Hello all,

I just bought a new computer and I'm having a hard time to make it work with Linux (it came with XP). My main problem now is to make network PCI card (Intel 82573L Gigabit Ethernet) to work. I tried to compile up-to-date drivers in order to add a module (being not an expert in Linux world, I've learn today that modules exist!). During module compilation, I've got a warning telling me that the file "Module.symvers" was not found. I do not have this file on my system. But it doesn't seems that important, is it?

But I've got another problem... after exec "insmod e1000.ko", I got an error message that looks like: "insmod: <full file path>/e1000.ko: - Invalid file format". When I look at dmesg, I then see a message telling me that I've got a problem with "vermagic" that looks likes: "e1000: vermagic /lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdkcustom/<...>/e1000.ko does not correspond to /lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdksmp/<...>/e1000.ko"

when I executed "make install" to install the module, everything was copied in /lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdkcustom/... directory. I then decided to try to edit Makefile to make it install instead in /lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdksmp/.... I then rerun "make install" and the file e1000.ko has been install in the good directory: /lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdksmp/.... But even then, when I exec "modinfo e1000" its telling me that vermagic is "/lib/modules/2.6.12-12mdkcustom/..." ... and I still got the same error messages. I try to see in the vermagic.h file where this "custom" thing came from, without success.

After this looong explanation (!), anybody could give me any information that could help me to find a solution to this problem? Or, even better, the complete solution! ;o)

Thinks for your time.

Yannick

Reinstall/refresh the kernel package from Mandriva and just use the e1000 module that comes default with the Linux kernel.

hello Darin,

Thanks to reply.

I'm still working on that. I did reinstall Mandriva and I've found the module. Then...
1- insmod e1000 # OK
2- modprobe e1000 # OK
3- dmesg | tail # I see a new line "Intel PRO/1000 Network Driver - v. 6.0.60-k2
4- lsmod | grep e1000 # it's there
5- lspci | grep Ethernet
04:00.0 Ethernet Controller: Intel Corporation 82573L Gigabit ...
6- ifconfig eth0
eth0: Device not found
7- ifconfig
return info for "lo" device only.

I'm stuck! I've added e1000 to /etc/modules and rebooted. Then lsmod | grep e1000 didn't return anything. Was it supposed to?

Anybody has an hint to what to do next? How the eth0 gets alive? Is the simple addition of its module is enough? Do I have to do something to configure somewhere?

Yannick

The solution:

I finally managed to make my NIC work. I got the newest driver (6.3 instead of 6.0), compile it. That's it! I don't know why the first time the compilation didn't work. The driver I downloaded today was dated of 03-08-2006. Maybe the one that wasn't compiling was an older version. Don't know.

After compiling the new version, I could execute successfully ifup eth0. Then, I configured it
using Mandriva tool.

Yannick