[SOLVED] network failing with BCM57788

alex.t · 10-29-2010, 07:11 PM

Hello,

I wonder if there any known issues with installing Linux on optical internet. Windows' working fine, debian amd64 cannot find network device, after installing basic system, I cannot ping.

thank you

GrapefruiTgirl · 10-29-2010, 07:38 PM

Step #1 is identifying the NIC.

Code:

root# lspci -vnn

That will show you the make & model of the network card. There will be one block of text for each PCI device in the machine, Please post for us the block which describes the Ethernet card. Use code tags please. (code tags).

Once we know what make/model it is, then figure out what driver it should use, and see if you have it or can get it.

alex.t · 10-29-2010, 08:29 PM

you won't believe me - grub doesn't load now - no module name found, aborted. i find in forums that this is windows7 problem - after logging into it, it erases mbr. is it so ?

GrapefruiTgirl · 10-30-2010, 08:35 PM

I'm not really sure what you're asking there in post #3, but I wouldn't know about any problems with Windows of any version, as I don't use any of them. Sounds like quite a problem though, if it erases the MBR when you log in!

If there's still a question you have here, perhaps re-phrase it and someone may be able to answer it..

Good luck & best regards.

Dutch Master · 10-31-2010, 04:42 AM

Optical internet is usually found in corporate environments these days, not many private houses have access yet. So, chances are you're messing about on a corporate machine and that is probably a bad idea if you want to keep your job. (unless it's your job tinkering with stuff, usually as a network engineer. But those have enough knowledge to figure these questions out themselves...

) If you are working on a corporate office machine the company probably has a policy of obtaining a blank copy of their OS-of-choice (Win7, unfortunately) from a server, not unlike LTSP I suppose (yes, there are differences, but the essence and principles are the same

)

My

alex.t · 10-31-2010, 09:09 AM

DutchMaster, Videotron in Montréal (may be elsewhere in Québec too) offers now internet access via optical lines, it takes a special device between the cable and the modem (or modem and computer, not sure about branching). nothing special must be done in computer settings, it is still dhcp, and it works in all windows versions i have here, but not with debian installation.

For instance i didn't resolve the problem with "windows erases mbr"' when i oass through it, we will see with the nic.

I haven't done much of linux for some years, I didn't realize it was so no obvious. I will be now more carefull with suggesting people to use Linux.

alex.t · 10-31-2010, 12:47 PM

Celine, this is the information about my nic. thank you to help me to interpret it.

Code:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe [14e4:1691] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0438]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at fbff0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [60] Vendor Specific Information: Len=6c <?>
	Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [cc] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 84-2b-2b-ff-fe-ad-c4-61
	Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?>
	Kernel driver in use: tg3

alex.t · 11-03-2010, 07:42 AM

Do you think this link (reply #3) gives the solution - upgrade to kernel 2.6.34 or newer ? How can one know what was introduced in 2.6.34 ?

Since I don't have access to Internet, is it feasible offline with CDs/DVDs ? Does Squeeze accept newer kernels ?

Thank you

Dutch Master · 11-03-2010, 08:49 AM

Try to gain web-access via a temporary NIC. Debian has the "build-essential" meta-package that builds you a working build-environment. Once you have that, get the latest stable sources from the kernel.org guys and follow instructions

(for changes, see the changelog links on said website

)

It is possible to have the packages installed via cd/dvd, but that means you'll be manually hunting down all the dependencies and putting the packages from the disk by hand onto your system. It can be done, but it's probably quicker to insert a 100Mbit NIC instead

alex.t · 11-03-2010, 10:06 AM

Why couldn't I in this case insert a supported gigabit nic and use it permanently ? It is a much less sexy solution, but if it works...

Dutch Master · 11-03-2010, 06:52 PM

You could, but it kinda defeats the purpose of the fibre connection to your home, isn't it

I've used a cheap NIC myself several times when I tried to install Debian on hardware not yet supported (onboard NIC's, mostly) and then removed the additional NIC once I had the new kernel working and in general that solved issues with the onboard NIC. Besides, the Realtec ones supported in Linux are cheap as chips (sic

) and may come in handy elsewhere too...

alex.t · 11-04-2010, 09:46 AM

Which one of Realtek you suggest ?

In my computer store, I find only D-Link DGE-530T tested for Linux. This is a gigabit card...

Dutch Master · 11-04-2010, 07:04 PM

It's not so much the vendor, it's the chipset. Realtek 8139 is properly supported, but only 100Mbit. But a quick Google came up with this: link I think you can go from there

alex.t · 11-06-2010, 01:24 PM

Finally, I installed the "external" nic, and I could net-install basic Debian squeeze. I surely later will upgrade to the latest kernel to support the original nic, for now I will use this new card. Internet speed in Linux outperforms Windows' by 25%-30% - I download big iso images faster under LInux, and speedtest.net shows higher speed. In fact, under Linux the shown speed is higher than the expected one. Under Windows, the shown speed is the one I pay for.

So, for the original question the answer is "no, nothing to do with the optical internet, this is strictly kernel support business". I consider this problem as SOLVED.

Thanks to all for patience. See you in next threads.