[Tfug] pcmcia wireless card irq failure

[robbinsc at ece.arizona.edu]

Ranjan -

I've used an Atheros-based WLAN card (PCI) in my MythBox for quite some
time.  I can't explain exactly the IRQ issues, but I can help explain the
ath0 setup.  One would assume that the madwifi drivers would setup
normally, creating a wlan0 interface.  However, it uses ath0 (ather0s?)
for all relevant setup.  In order to properly configure your card, you'll
have to create a configuration for that card using a text editor.  What I
find is easiest to do is to go into your system setup (I don't know what
distro you're using), and setup wlan0 as if the card is detected and
exists to the system.  From here, cd to /etc/sysconfig/network/ and open
the file "ifcfg-wlan0".  Again, I don't know what distro you are using,
but SuSE uses this file and this directory.  Save the file as "ifcfg-ath0"
and try to stop and restart your network. (or modprobe).  When you reboot,
there should be relevant messages upon startup about the madwifi drivers
initializing.  Check /var/log/messages to see if madwifi starts properly
and initializes.  I know some distros roll madwifi into their driver
database, and the cards are detected and setup automagically.

Hope that helps -

-Chris Robbins

> Hello
>
> I have a Atheros WLAN card that is not a part of the linux-kernel but
> is  supported by the madwifi drivers. I was able to successfully build
> the modules with the kernel source, but on modprobing the relevant
> modules, and checking the messages in syslog, I see that the pcmcia
> card is failing to get an irq. The exact error message is
>
> PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt Pin A of device 0000:02:00.0. Please
> try using pci=biosirq.
> ath%d: request_irq failed
>
> The ath refers to the ath0 interface that the drivers bring up.
>
> Thus, an ath0 network interface doesn't show up and I can't get
> wireless access with this card.  cardctl shows that the card exists
> and is recognized by linux, and lspci identifies it also.
>
> Has anyone else used a wlan card with this chipset and got it to work?
>
> Ranjan
> --
> Ranjan Grover
> College of Optical Sciences
> University of Arizona
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