I have Mandrake 9.1 running kernel v 2.4.21. My network cards is a Realtek RTL8139. When the computer is booting up, I see a message Device or Resource busy after it trys to bring up interface eth0. It goes by too fast for me to read all of it and i've checked every log I could think of and I couldn't find the rest of the message. The driver is loaded as a module, not compiled into the kernel.

Here is the pertinent information from dmesg
8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.26
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 Fast Ethernet at 0xdc97d000, 00:40:2b:39:bb:2b, IRQ 1
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8139C'

Here is the output from ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:2B:39:BB:2B
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:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:1 Base address:0xd000

I noticed that the interrupt was 1.

Output from cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0
0: 61053 IO-APIC-edge timer
1: 999 IO-APIC-edge keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
3: 99202028 IO-APIC-level usb-uhci
5: 0 IO-APIC-edge usb-ohci
6: 0 IO-APIC-edge usb-ohci
7: 4 IO-APIC-edge usb-uhci, ehci-hcd, ehci-hcd
8: 1 IO-APIC-edge rtc
12: 9879 IO-APIC-edge PS/2 Mouse
14: 11280 IO-APIC-edge ide0
15: 10 IO-APIC-edge ide1
NMI: 0
LOC: 60277
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

I noticed that the keyboard is also 1.
I go into modules.conf and add an option for irq = 17.
17 is the irq that windows shows this card as having.
The modules.conf now looks like this:
alias eth0 8139too
options 8139too irq=17

That didn't work, but i'm not 100% sure I did it right.

So I try to put in a kernel option ether=17,0x2000,0,1,eth0
That didn't work either.

Finially I disabled PnP OS from the Bios, once again to no avial.

After everything I did, /proc/interrupts never changed.

I don't know what else to try other than recompiling the kernel or buying a supported network card.

Any help will be appreciated.

I'm using 3 Realtek RTL8139 cards here and linux run them without any problem.

I remember I had a similar problem with a router/firewall I had to install. There were 5 different cards and IRQ conflicts but they worked without problem, even with the conflicts. We tried to change the IRQ's but we never succeeded. We gave up trying to change the IRQ's and the machine has run day and night for months now, and is still running.

Something you can try, is to change the card from PCI slot. It will maybe get another IRQ ...

I can't change the pci slot, the card is integrated onto the motherboard.

Backslash (or anyone else who knows)...

I'm a newbie who just installed Red Hat 9 on a used Dell CPi laptop. I picked up a Netgear MA521 and a Linksys WPC11 and would LOVE step-by-step instructions for how to get either of them installed.

I picked up both so I'd have two to try but now I find they might both be Realtek 8139.

You could check you're bios again and under p'n'p/pci check for

Resources controlled By Auto(ESCD)

just to make sure Linux is in charge and leave

PNP os Installed No

I'm a bit hazy on it but from my understanding pci uses a pci controller that sorts/assigns everything and uses a method called shared interrupt Channels rather than out an out IRQ's

But as I say I'm a bit hazy myself on it

R u sure that ur devices used irq 1 ? To see ur screen output during the booting process, u can type dmesg >dmesg.txt, then read the dmesg.txt with any texteditor..
The log is actually appended in /var/log/message(s) under slackware. Gotta read the bottom lines from it.

For list ur pci resource u can use: "lspci"

I'd 2 dlink 538TX (rtl8139) nic sticked on mobo, never have problem. It used irq 10,11. If u wonna tune ur dlink NIC, u can used the delivered disket, under the folder there is a tool called "diag.exe", but u have to boot the box barely with dos..
The tool is actually dedicated for testing the NIC .., likely that most ppl dunt need it ..