Arch Linux

bmentink

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 442

Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Hi,

I am trying to get a USB WiFi card going with Prism54 chipset, ISL3890/ISL3886 to be specific.

lspci shows:

06:00.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation ISL3890 [Prism 
GT/Prism Duette]/ISL3886 [Prism Javelin/Prism Xbow] (rev 01)

iwconfig shows:

eth1      NOT READY!  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=31 dBm   Sensitivity=0/200  
          Retry short limit:0   RTS thr=0 B   Fragment thr=0 B   
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid 
frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed 
beacon:0

I notice that in dmesg that I have an error, the driver is wanting the firmware file, so I install the ISL3890 firmware files from AUR which results in a file
called isl3890 (not isl3890.fw) in the directory  /lib/firmware/isl3890/ ..... however having this firmware in place, I still get the error.

Does anyone have a clue? I have done all the obvious, including reading similar posts in this forum, but nothing ..
Perhaps I need some isl3886 firmware? Although, dmesg is only complaining about isl3890 firmware.

Thanks,
B

bmentink

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 442

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

An update:

I am making progress. It seems the firmware in the AUR package, was incorrect for me. I had to go to the prism54 website and manually download the correct firmware .... and now I have
a eth1: device that I can do a "iwlist eth1 scan" to and it shows up my network .... so yay .. working now.

HOWEVER .. wicd does not work with this interface, even though I have in preferences chosen the "eth1" interface. It shows "not connected" all the time with a greyed out "scanning .."
If I choose "refresh" .. nothing changes ..

(I have disabled the eth1 interface by putting !eth1 in r.conf .. )

Hope someone can help with this now wicd issue ..

Meanwhile I will see if I have the same issue with network manager....

bmentink

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 442

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Ok, Network manager can see my AP, but can't connect, but then I have never had much sucess with Network Manager.
Wicd still does not seem to see the interface ... perhaps it does not like eth1 as a wireless interface?

I can post more info if there is anything missing ..

Anyone there?

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,793

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

You did not provide any details about the network to which you are trying to connect. 
Is the ESSID hidden or is it visible?
Is it unencrypted, WEP, WPA, WPA2?

If you have control, I would suggest you start with the ESSID vissible, and no encryption.

Then, try: sudo eth1 up
Then try sudo iwlist scan

And if all goes well, try sudo iwconfig eth1 essid <insert your essid here>

see if that works by using iwconfig again to see if it associated.

If it did, go for broke and try sudo dhcpcd eth1

Generally, I won't even try wicd or network manager until I get it working by hand.

---

Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

bmentink

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 442

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Hi There,

Yes I am running a WPA session with my AP, which worked fine with another WiFi adapter and Wicd.
It has only been since I changed to this Wifi card, that this no longer works with WicD/WPA.

I changed the AP to unprotected for now and it connects manually fine with iwconfig, and now with it connected Wicd shows the connection, but it won't show the AP network
at all .... really strange.(i.e wicd shows connected in the status line bottom of the gui window, but no AP/ESSID is shown in the main window. )

I just can't figure out why it won't show the network ...

Cheers,
B

EDIT: The essid is not hidden.

Last edited by bmentink (2010-05-02 04:11:28)

sparchy

Member

From: arizona, usa

Registered: 2007-11-20

Posts: 32

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Are you using the right firmware for your isl3890
I noticed you may be using the old (deprecated)prism54 module and firmware because your showing eth1 device.
Can you use p54usb and wlan0 device.
I use p54pci on my netgear wg511 v2 pcmcia card and it works fine.

Try the firmware here
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/p54
http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw … 3.12.0.arm for pci/pcmcia
or
http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw … .1.0.arm.0 for usb

(the AUR p54pci-firmware 1.0-1, if thats the one you used, looks sort of stale and old.
I looked at the PGKBUILD and that firmware is only 2.7.0.0.arm which I don't think is compatible anymore with the newer wireless changes in the most recent kernels since that AUR pkg came out.  Use the newer firmware in the links I provided above.)

Put the 2.13.12.0.arm in /lib/firmware and symlink isl3886pci and isl3890pci(or isl3886usb and isl3890usb) to it.  It used to be just isl3886 and isl3890 that the firmware loader was looking for but I think that has changed now to distinguish it from usb prism cards that use isl3886usb,etc.,(read the instructions at http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/p54)
Blacklist the old prism54 module in your /etc/rc.conf if you haven't already so you can use the newer p54[pci|usb] and wireless extensions.
MODULES=(!prism54)
If it doesn't detect your card try putting p54pci(or p54usb) in your MODULES=(...)
Don't load the old prism54 with the newer firmware, you'll get all sorts of trouble
I have almost the same card and I use p54pci/wlan0 combo which is compatible with wpa_supplicant(it supports wpa/psk) using -D wext, give that a try if you can.
The above firmware/configuration still works with 2.6.32 I haven't tried it with 2.6.33 as I haven't bothered doing any upgrades on my laptop recently.

[just noticed your using usb, use p54usb(i think that's the same but for usb, firmware should be 2.13.1.0.arm.0 for usb) ]

Last edited by sparchy (2010-05-02 06:16:26)

bmentink

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 442

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Many Thanks for that.

I did get it limping along with prism54 and some firmware from the prism54 site specific for my card. It works for unencrypted but wicd does not work
with wep or wpa.

I tried doing as you stated and now I have a working wlan0 interface .... at least unencrypted.
But It still dosn't seem to work for either WEP or WPA though which is a mystery. .. at least with wicd.

Cheers,
B.

bmentink

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 442

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Anyone have any idea why encryption does not work for this card/driver ..

Thanks

sparchy

Member

From: arizona, usa

Registered: 2007-11-20

Posts: 32

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

Try configuring wpa_supplicant manually first just to make sure its not one of the various network config utilities(wicd/netcfg/etc.,) that might be misconfiguring your card or causing it to have fits/problems.  I don't use any of those I just start up my wireless (static ip non-roaming) using a script.

You'll need to configure your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf first, wpa_passphrase is helpful here

wpa_passphrase <ssid> [passphrase] >/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf (where ssid and passphrase are substituted for your own. Save or backup your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf first if you want to keep you old conf.)

then my script looks something like this

#!/bin/bash
#
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up
/usr/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 rate 11M auto
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
# comment out the following two lines and uncomment the dhclient entry for dhcp
/sbin/ifconfig wlan0 xx.xxx.xxx.xx netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast xx.xxx.xxx.255 up
/sbin/route add default gw xx.xxx.xxx.x
#/usr/sbin/dhclient -cf /etc/dhclient.conf wlan0
/etc/rc.d/firewall-script start

I keep my rate at 11M and let the card auto itself.  I remember reading someplace that the prism54 cards had trouble holding rates above 11M(that might not be the case now because I have connected to other networks above that rate) I'm pretty far from my ap that I connect with so I keep it locked at 11M then let it adjust itself if it needs to.

totalizator

Member

Registered: 2010-09-09

Posts: 8

Re: Wireless ISL3890 firmware missing

[...]
Try the firmware here
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/p54
http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw … 3.12.0.arm for pci/pcmcia
or
http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw … .1.0.arm.0 for usb
[...]

Thank you so much! I've had no idea what to do about it. It works now. The only problem I've got now is that using wicd there is no networks found unless I'll click "Disconnect all" then "Scan".