TOSHIBA SATELLITE 2545CDS linux page Date: 03-12-2009 ------------------------------------ Version history 03-12-2009 - Added Ircd section and a COM1 issues section 03-03-2009 - Added Thumbdrive section 07-09-2004 - First version of this document This will help you with some problems installing Red Hat 9 because that is what I was installing when I encountered them. This page should also help you if you are installing a different distribution as well. PCMCIA problems --------------- If you get this error : PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:13.0. Please try using pci=biosirq PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin B of device 00:13.0. Please try using pci=biosirq or something similar, go to the laptop setup by pressing ESC key as it is booting up. Then press F1, and then hit PageDn to go to the 2nd setup screen. Now find, the bios settings for the PC CARD and it should most likely be in "Auto-Selected" mode. Now Press the space bar until it reads "CardBus/16-bit". Now save the settings and reboot. This should fix the pcmcia stuff. PCMCIA (more problems) ---------------------- My system was hanging whenever I simply inserted a card and heard 2 beeps. (This should have been a successful insertion since 2 beeps mean 'ok'). So I changed my /etc/pcmcia/config.opts so that the lines look like this: (Before) include memory 0xc0000-0xfffff include memory 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff, memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff To this: (After) include memory 0xc0000-0xfffff include memory 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff Notice that the 'memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff' has been deleted. Now reboot and it should be fixed. PCMCIA Battery Problems ----------------------- You may find that the PCMCIA card that you use under AC power does not work when you plug it in while the laptop is running on batteries and it will give off a regular beep followed by a low beep instead of 2 regular beeps. I have found a workaround for this problem by doing a pcmcia stop, followed by card insertion, followd by pcmcia start, to get the card recognized by the laptop when it is runing on batteries. Some usenet sources stated that this is a problem with the PCMCIA driver. SOUND problems -------------- The Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS uses the Opl3SAx sound card so add the lines below to your /etc/modules.conf : alias midi opl3sa alias sound cs4232 alias sound-slot-0 cs4232 alias sound-slot-1 off alias sound-slot-2 off alias sound-slot-3 off alias sound-service-0-0 cs4232 # /dev/mixer alias sound-service-0-1 opl3sa # /dev/sequencer alias sound-service-0-2 opl3sa # /dev/midi alias sound-service-0-3 cs4232 # /dev/dsp alias sound-service-0-8 cs4232 # /dev/music alias sound-service-0-12 cs4232 # /dev/adsp options opl3sa io=0x388 options cs4232 io=0x534 irq=5 dma=1 dma2=0 mpuio=0x330 mpuirq=5 This should fix your sound card detection problem. MODEM problems -------------- This Toshiba laptop uses a dreaded Winmodem. That means that you will need to load a module to control it. The modem is a Lucent Microelectronics 56K Winmodem (Rev 1) so you can simply compile the source driver from http://www.heby.de/ltmodem Once successfuly loaded, you can control it with normal AT commands with any terminal program like a real modem. The modem device by default is /dev/ttyLT0 COM1 issues ----------- Note: The infrared IRDA device uses /dev/ttyS0 and so does the external COM1 port on the rear of the laptop, therefore if you want to use an external modem, make sure to turn off the irda by issuing a "/etc/rc.d/init.d/ircd stop" . IRDA ---- The Toshiba Satellite 2545CDS Infrared port does indeed work if the kernel supports it. Make sure that "/etc/rc.d/init.d/ircd start" is run at boot time. Make sure you load the following modules irda irlan irnet ircomm irtty irport toshoboe The irda1 device (in ifconfig) attaches to /dev/ttyS0 so check that /etc/sysconfig/irda is configured. Here is a typical /etc/sysconfig/irda file: IRDA=yes DEVICE=/dev/ttyS0 DISCOVERY=yes Bring up the irda1 interface with "ifconfig irda1 up" for Irlan bring it up with an address as well. Testing it: do a "irdadump" irdadump should produce a nice continuous dump of raw data. USB THUMBDRIVES --------------- Thumbdrives will work with the laptop using Red Hat 9 though it is a bit quirky. Assuming the kernel was compiled with support for the Generic SCSI module, usb-storage modules, etc, after inserting a thumbdrive, it may not be obvious which device it latches to. Fear not! Investigating "dmesg" output, /var/log/messages, or /proc/partitions may reveal which /dev/sd* to mount, although it may not show up as clearly as with newer kernels. Most of the time you can do a "mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/other". Note that if mount hangs after mounting a thumbdrive - for example, a certain 2GB thumbdrive - you will need mount the entire drive instead of a specific partition, For example, "mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/other" instead of "mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/other" One possible hint that it will hang is seeing a bunch of partitions on the /var/log/messages after only inserting the thumbdrive: ================================================================ Attached scsi removable disk sdb at scsi2, channel 0, id 0, lun 0 Mar 3 17:16:16 green489 kernel: SCSI device sdb: 3948544 512-byte hdwr sectors (2022 MB) Mar 3 17:16:16 green489 kernel: sdb: Write Protect is off Mar 3 17:16:16 green489 kernel: sdb:<7>usb-storage: queuecommand() called Mar 3 17:16:16 green489 kernel: sdb1 sdb2 sdb3 sdb4 Mar 3 17:16:19 green489 /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: Setup usb-storage for USB product a16/2005/100 ================================================================ After seeing the above message in the log file, mount sdb instead of sdb1. For example, "mount -t vfat /dev/sdb /mnt/other" should work. Don't forget to umount before pulling out the thumbdrive. Thumbdrives tested where the 64MB bf2142 "dogtag", a promotional 256MB (Vendor: CBM Model: Flash Disk), a Verbatim 2GB drive (this drive gave the message above), and an HP 4GB thumbdrive. Send questions to yacarf at yahoo period com