Personal Website of Yakov Shafranovich

Solving “Unknown Device” Errors when Upgrading Windows

The following was something I learned from a recent computer upgrade I did for someone else (from Windows ME to Windows 2000) - after installing Windows 2000 fresh, and getting all the drivers, there was still one unknown device left in Device Manager. Apparently it is a common problem with Intel’s SMBus driver.

Here are the steps I took to solve the problem:
1. Followed instructions in this Microsoft KB article on looking up the PCI vendor and device information (8086 and 2443).
2. Looking up the vendor ID and device ID in www.pcidatabase.com (it turned out to be SMBus device made by Intel).
3. Got the chipset ID utility from Intel to identify the chipset (turned out to be 815EM).
4. Went to the Intel Chipset Install Utility download page.
5. I had to go through the release notes on every version posted until I found the version I wanted and the chipset I wanted.
6. Download, install and enjoy!

P.S. The driver name in the end is “82801BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443″ for Windows 2000, something that the “nice” people from this site want to charge $4.95 for while it is available for free from Intel.

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How to Install HP LaserJet 1100A as a Scanner on Windows XP

I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY OR WARRANTY FOR THESE INSTRUCTIONS WHICH ARE NOT AUTHORIZED BY HP IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM. IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS, YOU ARE DOING SO ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK

I recently troubleshooted an HP LaserJet 1100A all-in-one device for someone. The problem is that the product has been discontinued for some time and HP has never made the scanner drivers available for Windows XP. After browsing through many forums online, I found a solution that actually works:

1. Install the original 1100A software for Windows 2000 which includes the scanning feature. If you do not have the original CD, you can order one from HP here. HOWEVER, it is also available for download freely right here (I am making a mirror available here). It is a 25 MB file so be prepared.
2. Download and install the hp LaserJet 1100A communications update from here. It is an 800kb file called “lj1100cuwinnt42kxp-en.exe” (my own mirror here). Install this update.
3. Download and install the HP Scanner Update utility for Windows 2000 for 1100A. This is what actually makes the scanner portion of the printer work with Windows XP.You can download it here (my mirror here). The file is called “lj188en.exe” and it is about 2.2 MB.
4. If you already installed the printer, go to its properties and change the driver to “HP Desktop”. If you did not, install it now.
5. Make sure you have the HP Helper application in your system tray (to start it go to “C:\HPDESK\hpdriv.exe”). Put something in your scanner slot and press the computer button on the printer. Your computer should popup a window asking if you want to copy or scan.

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WPA2 Drivers for Discontinued Microsoft Wireless PCMCIA Card (MN-520)

After struggling to find WPA2 drivers for the Microsoft Wireless PCMCIA adaptor (MN-520) for a newly rebuilt laptop, I decided to post instructions as to where to find them. Especially, since this product has been discontinued by Microsoft and for some obscure reason removed them from Windows Update.

Anyway, to instal the drivers you need to install original Microsoft Broadband Networking Software from Microsoft, and then the updated version with WPA2 support. As a third step, you also need the WPA2 update for Microsoft Windows XP (you do need a genuine copy of Windows for step 3).

More information can be found here and here.

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WPA on Fedora Core 3 with Microsoft’s MN-520 WiFi Card

I had the the Microsoft MN-520 Wireless PCMCIA Card for some time but have never yet used a router with WPA support. With the move and a new wireless setup, I decided to use WPA-PSK for better security over plain WEP. Much to my suprise Linux did not support WPA out of the box (unlike Windows XP SP2) but after some fiddling, I got it to work. I am going to summarize the steps that I took in this post in hopes that it would be helpful for someone else.

NOTE: I am running Redhat Fedora Core 3 and am providing instructions for that OS only.

To start off, the default wireless driver used for this card (orinoco_cs) does not support WPA. In order to use WPA with this card, you will need to install a different driver plus a special software piece called a “supplicant” which takes care of the authentication (I happen to use “wpa_supplicant”). Here are the steps you should follows.

