ThinkWiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Problem with unauthorized MiniPCI network card

2007-11-11T00:44:39Z

Iobound: New section: no dice on T43

== Affected Models ==
I am unsure about which models this applies to. I have seen reports of this problem affecting a T41p, T43, X40, R31, X31, and T30; but I do not know how far back this problem goes or if there are exceptions. If anyone has better information, please clarify/specify the "Affected Models" section. --[[User:Kevinoid|Kevinoid]] 05:44, 14 Dec 2005 (CET)

I have a R40 model 2681-K9G that came without any mini-pci card so I bought a Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG mini-pci card for it. When I discovered that it would not work in my Thinkpad I came to this site to see if there was a fix. Seemed like there was, so I bought a mini-pci-to-PCI adapter and installed the card(s) in my desktop. Now I need to know what vendor and device ID strings to use when I flash the card's BIOS. Anyone have a list?

== Solution on T43? ==
There were several edits to the previous page to the effect that "this didn't work for my T43". Although I do not weight this as highly credible (please just ask for help on the ML rather than adding random comments to pages), I did feel that it deserved a mention that the solution may not work on the T43. If anyone can confirm or deny this statement, please do so (and possibly ask on the ML for solutions if it does not work for you). --[[User:Kevinoid|Kevinoid]] 05:44, 14 Dec 2005 (CET)

== Confirmation - patch not working on T43 ==
I can confirm, that a "nvram/cmos" patch is not working on my T43, exact type 1871-A62. I tried several cards (some working without patch in another thinkpads (t40, t42, x40), but no success.--[[User:Jap|Jap]] 09:50, 13 June 2006 (CEST)

== Hotplugging PCI device ==
I'd like to send out a '''BIG FAT WARNING''' that 'hotplugging' the mini-PCI card can easily lead to frying the system board, mini-PCI bus, or both. Yes, it happened to me... :-( Interrupting the boot process at the lilo boot menu, and then inserting the ipw2915abg card worked as a charm to circumvent the BIOS white list. However, somewhere it must have gone wrong because now the laptop hangs immediately when the IBM/Intel boot logos appear. --[[User:LJSBrokken|LJSBrokken]] 13:01, 20 July 2006 (GMT+1)

== Z60 series ==
I tried this on a Lenovo Z60t. Bought an Intel Wireless card since the linux drivers for the madwifi are crap. I applied the C-Patch from here. Then after booting with the intel device installed I get some weird broadcom PXE boot messages displayed ontop of the key symbol for startup security. Even if I don't put my finger on the sensor, it continues with GRUB. At this point I can't use the keyboard, the key symbol is still displayed in the upper left corner. After a few secons grub starts with its default entry (Gentoo Linux). It all works, but no Wireless Adapter shows up in lspci.

So, I don't have that 1802 error, but still can't use my wifi card. Any ideas?

== G40 series ==
According to [[http://www.wifi-forum.com/wf/showthread.php?t=60620|this forum post]], the CMOS hack (I assume they are referring to the bit-twiddling code) works. Does anyone else have anything to confirm this? I might well try it myself (in which case I'll update the main table), but I'll have to at least get an aerial first.

[[User:lentinj|lentinj]]

== no dice on T43 ==

Also can confirm the T43 is much more resistant to the unauthorized mini pci card problem. No 1802 didn't work (it worked for my T40). Changing the PCI class id to 0x0280 (networking device - other) also didn't shake the message. Finally, I tried to masquerade the card as a one of the whitelisted ones via the ath_info utility from madwifi. I made a mistake at this point and didn't update the subsystem vendor id / subsystem device id, just the primary pci vendor and device ids. I *still* got the warning message, and now the ath driver doesn't pick up the card, so I can't use ath_info. The card is basically bricked, unless I find time (ha ha) for some kernel hacking. Moral of the story is be careful with ath_info.

Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices

2007-11-10T21:04:13Z

Iobound: ath_info usage and behavior still a bit unstable

==Problem Description==
Certain ThinkPads show a warning message during [[POST]] when a WLAN card with an Atheros chipset is present in the MiniPCI slot:

WARNING
01C9: More than one Ethernet devices are found. Remove one of them.
Press <Esc> to continue.

Also, boot-up during POST may be taking longer than expected.

