Actiontec Problem Restated

["Thomas H. George,,," <georgeacct@spininternet.com>]

My previous request for help drew no responses: was probably poorly 
stated.  Here is a better recap.

1. The Actiontec Instructions (Probably Based on Redhat)

   a) Add to the Wireless Section

           card "Actontec Wireless PC Card 802.11b"
           manfid 0x1668, 0x0101
           bind "orinoco_cs"

           Comment: I edited these lines into /etc/pcmcia/config.  This 
seemed reasonable in
                               view of the next instruction, 
particularly as config contains similar
                               entries.

   b) vi /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts and add the following at the bottom:

           *,*,*,00:20:E0:*)
           MODE="managed"
           ESSID="any"
           KEY="off"
           ;;

           Comment: I used my lan ESSID  instead of any.

   c) vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1
       This should be a blank document.  Add this to it

           DEVICE =eth1
           ONBOOT=yes
           BOOTPROTO=dhcp
           TYPE=Ethernet

           Comment: There was no sysconfig directory in /etc.  I 
created one but probably
                               this is not the right instruction for 
Debian.

   d) After that you should be able to put in the command:
 
           ifup eth1

        to bring up the card.

       Comment: ifup eth1 reports interface eth1 already configured but 
the card doesn't
                           come up and ifconf -a does not report eth0 
or eth1.

2. The linux-wlan-ng Instructions  (There are several versions.  I did 
the following)

   a) Ensure that the pcmcia-cd source tree is in a subdirectory of 
/usr/src/modules ....
        Note that ... /usr/src/pcmcia-cs.tar.gz when unpacked in the 
/usr/srd directory places
         the pcmcia-cs source tree in the correct location.
         Go to /usr/src/modules/pcmcia-cs
         Execute debian/rules binary-modules

   b) Untar linux-wlan-ng-0.1.15.tar.gz.  

       Comment: I put the tarball in /usr/src and unpacked as instructed.

       Make sure you have a configured kenel and (optionally) pcmcia 
sources on your
       system.  Note, if you are only building ... prism2_usb drivers 
you don't need the
       pcmcia source tree.

       To configure the linux-wlan-ng package, run 'make config'. 
Answer the questions.

       Comment: I said yes only to Build Prism2.5 USB (_usb) driver.

       Run 'make all'

       Run 'make install'

   c) FOR USB USERS:   

           modprobe prism2_usb prism2_doreset=1

           Comment: This runs ok.

           wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable

           Comment: This produces the following:

           hfa384x_docmd: hfa384x_docmd:ctlx failure=REQ_TIMEOUT
           hfa384x_drvr_start: hfa384x_drvr_startcmd_initialize() 
failed, result = -5
           prism2sta_ifstate: hfa384x_drvr_start() failed, result=-5
           hfa384x_usbin_callback: hfa384_usbin_callback:Fatal, failed 
to resubmit rx_urb.
               error=-12
           message=lnxreq_ifstate
               ifstate=enable
               resultcode=implementation_failure

SUMMARY

       ifconfig -a reports wlan0.
       cat /proc/bus/usb/drivers reports prism2_usb.
       lsmod reports prism2_usb and p80211.

        After bootup syslog contains

           usb.c: unhandled interfaces on device
           usb.c: USB device 3 (vendor/prod 0x1668/0x421) is not 
claimed by any active driver

       and kern.log contains

           NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for linux NET4.0
           ds: no socket drivers loaded!

One other setup detail.  One of the instructions was to edit 
/etc/modutils/linux-wlan-ng and uncomment the appropriate line.  I 
uncommented alias wlan0 prism2_usb.

This has been a very long entry but I am stumpted.  I hope someone can help.