Cisco Aironet MPI350: dualboot

[d***@att.net]

Hello again,

My issue of the day is the Cisco aironet mini-pci wireless adapter
(mpi350) on my T30. I've known for some time from other folks (both in
FreeBSD and Linux) that you MUST downgrade the firmware to the earliest
version (5.003). This is true, and once I've done this, it has always
worked for me. On FreeBSD 4.9-release, it works like a champ.

But now, unfortunately, I'm in a situation where I need to configure
some laptops with dualboot (XP & FreeBSD). I think what I've discovered
is that while the old firmware must be used for FreeBSD/Linux, the cisco
adapter won't work under XP unless the firmware is upgraded, thus I
think I'm looking at a conflict of interests here.
(summary: it seems that if I upgrade the firmware to the latest version,
wireless in xp will work, but when I activate 'an0' in freebsd and run
dhclient, my t30 seizes. Conversely, if i downgrade the firmware,
freebsd works, but then XP can't negotiate a dhcp address.)

I wouldn't dare ask anybody here an XP question. I'm just looking for
independent confirmation of what I've found.

Has anybody run into the same issue and found the same thing?
If so, then I'll know what I'm up against and can think about some
options. If you tell me that you've been able to get both XP and FreeBSD
to dual-boot and coexist with the same aironet firmware, then I'll
assume that I'm doing something stupid.

Thanks,
DW

[p***@pir.net]

Post by d***@att.net
Has anybody run into the same issue and found the same thing?

Doug A. was working on supporting the newer firmware, but I don't know
how far he got with it.

Post by d***@att.net
If so, then I'll know what I'm up against and can think about some
options. If you tell me that you've been able to get both XP and
FreeBSD to dual-boot and coexist with the same aironet firmware,
then I'll assume that I'm doing something stupid.

You could set up scripts in XP to upgrade/downgrade the firmware on
boot and shutdown, but it'd be kinda painful and I don't know enough
about XP to do it.

Probably the easiest thing until support for the more recent firmware
gets in is to swap it out for a prism minipci card or something.

P.

[k***@NEEBU.Net]

### On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 23:19:03 -0500, Duane Winner <***@att.net>
### casually decided to expound upon freebsd-mobile
### <freebsd-***@freebsd.org> the following thoughts about "Cisco Aironet
### MPI350: dualboot":

DW> But now, unfortunately, I'm in a situation where I need to configure
DW> some laptops with dualboot (XP & FreeBSD). I think what I've discovered
DW> is that while the old firmware must be used for FreeBSD/Linux, the cisco
DW> adapter won't work under XP unless the firmware is upgraded, thus I
DW> think I'm looking at a conflict of interests here.
DW> (summary: it seems that if I upgrade the firmware to the latest version,
DW> wireless in xp will work, but when I activate 'an0' in freebsd and run
DW> dhclient, my t30 seizes. Conversely, if i downgrade the firmware,
DW> freebsd works, but then XP can't negotiate a dhcp address.)

I'm running the older firmware (5.00.01) on my card. In order to make it
work in Windows, you need to install NDIS driver version 2.2.2 instead of
the newer Windows NDIS drivers. You should then be able to dual-boot fine.

Here's the procedure I used:

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-mobile/2003-December/002525.html


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