Knowledgebase

Issue:

Trouble shooting tips for the Perle-Serial (Ultraport/PCI-RAS/Speed LE) v2.x.x driver.

Solution:

Ensure that your current 2.4.x/2.6.x kernel is enabled for special Character device support, otherwise the driver compilation may fail. See the below link for more details.

Once the v2.x.x driver module has been installed and the ports added, the Linux host will automatically load the perle-serial module if any port is opened. You can verify if the module is loaded by listing the modules using the lsmod command:

[root@rh9 i386]# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
perle-serial 42372 0 (autoclean)

If the module is not loaded automatically, it can be loaded from the command line:

[root@rh9 i386]# modprobe perle-serial

When the module loads for the first time it will probe the system for the Ultraport card and display information in your messages file. The Perle devices will always appear as ttyPS devices:

[root@rh9 i386]# more /var/log/messages
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: Perle Serial driver version 2.00 (2003-12-24) with SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI enabled
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 00:12.0
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 00:0e.0
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS0 at port 0x2480 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS1 at port 0x2488 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS2 at port 0x2490 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS3 at port 0x2498 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS4 at port 0x24a0 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS5 at port 0x24a8 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS6 at port 0x24b0 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS7 at port 0x24b8 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS8 at port 0x24c0 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS9 at port 0x24c8 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS10 at port 0x24d0 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS11 at port 0x24d8 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS12 at port 0x24e0 (irq = 11) is a ST16650V2
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS13 at port 0x24e8 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS14 at port 0x24f0 (irq = 11) is a ST16654
Feb 20 09:25:12 rh9 kernel: ttyPS15 at port 0x24f8 (irq = 11) is a ST16654

Note: if your system boots up and detects the Ultraport serial ports as ttySxx devices then the older patch has not been removed properly.
Example from /var/log/dmesg:

ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS1 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:10.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:14.2
ttyS4 at port 0x2480 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS5 at port 0x2488 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS6 at port 0x2490 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS7 at port 0x2498 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS8 at port 0x24a0 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS9 at port 0x24a8 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS10 at port 0x24b0 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS11 at port 0x24b8 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS12 at port 0x24c0 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS13 at port 0x24c8 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS14 at port 0x24d0 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS15 at port 0x24d8 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS16 at port 0x24e0 (irq = 10) is a ST16650V2
ttyS17 at port 0x24e8 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS18 at port 0x24f0 (irq = 10) is a ST16654
ttyS19 at port 0x24f8 (irq = 10) is a ST16654

Please refer to the current Ultraport manual for instructions on removing the old patch.

Related Articles:
1.) Perle Multiport Serial Cards and the Linux kernel