Linksys NIC

Lines in bold below have not yet been seen by the customer - those in blue are from the customer

Username : Date : Action : Comments [ close all ]
rogerw05465 : 13/11/01 02:11 PM : Incident created -   Typical newbie question I'm afraid. Thanks for your patience. Intel box, SCSI HD, workstation install went perfectly (!). PCI Linksys Etherfast 10/100 NIC not recognized, and I don't know enough to make it visible. DrakConf doesn't show the card; required tulip drive exists on the box. HOWTOs don't seem to address the problem. I could use a step-by-step troubleshooting process with the on-board tools named. I understand the concepts of module loading etc, just don't know what tools to use to do it. Thanks from a bear of very little brain.
Linegod_7611 : 13/11/01 02:24 PM : Reply received -   As root, at a console, type: # lspcidrake # modprobe tulip # lspcidrake The 'modprobe' may generate errors, and the are most likely caused by Plug and Play be enabled in the BIOS. If so, disable PnP in the BIOS. ------ Note: If this answer resolves your problem, please close this question.
rogerw05465 : 13/11/01 04:40 PM : More info provided -   I turned off PnP, ran lspcidrake, modprobe tulip, lspcidrake as suggested. The first lspcidrake showed (amongst other stuff): Vendor=0x1317 Device=0x0985 (NETWORK_ETHERNET unknown) SubVendor 0x1317 SubDevice 0x0574 After modprobe and the second lspcidrake, no change. However, command lsmod shows the module tulip as size 33392 and as "unused", something I had not noticed before. Command ifconfig still shows only the loopback.
Linegod_7611 : 14/11/01 07:45 AM : Reply received -   ifconfig will only show the loopback until you configure the card. After loading the driver with modprobe, use 'K/Configuration/Other/Mandrake Control Center/Network & Internet/Connection' or use 'netconf' to configure your connection.
rogerw05465 : 14/11/01 02:02 PM : More info provided -   Ran both DrakNet and netconf, so my comments go back and forth as well. I am in Gnome, so your comments got me to DrakConf screen, then to DrakNet; OK. Looked like all was fine, both DrakNet and netconf accepted all terms. No I/O or IRQ used with netconf as they were stated to be optional. None called for in DrakNet. In netconf I used adapter 2, as a previous effort with Linuxconf had shown me that that adapter 1 was supposed to be the loopback. Nonetheless, the system moved my config to adapter 1. Moreover, I had used another host name and the netconf replaced it with "localhost.localdomain", the setup that I had left in the Host name portion of netconf. In the DrakNet window my card (Linksys Etherfast 10/100 PCI) was not listed. I chose the Digital card (21040/21041/21140)as it listed a tulip driver. I haven't looked at my card to see if any of these chips are used. However, it reported that it "found Digital 21040....(Tulip) net interface". In going back and forth between netconf and DrakNet I find that the system is remembering my 10.0.0.100/8 address and mask. At the end, DrakNet asks if I want to restart the network; I answer "yes". Stll nothing other than the loopback shows with ifconfig. I know I shouldn't have to reboot, that there wil be a command to restart/re-read the net setup. What would that command line be? I rebooted, just to clear the system completely. The 7.2 X Windows startup screen, after a bunch of other stuff, showed: ..... Loading HardDrake Checking new hardware Setting network parameters Bringing up Interface l0 and it seems to have locked up solid right there. Even the mouse is frozen. So first, how best to rescue that situation, and second, what went wrong? I would not have thought the system would lock up completely.
Linegod_7611 : 15/11/01 04:35 PM : Reply received -   I apologize, I assumed since this was a new install, you where using one of the newer distros (8.0 or 8.1). You should be able to recover you system using the boot disk created during install. And the loopback device does not have an entry in DrakNet or netconf. Adaptor one should be the one you are configuring. To restart the network configuration, use: # /etc/rc.d/init.d/network restart
rogerw05465 : 15/11/01 09:17 PM : More info provided -   Used the floppy as you suggested. It still booted mostly from the harddrive. Took the non-network maintenance boot offered. Got the machine up but without the eth0. Later, "Bringing up eth0: Delaying eth0 initialization" was the message during the X Windows Mandrake startup. At a terminal "network restart" command didn't work as you wrote it. "./network restart" did, but gave me the same failure. I then used lsmod and saw the tulip drive was not loaded. I read some of the messages I was getting, removed the "irq=10" from the modules.conf file. The tulip driver loaded with modprobe. I then tried the command "/etc/rc5.d/S10network reload", the command Linuxconf used on exit. The machine froze as before. So, the problem as I see it is one of the following: 1) the exisiting tulip driver is wrong for this NIC 2) something about the loading of the driver into the card uses all machine resources and locks the machine. If you agree with the former, what is the right process for getting a driver into the right place and format. Just copy it? I have a tulip driver that came with the NIC, so I will try that while you are getting back to me with your thoughts. Thanks. Perhaps a drag for you, but you are teaching me a lot. Roger
