LinuxQuestions.org - Cannot Get NIC (Realtek 8201L) Activated on ASUS A7N266-VM MB

Has anybody been able to get Linux running on an ASUS A7N266-VM Motherboard? I have seen a few posts with tips, but there directions are sketchy...

I have been able to get RHL 8.0 installed and ALMOST working, but I am stuck with a working system with no way to get the NIC up and running.

And what fun is a Linux box without a network connection?

Here's what I have done so far.

In preparation for the install, I disabled the NIC and the Audio in BIOS--just becasue I wanted to avoid any chance that they would hang anything on install.

I then did an install of RHL 8.0 from CD. I installed in Text Mode, set it to boot in Text Mode (RunLevel 3) and chose LILO as the boot loader (I saw that there have been lots of problems getting GRUB to work). The install worked fine and I was able to get the system installed and to boot into RunLevel 3.

So far so good.

I downloaded the nVida drivers from the nVida web site http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=li...splay_1.0-3123 and copied them to a CDR, ran NVchooser.sh which told me that I needed to install the following RPMs:

NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-4191.rh80up.athlon.rpm
NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-4191.i386.rpm

I installed the packages from the command line using

rpm -iv (package name)

and they installed just fine.

I changed the runlevel to 5 and rebooted, and as it was rebooting, I went into BIOS and enabled the NIC and Audio in BIOS.

I booted into X Windows and everything works just fine!

Almost...

Here is where I am stuck. There is no NIC visible on the computer!

In the network control panel (System Settings --> Network) there is no NIC present. There is no driver listed for the Realtek 8201L. I have tried other Realtek drivers (8129, 8139) that are listed but I can not get them to activate.

(I have tried resetting the BIOS to default settings but still no go.)

Anybody have any luck getting this MF'ing MB working?

What am I missing?

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Feel free to email me at jfxberns-at-yahoo-dot-you know the rest.

All Hail the Mighty Penguin!