R60 won't boot any OS unless WLAN card is hidden

[peter-123]

Hi,

a week ago my R60 suddenly stoped booting any OS. Windows (7 and XP) hangs right after displaying the Starting screen. Linux gives some lines of output but none of them stating that an error occured and then freezes completely without signaling a kernel panic (see below).

The kernel output is about PCI/ ACPI, so i started to disable the devices in the BIOS. After disabling the internal WLAN device Windows and Linux started again. Now i bought a new WLAN card (Intel 4965AGN) after testing the old in another notebook, where i didn't work. But the problem is still there.

The BIOS recognizes the card and throws the 1802 error at me. After applying Zenders BIOS both, Windows and Linux, boot to the same point as described above.

So i started to play arround with the related kernel parameters. This yields that "noapic", "nolapic", "acpi=off" or "pci=noacpi" let Linux complete the boot. The WLAN device gets recognized and kernel modules are loaded but no connections are available. In the logs is a statement about an issue while loading the firmware (see below).

I also tried serveral other BIOS versions, which provided older versions of the BIOS itself and the EC firmware. For this purpose i also installed the original WLAN card to avoid the 1802 error. But both devices give the same error in the logs.

Is there any possibility to get the internal WLAN device working again?

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Output from kernel boot:

Code: Select all

ACPI FADT declares the system doesn't support PCIe ASPM, so disable it
ACPI: bus type pci registered
PCI: MMCONFIG for domain 0000 [bus 00-3f] at [mem 0xf0000000-0xf3ffffff] (base 0xf0000000)
PCI: MMCONFIG at [mem 0xf0000000-0xf3ffffff] reserved in E820
PCI: Using configuration type 1 for base access
bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
ACPI: EC: EC description table is found, configuring boot EC

Kernel output with pci=noacpi

Code: Select all

[   13.220715] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, in-tree:s
[   13.220720] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2010 Intel Corporation
[   13.220880] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: can't find IRQ for PCI INT A; probably buggy MP table
[   13.220895] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   13.274800] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 23 802.11a channels
[   13.274804] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG
[   13.274960] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: irq 46 for MSI/MSI-X
[   13.277757] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs'
[   21.734730] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 15.32.2.9
[   21.737926] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: BSM uCode verification failed at addr 0x00003800+0 (of 900), is 0x6244bffe, s/b 0xf802020
[   21.737930] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Unable to set up bootstrap uCode: -5
[   21.739369] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: BSM uCode verification failed at addr 0x00003800+0 (of 900), is 0x400000, s/b 0xf802020
[   21.739372] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Unable to set up bootstrap uCode: -5
[   21.740836] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: BSM uCode verification failed at addr 0x00003800+4 (of 900), is 0x2069, s/b 0x400000
[   21.740839] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Unable to set up bootstrap uCode: -5
[   23.749069] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Wait for START_ALIVE timeout after 2000ms.
[   24.279907] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: BSM uCode verification failed at addr 0x00003800+0 (of 900), is 0x400000, s/b 0xf802020
[   24.279912] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Unable to set up bootstrap uCode: -5
[   24.281381] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: BSM uCode verification failed at addr 0x00003800+4 (of 900), is 0x2069, s/b 0x400000
[   24.281384] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Unable to set up bootstrap uCode: -5
[   26.290061] iwl3945 0000:03:00.0: Wait for START_ALIVE timeout after 2000ms.

[Harryc]

How did you test the original 4965 card? I don't understand this "after testing the old in another notebook, where i didn't work."

[peter-123]

The "tests" consists of pluging in both cards in a Dell notebook and booting into an Ubuntu Live DVD. The original Intel 3945ABG card which was shiped with my R60 was not recognized by this setup (didn't even show up in a lspci), whereas the new (not Lenovo branded) 4965AGN worked. But now i'm thinking it's a kind of blacklist which affected the initial test of the 3945ABG card as both cards yield the same results (starting only with the given kernel parameters and not being able to load firmware, which is installed) in my R60 with Zenders BIOS.

[Harryc]

From your description it sounds like an mPCI-e slot problem, but if it were me I'd get another genuine Lenovo FRU 3945ABG replacement card and try it first. If that fails suspect the system board.