep bzImage modules modules_install
( blah blah read a bit )
# make install will install the new image and back up the previous one to *.old, then will run lilo. Accept, run lilo. Then before rebooting, edit /etc/lilo.conf as root and make sure your new kernel indeed is gonna boot ( check with ls -lh /boot/vmlinuz* ). ALWAYS rerun lilo as root after editing lilo.conf.

You can as well check ( or create ) a /etc/modules file and enter all modules you want loaded at boot time one per line, without the .o terminaison. For ex my /etc/modules starts like this:
agpgart
radeon
8139too
usb-uhci

etc ...

This works on all linux, sorry i cannot answer gentoo specific way of compiling a kernel, but that way is universal and works.
Hope that helps.

[beakmyn]

tried that didn't work.

I've resorted, for now at least, to boot with the install cd-rom then manually modprobe and start the cardmgr, that works every time. However no amount of re-compiling my kernel with/without network or pcmcia support or optionally emerging pcmcia-cs or even manually modprobing seems to be able to get my eth0 to come up. I can get pcmcia services to run and I can get it to recognize the card correctly but eth0 refuses to come up.

As I've said I've a workable solution albeit a painfull one as booting with the cdrom then manually mounting my drives and links and chrooting. Right now it's in the middle of emerging X, that'll probably take a day or so (166Mhz). In the meantime I'll keep going over the Gentoo forums to see if I find something that I missed.

[opusagogo]

Maybe you disabled PCMCIA support in the kernel in addition to the in-kernel support for the card. I think you need to have just the in-kernel support for PCMCIA _except_ the in-kernel support for your card. (instead of both) Then, the pcmcia-cs module can take over from there. I am having the same problem that you are, and just thought of this. Let me know how it goes.

[beakmyn]

I thought so to. I can get the kernel to recognize the pcmcia and try to load it. I put mdk on one of the other ones and its using yenta_sockets, so I'm going to try that instead of i82092. RIght its emerging kde (got net support using boot cd) it's been going for 3 days straight now so it may be awhile before I can try again.