eth0 device problem when booting
 

After installing Slackware 8.1 on my extra computer, I'm having problems booting. What will happen is that it will get stuck configuring the ethernet device. If the NIC is connected, it will try and set the mode to full duplex, and then just sit there. If the NIC is disconnected, it will hang trying to establish contact with the DHCP server. I have a Netgear FA310 card connecting to a Netgear MR314 Router. When I set up Slackware, I believe it chose the "tulip.o" driver for this device. I went ahead and reinstalled, bypassing the network setup, so I can actually get into the OS now. However, I'm afraid if I re-enable the networking, it will hang up again.

Help would be appreciated!

P.S. I don't have a floppy drive, so I can't make a boot disk. If I copy my current kernel to another directory, and then set it up in LILO, will I still run into the Networking problem even if I boot to that kernel? I'm still new to the rc.x files vis a vis the kernel, so I'm not sure.

Thanks!

You can try and load up the module and setup your eth0 manually via C.L.I.

Do this:

1. log in as root
2. Bring up a shell window (if you are using a WM, otherwise use the console shell you currently have)
3. type: modprobe tulip
4. verify the module loaded by typing: lsmod | grep tulip. (If you get output, then it is loaded)
5. If the module IS loaded, run the dhcpcd client application to try and setup your machine via DHCP. For that you type: /sbin/dhcpcd. And check for any messages (if you feel it is hanging, just let it time out). On the other hand, If the module cannot load, then type dmesg and check for information regarding the module you just tried to load.

GL

P.S. if you want to understand how slackware sets up its network devices, then take a look at the /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 file.

Loading tulip worked, but running dhcpcd locked the system. After doing some additional looking, there appears to be several issues with the Netgear 3XX cards (or at least early revisions), under Linux. I switched to an Intel PRO/100+, and it's working just fine now.

Thanks for the help!