D-Link DFE-530TX+ Problems!!!

hoglicious · 07-29-2003, 11:51 PM

Has anyone successfully installed this card on RH 7.3? I've hit a brick wall and I'm beginning the think that this card cannot be installed.

osprey0331 · 07-30-2003, 12:59 AM

there is a new driver on the netgear site, for the 530-tx site. it took a while, but i finally got it to work on RH 7.3 and then 8.0. if you haven't found it by the morning, i will see if i can post it to you, otherwise, check the D-Link site for linux drivers

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 09:43 AM

I checked the D-Link site and they have a driver. However, I cannot compile it on RH 7.3, it's missing a bunch of header files and it keeps looking for stuff in /usr/src/linux, which doesn't even exist in the RH 7.3 install.

However, they recommend using the RTL8139 module that is built-in. I try to use this but I can't seem to get it to work right. I'm probably just not setting it up right. Can you give me some tips on setting up my card with the built-in RTL8139 module?

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 09:51 AM

Another question. I found this comment on the D-Link website:

"Before you install, make sure the network card has been inserted in a PCI slot that supports bus mastering and that bus mastering has been enabled in the BIOS."

I've never heard of bus mastering. I guess it's possible that I haven't enabled that. Here's a dumb question. How do I get to the BIOS from a linux install?

osprey0331 · 07-30-2003, 10:30 AM

you can get the bios on a linux box, as with any system, that is using the del or F2 key on boot up. I don't suspect that "bus mastering" is the problem.

as to the driver, i am not sure which one you got, but the one i downloaded did not require compiling. the error you are getting tells me that you didn't install the kernel development packages, so you don't have the necessary files to compile a new driver package for the kernel. let me find the driver i downloaded and see what it is about.

What motherboard and processor are you running, and if you know, what is the chipset?

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 10:35 AM

I went back last night and reinstalled the entire RH 7.3 distro. I selected every option. I hope the kernel development package was a part of that. If not, what is required to install the kernel development package?

I have no idea what the MB type is. It's a Intel 500Mhz processor. It's just a cheap HP I picked up at Best Buy about 3 years ago.

osprey0331 · 07-30-2003, 12:56 PM

ok, it is probably a bundled intel motherboard, with an 815 chipset. If it has onboard NIC, you will need to disable that, and then go to the intel site and look for a chipset upgrade. That will cover the "bus mastering" issue, which may be not letting the card function past signaling the kernel it is there...check during start up and see if it shows something like via apollo or intel for the bios on start up...

if you put the entire distribution in, it should have the kernel packages, which should be in /usr/src directory. If you still get the error when you build the driver, check the path or see if the required file is in the /usr/lib directory

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 01:24 PM

I know that there is nothing in /usr/src. I guess the dev package was left out. Can I install the dev package individually or do I have to do a full reinstall? Hopefully I can just add it on.

I'll give that a try and see what happens.

I also downloaded an entire netdrivers file. I'm going to try to upgrade all my netdrivers, which includes RTL8139, and see if I can get the rtl8139.c to compile there. If not, I'm going to take a hammer to the card and go buy another one, preferable a RH certified card.

osprey0331 · 07-30-2003, 01:37 PM

:-) sometimes that is the way...yes, you can add the kernel packages from disk 2 of your redhat distro and yes, but I would use a netgear...they seem to have the least problem, and you will find that they actually list linux on the side of the box as a supported OS. I suggest an FA311...

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 02:13 PM

The Netgear FA311 isn't listed as being compatible with RH

osprey0331 · 07-30-2003, 03:45 PM

??? I am currently running one

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 04:03 PM

Was the card automatically recognized when you first booted up or did you have to manually set the card up?

osprey0331 · 07-30-2003, 04:16 PM

yes, but i did have to reinstall the driver and it runs fine...I will check again, and post another answer here...

Half_Elf · 07-30-2003, 04:49 PM

I haven't read all the thread but I have three of these cards... and I hate D-link since I do.
Every 530 TX I have use a different chipset. I have a via-rhine chipset, a sundance chipset and a Ne2000 chipset. And it is all the same card.

I suggest you to use lspci to see what's your chipset then to recompile your kernel to build every modules that can possibly work. And then to try them one by one by hand.

hoglicious · 07-30-2003, 05:03 PM

I'll give that a try, however I'm not that savvy when it comes to building the kernel. But I'm always up for a challenge.

However, I'm going to go pick up a Netgear card tonight. And if one thing goes wrong I swear that I'll rip out the D-Link and put the Netgear in. I will probably then find a elaborate way to destroy the D-Link, just throwing it in the trash just wouldn't suffice.