Squeeze. Intel 2100 Wifi card breaks connection with fatal interrupt.

[Mark Goldshtein <mark.goldshtein@gmail.com>]

Hello, list!

I have IBM ThinkPad R40 laptop with Intel 2100 Wifi card.
# lspci -nn -k |grep 2100

02:02.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless LAN
2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter [8086:1043] (rev 04)

	Kernel driver in use: ipw2100


# dmesg
[…]
[    6.500889] ipw2100: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Driver, git-1.2.2

[    6.500894] ipw2100: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation

[...]

[    6.619580] ipw2100 0000:02:02.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKC] -> GSI 11
(level, low) -> IRQ 11

[    6.620345] ipw2100: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Connection

[    6.620367] ipw2100 0000:02:02.0: firmware: requesting ipw2100-1.3.fw

It is uses non-free firmware which was installed automatically during
system setup from Debian tarball downloaded from here:
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/lenny/current/

Under continuous load (# apt-get dist-upgrade), wifi card is breaking
connection very quickly:
# tail -f /var/log/messages



Nov 21 12:38:17 localhost kernel: [  636.466105] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:40:21 localhost kernel: [  760.695747] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:40:55 localhost kernel: [  794.669636] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:41:29 localhost kernel: [  828.675518] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:41:45 localhost kernel: [  845.353698] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:43:05 localhost kernel: [  925.023472] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:43:52 localhost kernel: [  971.829309] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:44:22 localhost kernel: [ 1002.139148] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:44:44 localhost kernel: [ 1023.425804] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

Nov 21 12:45:00 localhost kernel: [ 1039.719961] ipw2100: Fatal
interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

# dmesg
[  636.466105] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[  760.695747] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[  794.669636] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[  828.675518] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[  845.353698] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[  925.023472] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[  971.829309] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[ 1002.139148] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[ 1023.425804] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

[ 1039.719961] ipw2100: Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware restart.

So, wifi connection goes up and down frequently. In addition, there is
not visible interruption during regular web browsing.

In Debian Lenny that wifi card works stable and smooth but I need
Squeeze for some reason.
Please, help to troubleshoot that hardware disaster.
Thanks in advance for your time and effort!

-- 
Sincerely Yours'
Mark Goldshtein