At POST, the BIOS conducts a scan for ethernet devices. It does this by reading the "PCI Class Codes" of every connected device. If more than one ethernet device is found, it produces the 01C9 error message. Unlike other wireless cards, which identify themselves as "other" network adapters, Atheros classify themselves as "ethernet". This collides with the internal ethernet controller (also a PCI device) and causes the 01C9 to appear. BIOS processing of the situation and generating the error message noticeably slow down boot-up time, at least in some models.

== Affected Models ==
* ThinkPad {{A31}}
* ThinkPad {{A31p}}
* ThinkPad {{T23}}
* ThinkPad {{T30}}
* ThinkPad {{R32}}
* ThinkPad {{R40}}
* ThinkPad {{X22}}
* ThinkPad {{X23}}
* ThinkPad {{X24}}
* ThinkPad {{X30}}

'''Not affected are'''
*ThinkPad T4x series
*ThinkPad X4x series

== Solution ==
The solution is to modify the Atheros EEPROM so that the card correctly identifies itself as an "other" instead of an "ethernet" network adapter. A Linux Live CD to do both this and remove the 1802 error message is now available. [http://www.student.ru.nl/p.brederveld/monkeytongue/ibm_wifi.zip] (~ 4 MB).

{{WARN|This software was designed FOR ATHEROS CARDS ONLY. Even though most users confirm it working fine, it can potentially harm your computer. The authors are in no way to be held liable for damage caused by this program. There is no warranty given, either express or implied for any fitness for any kind of purpose. YOU AGREE TO USE THIS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.}}

'''Functionality.''' This patch changes the PCI Class ID from 0x0200 to 0x0280, which corresponds "network device: other". It manipulates neither the PCI vendor ID nor the device ID. Therefore, functionality of drivers and operating systems will not be affected. Uninstalling drivers is not necessary before using this patch.

'''Usage.'''
# Burn the .ISO file to a CD/DVD. Make sure to open the image instead of burning it as a regular file on the disc.
# If you want to remove the 01C9 error only, skip to step 8.
# To remove the 1802 error, make sure you do not have the Atheros card installed in the MiniPCI slot.
# Boot from the disc.
# Choose to remove the 1802 error.
# Shut down after pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del.
# (Physically) install the Atheros card now.
# Boot from the disc (again).
# Choose not to apply the no-1802.
# Select your Atheros card from the list. A WRONG SELECTION MAY CAUSE DAMAGE!
# Shut down after pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del. Upon 'cold' reboot, the 01C9 should be gone.

== Limitations ==
The patch does not seem to work with chipsets above AR5004x due to some kind of EEPROM write protection. This protection is either hardcoded into the EEPROM, thus making it impossible to be changed by software. Or the write-enable channel of the EEPROM has been disactivated. Slight chance might be to program one of the chipsets' "General Purpose Input/Output" components to activate it. Yet this would require a GPIO's output to be connected to the write-enable channel of the EEPROM (depends on the circuit board layout).

'''Affected cards'''
* Gigabyte GN-WIAG02 MiniPCI card (AR5005GS chipset) (01C9 can only be bypassed by pressing <Esc>).
* Senao NMP-8602 MiniPCI card (AR5006X chipset) (01C9 can only be bypassed by pressing <Esc>).
* SparkLAN WMIA-166AG MiniPCI card (AR5006XS chipset (01C9 can only be bypassed by pressing <Esc>).

=== A way around these limitations ===
It may be possible to get around these limitations by using the ath_info tool (part of the [http://www.madwifi.org] driver for Linux). This tool contains code to temporarily enable EEPROM write access. Read the manual page for the tool to find out how to change the pci_class for your card. You need to find the address at which your card can be accessed. Using ath_info -v -w <0xcard_base_address> pci_class 0x0280 seems to do the trick even though ath_info still returns 0x0002 as pci_class (it seems to ignore the high byte, and reverse endian-ness on display).

Please exercise judgment with respect to the above suggested ath_info usage. It's still under development, and is not yet a part of the official madwifi release at the time of this writing. When in doubt read the source.

'''Cards for which the ath_info tool can be used to change the pci_class'''
* Askey Computer Corp AR2413A (802.11b/g) FCC ID:PPD-AR5BMB5 IC:4104A-AR5BMB5 (AR5005GS chipset)

Problem with error 01C9 - More than one Ethernet devices

2007-11-10T20:31:18Z

Iobound: ath_info now writes data with correct endian-ness.

