LinuxQuestions.org - Need help installing driver for ethernet card

{SOLVED} YAY!!!
Trial and error saves the day. Here's what worked for me:

1) downloaded driver tar to desktop from manufacturer See www.realtek.com.tw
(ftp//210.51.181.211/cn/nic/r8101-1.009.00.tar.bz2)
2) 'un-tarred' it from desktop via root terminal (tar xvjf r8101-1.009.00.tar.bz2)
3) cd'ed into tar directory (cd r8101-1.009.00/)
4) followed directions in readme file
a. # lsmod | grep r8169 (verified original driver was there...it was)
b. copy /etc/modprobe.conf file to desktop and rename modprobe_old.conf (always back up original)
c. edit modprobe_old.conf and comment out "alias eth0 r8169" line
d. (edit modprobe_old.conf) also add "alias eth0 r8101" line, save as modprobe.conf on desktop
e. copy new modprobe.conf from desktop into /etc/ directory to replace modprobe.conf there
f. recompile the new drivers per readme file
1. # make clean modules
2. # make install
3. # depmod -a
4. # insmod ./src/r8101.ko
g. verify r8101 is present (# lsmod | grep r8101) .... it was
5) reboot into PCLOS

This brought up my system with a working ethernet card. Oh Happy Day!!

Thanks to everyone who spun up brain cells thinking this one over.

======== Original post ===========

I recently bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Vista Home Premium (Booooo!).

After fighting Vista and eventually getting the system set up to dual boot PCLOS 2007 I am unable to get the ethernet card to function in PCLOS. The wireless works, but it's rather spotty and slow to start transferring data.

My computer has a RTL8101E Fast Ethernet Card (per harddrake).

I found and downloaded the linux driver from the manufacturer and based on some other posts here was able to 'un-tar' the file downloaded into a directory. That directory contained a readme file with instructions for installing the new driver from the command line, which I tried but without success. When I rebooted the computer the old driver is still loaded and I'm in the same boat.

I must be missing something.

Here is a copy of the system info before trying to install new driver for r8101 wireless ethernet card:

[root@localhost Desktop]# cd r8101-1.009.00/ (un-tarred driver dir)
[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# ls
Makefile readme src/

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# lsmod | grep r8169
r8169 30696 0 (original PCLOS driver)

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1E:EC:05:B0:79
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:16

eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1F:3C:17:DF:47
inet addr:192.168.1.116 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21f:3cff:fe17:df47/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:20068 errors:0 dropped:70 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1822 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1894920 (1.8 MiB) TX bytes:307644 (300.4 KiB)
Interrupt:18 Base address:0x4000 Memory:f8000000-f8000fff

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:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:692 (692.0 b) TX bytes:692 (692.0 b)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

I then did the following, per the readme file:

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# rmmod r8169 (remove original driver)

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# make clean modules

make -C src/ clean
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src'
rm -rf *.o *.ko *~ core* .dep* .*.d .*.cmd *.mod.c *.a *.s .*.flags .tmp_versions Module.symvers Modules.symvers *.order
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src'
make -C src/ modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src'
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.18.8.tex5/build SUBDIRS=/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.18.8.tex5'
CC [M] /home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101_n.o
/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101_n.c: In function ‘rtl8101_tx_clear’:
/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101_n.c:3245: warning: unused variable ‘dev’
/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101_n.c: At top level:
/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101_n.c:2224: warning: ‘rtl8101_phy_power_down’ defined but not used
/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101_n.c:419: warning: ‘rtl8101_ephy_read’ defined but not used
CC [M] /home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/rtl_eeprom.o
LD [M] /home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
CC /home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101.mod.o
LD [M] /home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src/r8101.ko
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.18.8.tex5'
strip --strip-debug r8101.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src'
[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# make install
make -C src/ install
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src'
install -m 744 -c r8101.ko /lib/modules/2.6.18.8.tex5/kernel/drivers/net/
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/dave/Desktop/r8101-1.009.00/src'

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# depmod -a

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# insmod ./src/r8101.ko

After attempting to install the new driver, check system info:

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# lsmod | grep r8101

r8101 34320 0 (it appears to be there)

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# ifconfig -a

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1E:EC:05:B0:79
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:16 Base address:0x2000

eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1F:3C:17:DF:47
inet addr:192.168.1.116 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21f:3cff:fe17:df47/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1842 errors:0 dropped:117 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2426327 (2.3 MiB) TX bytes:368429 (359.7 KiB)
Interrupt:18 Base address:0x4000 Memory:f8000000-f8000fff

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:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:13 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:692 (692.0 b) TX bytes:692 (692.0 b)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
NOARP MTU:1480 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

Yet the ethernet card still did not function. So I thought maybe I need to reboot:

After reboot:

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# lsmod | grep 8101 (check for new driver)

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# (ie. nothing returned)

[root@localhost r8101-1.009.00]# lsmod | grep 8169 (old driver?)

r8169 30696 0 (still there)

Can anyone give me a hint where I'm going wrong? Am I missing something critical?

Thanks

dcalki