1. Download the latest stable hostap-driver, wpa_supplicant and hostap-utils source from http://hostap.epitest.fi/.
2. Extract the hostap-driver and hostap-utils source into two directories, switch to root (su) and run make in each directory (if you are running kernel v2.6.12, you will need to fiddle with the source of the kernel until hostap compiles properly).

NOTE: Before running make on hostap-driver, you will need to enable the NVRAM download. Look for a file called “hostap_config.h” in “/driver/modules” directory of the extracted source. In it, find the line “#define PRISM2_NON_VOLATILE_DOWNLOAD” and make sure it is NOT commented out.

3. Run the “make install” command in the hostap-driver directory to install the driver.
4. Find the “/etc/pcmcia/config” file. In it you will find the entry for the Microsoft MN-520 card. You need to comment out the entry with “#”.
5. Restart the pcmcia services by running “/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart” in order to reload the configuration file.
6. In the system log you should see something along the lines of the following when you insert the PCMCIA card (you can use “tail /var/log/messages -f” to monitor it):

Jul 31 17:16:46 localhost kernel: hostap_cs: 0.3.7 - 2005-02-12 (Jouni Malinen)
Jul 31 17:16:47 localhost kernel: hostap_cs: Registered netdevice wifi0
Jul 31 17:16:47 localhost kernel: hostap_cs: index 0×01: Vcc 5.0, irq 3, io 0×0100-0×013f
Jul 31 17:16:47 localhost kernel: wifi0: NIC: id=0×800c v1.0.0
Jul 31 17:16:47 localhost kernel: wifi0: PRI: id=0×15 v1.1.0
Jul 31 17:16:47 localhost kernel: wifi0: STA: id=0×1f v1.4.97. Now at this point, the driver should be functional. HOWEVER, the second piece of the puzzle - the wpa_supplicant WILL NOT work until the firmware on the actual card is upgraded. Before doing that, go into the hostap-utils directory, and run the following command: “./hostap_diag wlan0″. You should see something along the lines of:

NICID: id=0×800c v1.0.0 (PRISM II (2.5) PCMCIA (SST parallel flash))
PRIID: id=0×0015 v1.1.0
STAID: id=0×001f v1.4.9 (station firmware)

The three version numbers in the syslog and provided by hostap_diag are the version numbers of the firmware. In order for wpa_supplicant to work, they need to be upgraded to v1.70 (the latest is 1.84). Jun Sun has a webpage devoted to the discussion on the gory details.

NOTE: Flashing firmware on your card may render is unusable and is not covered by warranty. Additionally, depending on the country you are in and the manufacturor of the card, this may even be illegal. I take no responsibility for anything that may happen to you or your card. Remember: you are on your own here
8. Download the latest Prism firmware from Pavel Roski’s site. In that file you will find several directories. In the primary directory look for a file called “pk*something”, in the secondary look for a file called “sf*something”. These are the right firmware revisions for the MN-520 card. Make sure that the “sf” file is numbered at least above 01070.
9. Put the two files into the hostap-util directory and run “./prism2_srec pk**** sk*****”. You NEED to include both files. If everything is fine, the program will end off with an “OK” message. This just a check to make sure the files are compatible.
10. If you are to update the card, run “./prism2_srec -v -f pk**** sk*****” to actually update the card. Following that, plug it out and plug it back in, and you should have the following in your syslog indicating the higher version numbers:

kernel: wifi0: NIC: id=0×800c v1.0.0
kernel: wifi0: PRI: id=0×15 v1.1.1
kernel: wifi0: STA: id=0×1f v1.8.4

11. After this is done, you can actually replace the hostap drivers with RPMs from atRPMs since the firmware update ability will no longer be needed.
12. After this is all finished, install wpa_supplicant (either via a precompiled RPMs or straight compiled). After installation, change the “/etc/wpa_suplicant.conf” file with your network data and run it as follows:

/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 -d

If everything is fine, the WPA support should go up and work.

Feel free to leave comments on this post.

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