==Problem Description==
Certain ThinkPads show a warning message during [[POST]] when a WLAN card with an Atheros chipset is present in the MiniPCI slot:

WARNING
01C9: More than one Ethernet devices are found. Remove one of them.
Press <Esc> to continue.

Also, boot-up during POST may be taking longer than expected.

At POST, the BIOS conducts a scan for ethernet devices. It does this by reading the "PCI Class Codes" of every connected device. If more than one ethernet device is found, it produces the 01C9 error message. Unlike other wireless cards, which identify themselves as "other" network adapters, Atheros classify themselves as "ethernet". This collides with the internal ethernet controller (also a PCI device) and causes the 01C9 to appear. BIOS processing of the situation and generating the error message noticeably slow down boot-up time, at least in some models.

== Affected Models ==
* ThinkPad {{A31}}
* ThinkPad {{A31p}}
* ThinkPad {{T23}}
* ThinkPad {{T30}}
* ThinkPad {{R32}}
* ThinkPad {{R40}}
* ThinkPad {{X22}}
* ThinkPad {{X23}}
* ThinkPad {{X24}}
* ThinkPad {{X30}}

'''Not affected are'''
*ThinkPad T4x series
*ThinkPad X4x series

== Solution ==
The solution is to modify the Atheros EEPROM so that the card correctly identifies itself as an "other" instead of an "ethernet" network adapter. A Linux Live CD to do both this and remove the 1802 error message is now available. [http://www.student.ru.nl/p.brederveld/monkeytongue/ibm_wifi.zip] (~ 4 MB).

{{WARN|This software was designed FOR ATHEROS CARDS ONLY. Even though most users confirm it working fine, it can potentially harm your computer. The authors are in no way to be held liable for damage caused by this program. There is no warranty given, either express or implied for any fitness for any kind of purpose. YOU AGREE TO USE THIS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.}}

'''Functionality.''' This patch changes the PCI Class ID from 0x0200 to 0x0280, which corresponds "network device: other". It manipulates neither the PCI vendor ID nor the device ID. Therefore, functionality of drivers and operating systems will not be affected. Uninstalling drivers is not necessary before using this patch.

'''Usage.'''
# Burn the .ISO file to a CD/DVD. Make sure to open the image instead of burning it as a regular file on the disc.
# If you want to remove the 01C9 error only, skip to step 8.
# To remove the 1802 error, make sure you do not have the Atheros card installed in the MiniPCI slot.
# Boot from the disc.
# Choose to remove the 1802 error.
# Shut down after pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del.
# (Physically) install the Atheros card now.
# Boot from the disc (again).
# Choose not to apply the no-1802.
# Select your Atheros card from the list. A WRONG SELECTION MAY CAUSE DAMAGE!
# Shut down after pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del. Upon 'cold' reboot, the 01C9 should be gone.

== Limitations ==
The patch does not seem to work with chipsets above AR5004x due to some kind of EEPROM write protection. This protection is either hardcoded into the EEPROM, thus making it impossible to be changed by software. Or the write-enable channel of the EEPROM has been disactivated. Slight chance might be to program one of the chipsets' "General Purpose Input/Output" components to activate it. Yet this would require a GPIO's output to be connected to the write-enable channel of the EEPROM (depends on the circuit board layout).

'''Affected cards'''
* Gigabyte GN-WIAG02 MiniPCI card (AR5005GS chipset) (01C9 can only be bypassed by pressing <Esc>).
* Senao NMP-8602 MiniPCI card (AR5006X chipset) (01C9 can only be bypassed by pressing <Esc>).
* SparkLAN WMIA-166AG MiniPCI card (AR5006XS chipset (01C9 can only be bypassed by pressing <Esc>).

=== A way around these limitations ===
It may be possible to get around these limitations by using the ath_info tool (part of the [http://www.madwifi.org] driver for Linux). This tool contains code to temporarily enable EEPROM write access. Read the manual page for the tool to find out how to change the pci_class for your card. You need to find the address at which your card can be accessed. Using ath_info -v -w <0xcard_base_address> pci_class 0x0280 seems to do the trick even though ath_info still returns 0x0002 as pci_class (it seems to ignore the high byte, and reverse endian-ness on display).

'''Cards for which the ath_info tool can be used to change the pci_class'''
* Askey Computer Corp AR2413A (802.11b/g) FCC ID:PPD-AR5BMB5 IC:4104A-AR5BMB5 (AR5005GS chipset)