Built in Lan(Ethernet ) eth0

simbiwa · 09-19-2006, 10:13 AM

I am using ASUS P4V8X-MX motherboard with a built in Lan, everything was working

perfectly , I was able to connect to internet and my area network using the ethernet

connection.

The problem started when I tried a 128 mb Graphics card in the AGP slot.
The system at the boot time cried out KERNEL PANIC !

I removed the graphics card and went back to the way I was using it, now I am unable to see the ethernet or lan and am unable to connect to the network or Internet.

I tried ifconfig -a and I can only see details of lo(loopback) and nothing else no eth0.

As I have XP also installed , there is no problem, Lan is working fine.

How can I make Linux see the builtin lan and be able to connect using the ethernet to network.? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

lspci output:
00:12.0 Ethernet Controller: VIA technologies, Inc. VT6102 [rhine-II] (rev 78)

The motherboard specification states :10/100Mb fast ethernet with external VIA
VT6103 PHY

Entries in my /etc/iftab
eth0 mac 00:15:f2:d3:8a:a7 arp 1

result of lshw: *-network UNCLAIMED
description: Ethernet controller
product: VT6102 [Rhine-II]
vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
physical id: 12
bus info: pci@00:12.0
version: 78
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
resources: ioport:d800-d8ff iomemory:febffc00-febffcff irq:193

Entries in /etc/networks/interface:auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.35.15
netmask 255.255.255.0

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

and when I typed sudo ifup eth0:simbiwa@station14:~$ sudo ifup eth0
SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
SIOCSIFNETMASK: No such device
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Failed to bring up eth0.
simbiwa@station14:~$

How to bring up the eth0?

tanveer · 09-20-2006, 03:49 AM

Hi Simbiwa:
I don't know what distro you are using but in RHEL/FC5 I can easily create a file named as ifcfg-eth0 in this location /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/
Then either write down the needed information on that file or use the command

Code:

 #netconfig eth0

then give IP, subnetmask,...etc.

Sample /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Code:

DEVICE=eth0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

Then try

Code:

 # service network restart

or

Code:

 # ifdown eth0
 # ifup eth0

Hope this helps.

simbiwa · 09-20-2006, 09:50 AM

Hi Tanveer

Thanks for the response, I am using Kubuntu 6.06 LTS .

I will try what you have suggested but I think i have found the real problem from my /var/log files as I checked the history , it was working fine till 02-sep but now this issue of invalid mac address is causing the real problem.

I managed to check the /var/log files and am posting something which i suspect is the real cause as the system is reading the MAC address as invalid

log of 02-sep-2006
08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294697.863000] FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
Sep 2 08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294698.380000] Real Time Clock Driver v1.12
Sep 2 08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294698.428000] via-rhine.c:v1.10-LK1.2.0-2.6 June-10-2004 Written by Donald Becker
Sep 2 08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294698.428000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:12.0[A] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 193
Sep 2 08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294698.428000] PCI: Via IRQ fixup for 0000:00:12.0, from 10 to 1
Sep 2 08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294698.428000] eth0: VIA Rhine II at 0x1d800, 00:15:f2:d3:8a:a7, IRQ 193.
Sep 2 08:35:16 localhost kernel: [4294698.429000] eth0: MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x7869 advertising 05e1 Link 45e1. )

Log of 20-Sep-2006

Sep 20 08:56:57 localhost kernel: [4294694.654000] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:12.0[A] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 201
Sep 20 08:56:57 localhost kernel: [4294694.654000] PCI: Via IRQ fixup for 0000:00:12.0, from 10 to 9
Sep 20 08:56:57 localhost kernel: [4294694.654000] Invalid MAC address
Sep 20 08:56:57 localhost kernel: [4294694.654000] via-rhine: probe of 0000:00:12.0 failed with error -5

The correct address as on the sticker on the mobo shows as 0015f2d38aa7 and thats what is showing in /etc/iftab file.

In xp I managed to set the mac address in the proprties of my ethernet card but how to do that in Linux?

What could be error -5? How to make the eth0 see the correct mac address?

basileus · 09-20-2006, 03:07 PM

I've never heard of /etc/iftab file but "ifconfig" reports the MAC address in the following format:

00:A3:F4:25:1E:3F

The same format is used in /etc/network/interfaces (see "man interfaces").

If the MAC (=ethernet) address is given as "0015f2d38aa7" then it might really be the source of your problems. Try modifying the /etc/network/interfaces -file like this:

iface eth2 inet dhcp
hwaddress ether 00:15:f2:d3:8a:a7

This should do the trick. Note that this should be necessary _only_ if your computer is identified by network adapter's MAC address, and you can't use the one you've reported to your network administrator.

In our university network the computers get IP addresses based on the network adapter's MAC address so I guess we're in the same situation.