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Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2006 12:51:01 +0100
From: Brian Candler <B.Candler@pobox.com>
To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
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Subject: Prism wi support in 6.x - or alternative card
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Hello,

I Hvae an IBM Thinkpad X30 with a miniPCI wireless card:

wi0: <Intersil Prism2.5> mem 0xf8000000-0xf8000fff irq 11 at device 2.0 on pci1
wi0: using RF:PRISM2.5 MAC:ISL3874A(Mini-PCI)
wi0: Intersil Firmware: Primary (1.1.0), Station (1.4.9)
wi0: Ethernet address: 00:05:3c:09:7e:9d
wi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps

I have found it to be flaky under FreeBSD 5.4. It's OK for occasional use
but when under heavy load, e.g. 'unison' syncing to another machine, it
locks up:

Mar 27 21:10:00 thinkdog kernel: wi0: timeout in wi_cmd 0x010b; event status 0xa000
Mar 27 21:10:00 thinkdog kernel: wi0: xmit failed
Mar 27 21:10:04 thinkdog kernel: wi0: timeout in wi_cmd 0x0021; event status 0xa000
Mar 27 21:10:09 thinkdog kernel: wi0: wi_cmd: busy bit won't clear.

At this point the only solution is to unload and reload the if_wi module.

So my questions are:

1. Is support for this hardware significantly improved in 6.X?

2. If I were to buy another miniPCI card to replace it, what's the
   current recommendation?

(I realise I can probably run just about anything under ndis emulation, but
I'd feel more comfortable with a native FreeBSD driver)

Thanks,

Brian.