[SUCCESS] Re: IrDA dongle ceased to work when I upgraded to Debian Lenny

[Omer Zak]

Thanks, Hetz, for the pointer.

>From reading it, I found that I should check for the ir_usb module, and
indeed it was loaded.
I did 'rmmod ir_usb' and then '/etc/init.d/irda-utils restart' and then
voila 'ircp -r' worked and I could at last transfer files from my
cellphone to the PC!

My /etc/modules.conf includes the line 'alias ir-usb null' - apparently
this is not enough to turn off ir_usb (and I don't find ir_usb
in /lib/modules, although ir-usb.ko exists).

So my immediate problem was solved, but a puzzle remains.

--- Omer


On Tue, 2009-04-14 at 02:13 +0300, Hetz Ben Hamo wrote:
> I don't see in your /var/log/messages anything from inserting your dongle.
> I don't see any specific module that loads the dongle. "irda" module
> is *NOT* covering the USB dongles, for that there is ir-usb module,
> and I don't see anything on your messages that shows this loads at
> all..
> 
> I suggest you take a look here:
> http://www.linux.com/base/ldp/howto/Infrared-HOWTO/infrared-howto-s-irda-usb.html
> 
> Thanks,
> Hetz
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:46 AM, Omer Zak <w1 at zak.co.il> wrote:
> > I tried dpkg-reconfigure irda-utils
> > Choosing serial device, it offers the default 'irda0' as serial device
> > file for IrDA.
> > For dongle type I tried both 'none', 'actisys', 'actisys+' (I read
> > somewhere that my dongle is 'actisys').
> >
> > The command produces the following output:
> > =====>
> > # dpkg-reconfigure irda-utils
> > Stopping IrDA service: irattach.
> > .udevdb or .udev presence implies active udev.  Aborting MAKEDEV
> > invocation.
> > .udevdb or .udev presence implies active udev.  Aborting MAKEDEV
> > invocation.
> >
> > ************************************************************************
> > *
> > * The update-modules command is deprecated and should not be used!
> > *
> > ************************************************************************
> >
> > Starting IrDA service: irattach.
> > =====>
> >
> > In the /var/log/everything/current, I see the following messages:
> > =====>
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] executing: '/sbin/modprobe irda0'
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] + FATAL: Module irda0 not found.
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] Trying to load module irda0 exited with
> > status 1
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] executing: 'echo c2
> >> /proc/sys/net/irda/devname'
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] executing: 'echo 1
> >> /proc/sys/net/irda/discovery'
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] Starting device irda0
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] ioctl(SIOCGIFFLAGS): No such device
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] Stopping device irda0
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] ioctl(SIOCGIFFLAGS): No such device
> > Apr 14 00:30:32 [irattach] exiting ..._
> > =====>
> >
> > The kernel does have the module 'irda' as the
> > file /lib/modules/2.6.26-1-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko
> >
> > The /etc/modules.conf file has (among lots of other stuff) the following
> > lines, and I don't know if and what to do with them:
> > =====>
> > options ali-ircc
> > alias irda0 ali-ircc
> > =====>
> >
> > In /etc/udev/rules.d I had an IrDA rule when I used Debian Sarge, but
> > the rule was removed for Debian Etch because IrDA worked out of the box
> > for me there.  When reinstating the rule for Debian Lenny, the IrDA
> > dongle did not work for me.  The rule which I tried was (or something
> > similar):
> > BUS=="usb", SYSFS{product}=="IRExpress USB IrDA Controller",
> > NAME=="usb/%k", SYMLINK+="usb/irda-usb"
> >
> > Of course, Google did not find for me anything relevant.
> >
> > --- Omer
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 2009-04-14 at 00:06 +0300, Hetz Ben Hamo wrote:
> >> Hi Omer,
> >>
> >> This could be from the "hotplug" script not knowing what to do with your dongle.
> >>
> >> My suggestion would be:
> >>
> >> 1. see whats your system writes to /var/log/messages
> >> 2. rmmod the module and modprobe it while the device is connected. By
> >> doing modprobe, it should do all the stuff needed (create device, show
> >> the device name in /var/log/messages) and show some status about it.
> >>
> >> Hope this helps,
> >> Hetz
> >>
> >> On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 11:55 PM, Omer Zak <w1 at zak.co.il> wrote:
> >> > Using lsusb, the dongle in question identifies itself as:
> >> > ID 050f:0180 KC Technology, Inc. KC-180 IrDA Dongle
> >> >
> >> > When I used Debian Etch, the device /dev/irda0 was automatically created
> >> > and all worked out of the box.
> >> >
> >> > After upgrade to Debian Lenny, the udev-created device changed, due to
> >> > some mysterious reason, to /dev/ttyUSB0 and now the dongle does not work
> >> > out of the box (does not connect to my cellphone using 'ircp -r' unlike
> >> > in the Etch era).
> >> >
> >> > Does anyone know what changed and what&how to change so that it'll work
> >> > again?
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