HowTo: WPC54G v.2 , the trick

[Kobalt]

This trick is for Edgy (Ubuntu 6.10) only.

The open source acx drivers do not support WPA encryption. If you want that, you should use the windows drivers + ndiswrapper. In order to do this, follow dmizer's guide.

Hello everyone,

I've been using my Linksys WPC54G v.2 WiFi (PCMCIA) card for a while now and I thought some people using the same card, or willing to get one that works great, would be interested in this HowTo.
The WPC54G v.2 card is based on an acx111 chipset. Unfortunately the version of acx driver provided by Dapper is a new one but is not working.

At first, you need to check that your card is built on the right chip so check it with :

lspci

If you are given something close to this bellow you can go on (otherwise this trick won't work for you) :

0000:03:00.0 Network controller: Texas Instruments ACX 111 54Mbps Wireless Interface

Ok now, here is the trick.
1. Type this command line :

sudo ln -s -f /lib/firmware/`(uname -r)`/acx/1.2.1.34/tiacx111c16 /lib/firmware/`(uname -r)`/acx/default/tiacx111c16

2. Then :

sudo modprobe acx

3. Plug out and then in your card.

Now you should have your "Power" led on and the "Link" one blinking, it works ! Otherwise, you can try this to activate it :

4.

sudo ifdown eth0

5.

sudo ifup wlan0

IMPORTANT : You will need to do the steps 1, 2 and 3 at every new update of the kernel.

And now you can enjoy your working WiFi card on Ubuntu, without using Ndiswrapper.
Isn't it great ?

Cheers !

[dmizer]

this works for me.

but i get this in dmesg:

[4294843.893000] acx: Loaded combined PCI/USB driver, firmware_ver=default
[4294843.893000] acx: compiled to use 32bit I/O access. I/O timing issues might occur, such as non-working firmware upload. Report them
[4294843.894000] PCI: Enabling device 0000:06:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[4294843.895000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:06:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKB] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[4294843.895000] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:06:00.0 to 64
[4294843.895000] acx: found ACX111-based wireless network card at 0000:06:00.0, irq:11, phymem1:0x26020000, phymem2:0x26000000, mem1:0xc8adc000, mem1_size:8192, mem2:0xc8b80000, mem2_size:131072
[4294844.940000] acx: form factor 0x01 ((mini-)PCI / CardBus), radio type 0x16 (Radia), EEPROM version 0x05, uploaded firmware 'Rev 1.2.1.34' (0x03010101)
[4294844.941000] acx v0.3.21: net device wlan0, driver compiled against wireless extensions 19 and Linux 2.6.15-23-386
[4294844.943000] usbcore: registered new driver acx_usb
[4294845.021000] wlan0 (WE) : Driver using old /proc/net/wireless support, please fix driver !

[Kobalt]

This is normal because we actually use an older version of acx driver in the kernel, while there's a newer avaliable but not working... As long as your card is working, how is that anoying ?

Cheers !

[dmizer]

works for me. only down side i can see is that network manager isn't saving my wireless settings. so i have to go in and configure the card every restart. still, it's better than what i was doing with ndiswrapper.

could be because i'm still set up to load ndiswrapper by default though. i'll get rid of that tonight and see if that makes a difference.

edit:
it did. it now loads up on boot with 0 configuration.

btw, the ifdown wlan0 and ifup wlan0 are not needed if you use network manager to configure your network settings instead.

[holycoww74]

thanks for the tip man, this worked just right for me

[DrMoxie]

Perfect! The only thing I needed to do different was reboot (go figure). Thanks!

[chester]

THis doesn't seem to be working for me. Will trying indiswrapper (sp) work instead? the power light comes on the adapter but i am not getting any packets shipped back and forth. any ideas?

[Kobalt]

Did you make sure you have the right chip : WPC54G V.2 ?
Did you enter your ESSID and WEP key without mistakes ?

Cheers !

[Roastbill]

this worked for me last night- then when i powered back up tonight- nothing!

[tardisx]

Excellent! Works great on a Mac G3 powerbook, where of course ndiswrapper is not an option.

Much appreciated!