rogerw05465 : 16/11/01 12:23 AM : More info provided -   A couple of more thoughts. I figured out how to get the tulip.c file from the floppy with the NIC to the Mandrake box (in itself an adventure). How I would compile it to run on this box I have no clue. I read the manpage for gcc and there is simply too much I don't know. From the directory where tulip.c sits I tried: gcc -I/etc/rc.d/init.d/inet -O tulip.c This was based on the help file on the disk that came with the tulip.c, and I substituted for where I found the inet file. There was a lot more, none of which I understood. In any case, it didn't work. Should I bag it and get a card that is better supported, or are you willing to carry on? If the former, please suggest something that will work out of the box. Side question: What is the little logo on the Gnome screen that looks like a penguin trying to get out of an egg? If it marks me as a newly hatched Linux person, it's right! There is a lot to learn...but can it go away, and if so, how? Roger
Linegod_7611 : 16/11/01 04:41 PM : Reply received -   Did you switch the configuration over to Adaptor One? It wasn't quite clear in your response if you did. Instead of recompiling the driver, what I would attempt is to remove the configuration for the ethernet card, shutdown the box, remove the card, reboot, then shutdown again, replace the card, and reboot. It should detect the addition and allow you to configure it. Turning off Plug and Play in the BIOS may also help. A little bit of a pain, but it has worked countless times for me.
rogerw05465 : 17/11/01 02:25 PM : More info provided -   OK, this is what I did: Checked to see if PnP was off. It is. Used netconf to remove info on the Adapter #1. However, I did leave it with the "enabled" button on. SHutdown. Removed the NIC. Rebooted. Checked lsmod. No tulip driver loaded, as expected. Shutdown. Installed the NIC in the first PCI slot where it has been. Booted, dropped out of the graphic login tothe command line. Logged in as root. Used netconf to replace NIC info for Adapter #1. Left it "enabled" and "manual" (as opposed to DHCP or BootP). On exiting the program I got the message saying it had found things had changed, do I want the S10network restart command to run. I said yes. Immediately got a PCI bus Fatal Error that repeats, hence my earlier reports of lockup - the machine is busy! Shutdown, switched slots (now on 2nd PCI slot), rebooted. I took the failsafe boot mode, and when it gave me the screen I took the Text with Network boot. It got as far as: Loading HardDrake Checking for new hardware Setting network parameters Bringing up interface lo: Bringing up interface ethO and it locked here. Seems the same thing is happening as before. It sees the NIC, otherwise we wouldn't be getting the "Bringing up interface eht0" line. But it is choking on that card by the look of things. Let me say here again that I feel you have done perhaps all you can. It should be working! Perhaps the card is not compatible, busted, whatever. I do have an ISA Intel Etherexpress 10mb NIC I can use ( haven't tried all this with that card yet), but I would also love your recommendation for solid, well suported NICs that are basically trouble-free. 3c50x perhaps? Intel EtherxxxPCI? D-Link? I am traveling over the next few days to Halifax NS, and then off on a family deal over Thanksgiving, so I won't be around the machine for 10 days. I can pick up another NIC if you think that would be better than the ISA card I have. This is a small test lab (3 routers,2 switches, hopefully 1 Linux host...) so throughput is not the major deal. I will take your recommendation. Thanks Roger
Linegod_7611 : 19/11/01 04:33 AM : Reply received -   Personally, I would go with a StarTech card. They are cheap, work well, and are supported under Linux (they use the RealTek chipset). If you don't want to go with the StarTech, go with the 3Com 509 series.
rogerw05465 : 27/11/01 08:39 PM : More info provided -   Well, I went with a Kingston, as a friend had one. It has a Digital chipset that is supposed to be good, or at least I have seen it written up in LJ. Uses the Tulip driver (remember that?!). It loaded right off the bat, not a blink of an eye.... My guess is that the Linksys board is 1)bad out of the box, or 2) incompatible with the enclosed Tulip driver. In either case, I will presume to take it back to Staples and see what they want to do with it. In any case, looks like this case is closed, and I thank you very much for your time, good humor, and patience. You taught me a lot, and I am gratefl for that. You may find me wandering around the tech suport area when it comes time to get the modem up and operational. Thanks again. Roger Williams
rogerw05465 : 12/12/01 05:09 AM : Incident closed -

---