I custom compiled a 2.6.5 kernel and everything seems to work (at last ) but my NIC a realtek 8139 doesnt want to work. At teh boot up screen it says during the initizalization thats it fails and if i do "ifup eth0" i get an error. What should i do?

Forgive me that stupid question, but did you configure the driver during kernel config?

eg. CONFIG_8139CP=m/y (I guess you could use 8139too, too)

The whole section that has to do with 8139 is here:
CONFIG_8139CP=m
CONFIG_8139TOO=m
# CONFIG_8139TOO_PIO is not set
CONFIG_8139TOO_TUNE_TWISTER=y
CONFIG_8139TOO_8129=y
# CONFIG_8139_OLD_RX_RESET is not set
CONFIG_8139_RXBUF_IDX=2

It is only a guess, but in my SuSE config (2.6.4-default) the CONFIG_8139TOO_TUNE_TWISTER is not set. Right now, I cannot look in the documentation what this option does. Could you figure out which driver is acually in use (lsmod)? Maybe you could switch to the other driver (I think you can change that with yast).

I tried using 8139cp but it didn't help. With lsmod 8139too was loaded

Hmmm....

Could you post more detailed error messages?

But to be honest, I have no more ideas...

from my startup log
Setting up network interfaces:
lo done
eth0 failed

lsmod after doing modprobe 8139too

8139too 24448 0
mii 5376 1 8139too
sr_mod 16292 0
snd_pcm_oss 60836 0
snd_pcm 104868 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc 11780 1 snd_pcm
snd_timer 26500 1 snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss 20608 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd 64260 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore 9056 1 snd
nvidia 2073064 12
usbserial 29680 0
parport_pc 33216 1
lp 11300 0
parport 40136 2 parport_pc,lp
md5 4096 1
ipv6 234560 10
thermal 12808 0
processor 16424 1 thermal
fan 3972 0
button 6160 0
battery 9476 0
ac 4868 0
eth1394 20872 0
joydev 10304 0
evdev 9856 0
ehci_hcd 25220 0
usbcore 99292 4 usbserial,ehci_hcd
raw1394 30828 0
ohci1394 32900 0
ieee1394 315192 3 eth1394,raw1394,ohci1394
ide_scsi 16644 0
scsi_mod 117324 2 sr_mod,ide_scsi
ide_cd 39812 0
cdrom 39584 2 sr_mod,ide_cd
vfat 14848 3
fat 44992 1 vfat
8250 18912 0
serial_core 21760 1 8250
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
when trying to start the dhcp clieant ifup eth0
Starting DHCP Client Daemon on eth0... startproc: exit status of parent of /sbin/dhcpcd: 1

I did ifup eth0 after i did modprobe 8139too. Is there anything in particular that might help? The card is pci by the way.

Please help me with this.

Come one plz help me.

Just a few suggestions:

Did you try to configure the NIC with yast?

Did you pass hardware parameters to the driver (adress, irq)?

Maybe there is something wrong with pnp ?!

does the card work on another machine?? does it work in M$?? could the card have died??
I have the same card in 2 machines w/o problems??

The card works (im now using it in M$ and it works in kernel 2.4x) ill check plud and play now and ill post in a lil.

PnP is enabled in the kernel and teh card is configured with YaST.

i am having a similar problem.
i am guessing it has to do with ipv6 interfering with the card?
i am behind a linksys router, 2.4 - it works. 2.6 - it don't work.
i removed the router and went straight to the modem, it works.
do the linksys routers "speak" ipv6? (or is that a very stupid question?)
i have a windows box also behind the router, but it seems to work fine.

Is there a way to check if my router works with ipv6?