I've searched all over LQ for someone with the same problem but couldn't find a thread like this.
Basically, I'm trying to install 3 D-Link DFE-530TXS NICs in an older pc I acquired to turn it into a router. The distro is Slack 8.1 and I've installed all packages except for anything X related. These NICs take the via-rhine module.
I'm not at my Slackbox at the moment, so I cannot give the exact errors (will post them later tonight). Anyway, when I try to do a
modprobe via-rhine
as root I got unresolved symbol errors. I did
lspci -v
as root and it shows all three NICs properly with IRQs set to 10, 11, and 9. The BIOS has PnP disabled. Anyway, I tried to do as root:
insmod via-rhine
and got more errors that are all very similar (again, I'll be posting these later tonite).
So, with my Slackware 8.1 box that is working fine and connected to the internet, I downloaded the driver from the D-Link site for kernels 2.4.x. I put a floppy in my perfectly working Slackbox and then as route:
mount /dev/fd0
with no problems. I view the files with no problems on the floppy, but it is formatted for windows. So, I delete the files off the floppy with no problems and then decide to format the disk as follows:
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/floppy 1440
I got no errors. I try to save the downloaded driver to the floppy:
cp /home/phyx/drivername /dev/fd0
No errors occurred. I then do as root:
umount /dev/fd0
I took the floppy disk from my up and running Slackware 8.1 box and put it into my Slackware 8.1 box (also ext2) so I can use the driver from D-Link to get my NICs working.
mount /dev/fd0
"invalid block device" is the basic error. I checked /etc/fstab on both machines and they are identical as far as the floppy info goes (I can post these later as well).
I am unable to mount the floppy which is weird. I know the drive works because I had just installed Slack 8.1 using 1 boot, and 5 root disks along with the CD about 10 minutes before this. For some reason, an ext2 formatted floppy will not work on 2 different ext2 Slackware 8.1 machines. So, I decide to reformat the floppy on the box with the 3 NICs as root:
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0 1440
I got no errors. I then was able to mount it with no problems. So, I umounted the floppy, and then put it back into the Slackbox with the downloaded driver:
mount /dev/fd0
"invalid block device" again for some reason. So, I do another reformat as root:
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0 1440
This works like a charm and I'm able to mount and umount it. This time I didn't save the file to the disk, and tried it in the box with the 3 NICs and got the same error message when trying to mount the floppy.
Does anyone know why a floppy disk formatted as ext2 on one Slackware 8.1 computer wouldn't work on another Slackware 8.1 computer that is also ext2?
I can't get the box with 3 NICs online until I can get the driver installed so I can't directly download it. I'm wanting to make this box into a router/gateway/firewall, but until I can get those NICs installed, it's just a hunk of metal.
Sorry about not having the error messages on hand, I wanted to get the question out there to see if anyone's heard of this before. I don't know if the insmod and modprobe errors are pertinent at this point anyway, it's the floppy question that's driving me nuts. Thanks for reading all this.
