DHCP Troubles
 

Do you need a device file for your ethernet card? Knowing what I do, that might sound like a VERY stupid question or maybe not. I looked at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/devices.txt but could find no explicit mention of major and minor numbers for ethernet cards (unless I missed something), and the MAKEDEV script did not create one (with the -generic option). If you DO need one, then that has to be my problem. If not, or your curious about the symptoms, read on.

I've been working on a Linux From Scratch system, and can't get networking to work. I couldn't get it to work with the LFS config, but didn't try very hard because I wanted DHCP support. That led me to the Beyond Linux From Scratch document. So, I followed the instructions listed in it to set up a DHCP client. Everything compiled and installed with no problems. However, when the system boots, the typical messages of loading daemons and all that good stuff rolls right along, and then it gets to the network interface and hangs indefinitely. The contents of the ifup-eth0 script is this:


#!/bin/sh
# start ifup-eth0
source /etc/sysconfig/rc || exit
source $rc_functions || exit
source $network_devices/ifconfig.eth0 || exit
echo "Bringing up the eth0 interface..."
modprobe eth0
loadproc $DHCP_PROG $DHCP_START
# end ifup-eth0

I can provide more details on the contents of the files source'd if necessary. The "Bringing up eth0 interface..." is displayed as well as the intro to the dhcp client software. So the script fails at the very end.

As mentioned in the BLFS book, I recompiled the kernel to support Packet Filtering and everything else it pointed out. If it's of any use, I'm 95% positive the network card is a 3Com 3C905B-tx. The DHCP server I'm trying to connect to is simply a router set up to lease IPs.

Any suggestions/ideas, or do I need to post some more config files/boot scripts/etc.?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Questions.
1. What Nic are you using
2. what's the name of the driver its supposed to use (if you don't know, try www.scyld.com)
3. after you get the name of the driver, see if its loaded by typing:
lsmod (if its loaded, what's the output from ifconfig; if not, try typing
modprobe your_module_name (leave off the .o at the end)

4. if you get an error message, report it back here.
if you get no error message, type
netconfig (and configure your nic as either dhcp or static ip)

Network card type
 

The network card I'm using is a 3Com (Boomerang - 3C905B). I compiled the kernel to use the entry specifically mentioning the 3C900 family.

I have anoter version of Linux installed (TurboLinux 7, I think) where the card works with DHCP (although it was configured through the distributions scripts/programs). After using dmesg, it looks like TurboLinux is using a 3C5-something driver... I'm jumping back and forth between machines right now. I'll get my act together in a bit and give specifics.

Since the card works in the other distribution, I'm forced to assume it's a driver problem like you're suggesting, or a configuration problem. Be back in a bit with more info...

No module loaded
 

Well, first a correction. It's a 3C905B which is a "Cyclone" according to the website you mentioned... NOT a "Boomerang", but that's not a big deal either way.

I'm supposed to be using the 3c59x module. After typing "lsmod", I get nothing; just the headers. Then after typing "modprobe 3c59x", it complains the module can't be found.

So, I went looking, and sure enough, the module does exist. Specifically, it's located in /lib/modules/2.4.19_02/kernel/drivers/net/

Did I miss something in the kernel compile? The sequence I went through was (from /usr/src/linux):

make mrproper
make menuconfig
make dep
make clean
<modified Makefile: EXTRAVERSION = _02>
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/lfskernel
cp System.map /boot

if you mean a device file ala something like /dev/eth0 then no.

if it's a 905 try changing:
modprobe eth0 to
modprobe 3c59x

oops update:
did you modularize the 3com driver or build it into the kernel, if its in kernel it won't show up as a module but will be eth0.
I belive it's networking->ethernet->3com cards->3c59x (3c595-3c905 cyclone-boomerang) in menuconfig but don't quote me.

Yeah, it's a module
 

I'm in the process of recompiling the kernel again, and I verified that I selected the driver as a module (I saved the previous config file as a reference).

Are the boot scripts supposed to load the module? I guess I'll look at that more closely when the compile finishes.

Duh...
 

Of course the bootscripts are supposed to load the module. The script I included originally did that with the modprobe command. Sometimes I amaze myself...

Yea, in slack it's in either /etc/rc.d/rc.modules or /etc/rc.d/rc.netconfig but I guess if you are doing LFS you can put it wherever you want.

More useless prattle only for the geeky or overly curious:
The cyclone vs boomerang, I knew the whole story once and which was which, they are basically just internal codenames for the products prior to release, their 10MB aptop card was calvin. That's usually not used for the public due to possible copyright issues but Becker used the names since 3Com gave him all ther internal docs which he used when writing the linux drivers. I doubt they use names like that anymore because lately every 3com product I see seems to be some rebranded "other" :(

Restart...
 

I appreciate the info, but I think I'll run through the LFS installation one more time. I have a feeling I missed a step somewhere. After going through all of it, I know a little better what I'm in for, and there are some other things I'd like to do differently anyway.

Thanks guys. You will probably hear more from me later. With any luck, it won't be about this issue though.