Thinkpad T30 modem (Agere AC'97)

[d***@att.net]

Hello all,

I'm trying to get my modem working on my IBM T30. It is the standard
Agere AC'97 modem that IBM is shipping with the NIC/modem combo these
days.

I'm running 4.9-RELEASE with the latest cvsup.

I read on another post that I should still use the ltmdm port, as it
should work with the Agere just as it did with with the Lucent Winmodem.
But after I install the port and reboot, dmesg reports nothing.

I was able to do this with no problems on my T23, however that was a
Lucent Winmodem.

Am I spacing out and forgetting something? According to the notes I took
from when I did the T23, this was all I did and it worked.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
DW

[p***@pir.net]

Post by d***@att.net
I'm trying to get my modem working on my IBM T30. It is the standard
Agere AC'97 modem that IBM is shipping with the NIC/modem combo these
days.
I read on another post that I should still use the ltmdm port, as it
should work with the Agere just as it did with with the Lucent Winmodem.
But after I install the port and reboot, dmesg reports nothing.

As far as I'm aware there is no support for the Agere AC'97 winmodem.
I havn't manage to use the one in my X30, I just use a pcmcia hardware
modem.

P.

[t***@nas.nasa.gov]

I was able to do this [use ltmdm] with no problems on my T23, however that was a
Lucent Winmodem.

IBM sells two cardlets for its ThinkPads. The one that has only a
Losemodem on it came with my ThinkPad T23 and works with ltmdm. The other
one (which came with NASA's T23 that I use) has both an Agere Losemodem
and an 802.11b NIC. As far as I have been able to tell, there is no
support at all for the Agere, though the NIC on that cardlet works just
fine.

[p***@pir.net]

though the NIC on that cardlet works just fine.

I, and some other people, had some issues with that card until giving
it a firmware upgrade (not from IBM, more recent than their available
firmware) and a small kernel patch to add DELAY(1); in a couple of
places.

All the details are in the archives.

P.

[t***@nas.nasa.gov]

I ... had some issues with that [ThinkPad NIC] card until giving it a
firmware upgrade ...
All the details are in the archives.

I can't find "all the details" by searching Questions, Stable, and Mobile
using all combinations of the keywords, ThinkPad, 802.11b, and BIOS. Any
suggestions?

[p***@pir.net]

Post by t***@nas.nasa.gov
I can't find "all the details" by searching Questions, Stable, and Mobile
using all combinations of the keywords, ThinkPad, 802.11b, and BIOS. Any
suggestions?

It isn't a BIOS upgrade, it's a minipci card flash upgrade and wasn't
thinkpad specific.

freebsd-mobile, one thread subject Re: prism 2.5 timeout in wi_cmd 0x010b.
Patch is in Message-Id: <***@tel.fer.hr>

P.

[p***@pir.net]

I haven't bought a modem in years, much less a PCMCIA.
Any good suggestions?

I use a US Robotics XJ1560 upgraded to 56k. You can still find them
used around fairly cheap. There are several on ebay.

P.

[t***@freebsd.org]

Dave and Peter,
Thanks for your input.
Discouraging news, but not the end of the world. I rarely go on the road
or use PPP anymore, so it doesn't affect me much. The other two guys in
my group might grumble a bit, but they'll just have to deal with it.
I haven't bought a modem in years, much less a PCMCIA.
Any good suggestions?

I ran into this same problem with my Thinkpad R40. I ended up buying a
Zonet ZFM5600. It was relatively inexpensive and worked fine when I was
on the road over the holidays. The probe message says:

sio4: <INTEL CORP V92 MODEM AT-MD56XX> at port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 5 function 0 con
fig 33 on pccard0
sio4: type 16550A
sio4: unable to activate interrupt in fast mode - using normal mode

The last line is because the modem shares its irq with cbb0.

[s***@best.com]

Post by t***@nas.nasa.gov
IBM sells two cardlets for its ThinkPads. The one that has only a
Losemodem on it came with my ThinkPad T23 and works with ltmdm. The other
one (which came with NASA's T23 that I use) has both an Agere Losemodem
and an 802.11b NIC. As far as I have been able to tell, there is no
support at all for the Agere, though the NIC on that cardlet works just
fine.

Actually, there's at least one more. The mini-PCI card currently fitted
to my HP Omnibook[0] is an Intel NIC (fxp driver) and a Lucent modem
(works perfectly with 'ltmdm'). The Intel NIC offers PXEboot,
downloadable microcode (in FreeBSD) and doesn't ever have the problems
with high load that the original 3Com did.

It was originally an IBM part (strangely, I think it was described as an
"EtherJet"), bought as NOS on Ebay for $25.

The connectors are standardized, doesn't even void warranty for
user-replacement.

Cheers,

AS

[0] Omnibook 6000's came with a 3Com NIC and a 3Com Losemodem. The NIC
kind of sucked, but the modem wasn't ever going to work.

6100's came with an Intel/Lucent card stock, so an alternate source for
this would be HP. I think some Compaqs also used the Intel/Lucent combo,
but it can be tough to work it out from their parts listings.