Debian Lenny AMD64 netinstall not detecting ethernet correctly

the trooper · 07-26-2008, 01:54 PM

Hello all!
With the imminent release of of Lenny,i thought i might try the net install disc.
After starting the installation in textmode, i get as far as setting up a network connection.
The installer gives me the option of eth0 or eth1.
I know from previous installations my machine uses eth1 currently.
But the installer will only auto-configure if i select eth0?

Here is the result of ifconfig:

Code:

debian:~# ifconfig
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:18:F3:4C:DE:25
          inet addr:192.168.0.2  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::218:f3ff:fe4c:de25/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:99566 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:63760 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:137823051 (131.4 MiB)  TX bytes:5209180 (4.9 MiB)
          Interrupt:10 Base address:0xe000

eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:18:F3:4C:E3:28
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:11

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:78 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:78 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:5404 (5.2 KiB)  TX bytes:5404 (5.2 KiB)

When i try the Etch net install disc it detects eth1 just fine.
Has anybody else come across this problem,i tried googling but didn't find anything conclusive.
If i continue with the install is it possible to configure the system to use eth1 instead?
My motherboard is an Asus M2N32SLI with an AMD64 X2 5000 processor.
Here is the result of lspci:

Code:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 0 (rev a2)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 1 (rev a2)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 5 (rev a2)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 4 (rev a2)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Host Bridge (rev a2)
00:00.6 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 3 (rev a2)
00:00.7 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation C51 Memory Controller 2 (rev a2)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:08.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:09.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
00:09.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SMBus (rev a2)
00:09.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:0a.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a1)
00:0a.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0c.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 IDE (rev a1)
00:0d.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0d.1 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0d.2 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2)
00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI bridge (rev a2)
00:0e.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP55 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
00:10.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:11.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:12.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:14.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 0193 (rev a2)
03:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB22/A IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
06:00.0 Mass storage controller: Silicon Image, Inc. SiI 3132 Serial ATA Raid II Controller (rev 01)

Sorry if this is a bit long winded!
Any comments gratefully received.
The trooper.

pinniped · 07-27-2008, 07:51 AM

You can press [alt][F2] for a second console and do some configuration there (load drivers, configure interface, add default route). Then [alt][F1] to return to the installer and see if it goes on from there. Sometimes the installer is expecting certain variables to be set, so operator intervention doesn't always work.

You can also press [alt][F3] and [alt][F4] for "information" and "error messages".

the trooper · 07-27-2008, 12:05 PM

Problem solved!
My motherboard has two ethernet ports(eth1 and eth2)
And also a firewire port which Etch labels eth0
As i only use eth1 i disabled eth0 and eth2 in the bios.
I then restarted the Lenny netinstall disc and it configured the connection on eth1 automatically.
Been kicking myself for not thinking of it before!
Regards.
The trooper.

JimBass · 07-27-2008, 05:42 PM

You can control what network interface gets what name inside of Debian by editing the file /etc/udev/rules.d/*persistent-net.rules. Inside you'll see each interface that you have a driver for, its MAC, and what interface it shows up as. I would tell you its "wrong" to only have one functional interface and to make it eth1, it should be eth0, but the choice is yours.

Fixing it via the BIOS is fine too, but you don't always have that option.

Also, just FYI, Lenny is not even close to an "imminent release". The Debian team just released "etchandahalf" this past weekend. Lenny is stable and functional, but I expect you won't see a release candidate until close to Christmas, and an actual release next spring. Debian (unlike the *buntu and Fedora families) doesn't release new versions every time the seasons change. Etch was released in April of 2007, and in general it is close to 2 years between major releases. There is always discussion about pushing for faster releases, but it the guys doing the work have much to do, and it is largely volunteer, so things like paid jobs and such get in the way. Some places online claim Lenny will come out in September 2008, and judging by what I've seen on the mailing lists, that is not happening. The past 3 stable releases were Woody (3.0) in July of 2002, followed by Sarge (3.1) in June of 2005, then Etch (4.0) in April of 2007. so there were 35 months between Woody and Sarge, then 22 between Sarge and Etch. Even if they speed things up to an 18 month release cycle, that would still be October, and the usual last minute delays make me believe we won't see Lenny become the stable version of Debian until 2009. This is all my opinion obviously, and I wouldn't mind being wrong, but past experience has taught me to never hold my breath while awaiting the new Debian, because you'll clearly suffocate that way!

Peace,
JimBass

the trooper · 07-28-2008, 06:44 AM

Hello jim,
Thanks for the response,just wanted to clarify a few details.
Here is the contents of /etc/udev/rules.d/*persistent-net.rules

Code:

 This file was automatically generated by the /lib/udev/write_net_rules
# program, probably run by the persistent-net-generator.rules rules file.
#
# You can modify it, as long as you keep each rule on a single line.
# MAC addresses must be written in lowercase.

# Firewire device 0011d80000d68b87 (ohci1394)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTRS{address}=="00:11:d8:00:00:d6:8b:87", NAME="eth0"

# PCI device 0x10de:0x0373 (forcedeth)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTRS{address}=="00:18:f3:4c:de:25", NAME="eth1"

# PCI device 0x10de:0x0373 (forcedeth)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTRS{address}=="00:18:f3:4c:e3:28", NAME="eth2"

This shows as etch recognizes eth0 as firewire.
Why is it wrong to have one functional interface being eth1?
Should etch be calling the first ethernet interface eth0 also?

As for the release of lenny goes "imminent" may not have been the best choice of words.More wishful thinking on my part!
I'll try to not hold my breath jim!

Regards.
The trooper.

JimBass · 07-28-2008, 10:15 AM

If it works with eth1 being your network connection, then there's nothing strictly wrong with it, but I've never seen a Debian box with eth0 non-functional and eth1 functional. If you're not going to use firewire, I'd change the name of the firewire interface to eth2, eth2 to eth1, and eth1 to eth0, then also make the same changes in your /etc/network/interfaces file, but that is just me. There is no hard fast rule that eth0 must be your connection to the net. It did that because 2 devices can't have the same name.

The only problem you may encounter would be poorly coded things, that call eth0 specifically, without checking to see what interface actually gives you your connection. That isn't something you'd encounter with packages from the Debian repositories, but if you install somebody's .deb file that google found for you, it could be a source of trouble.

Peace,
JimBass

the trooper · 07-28-2008, 01:13 PM

Thanks for the feedback jim.
I have learned something new!
Regards.
The trooper.