a7n8x-e deluxe vs. linux-2.6.0
 

I recently bought an A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard and I downloaded the nforce drivers for Windows XP and Linux from nvidia.com (I'm running a dual-boot system). The Windows XP drivers installed without a hitch, but the Linux drivers are giving me severe problems.

I'm running the 2.6.0 kernel and nvidia apparently only has drivers for 2.4.x kernels. I can get the drivers to compile by linking /usr/src/linux to linux-2.4.22 source. However, this produces *.o modules and 2.6.0 requires *.ko modules. When I try to insmod (or modprobe) the modules I get an error saying "Invalid module format".

I found a patch on a Debian website (I lost the link, sorry) that was supposed to make the nvidia drivers work for 2.6.0 kernels. I applied the patch and recompiled the drivers and viola! There were the *.ko modules. However, insmod/modprobe still gave me the same error message when I tried to use them.

Is anyone else having this problem? I'm running Slackware-9.1 and just recently upgraded from linux-2.4.22 to linux-2.6.0 (about 2 weeks before I bought the motherboard). Is there something I'm missing? Is there a way to make 2.6.0 kernels load old 2.4.x modules? I would have expected to see tons of posts about this on the internet, but I can't find any that are relevant to my situation which makes me feel like I'm just missing something really stupid.

The module I'm really after is for the onboard 10/100 NIC which Windows XP's device manager reports as an nvidia MCP networking controller (NOT the Broadcom gigabit one. nvidia's drivers should create an nvnet.ko for this). if I cat /proc/pci in Linux, the information for the onboard NIC is some generic number. I think it's something like "Ethernet controller 1e00:d000" or something useless like that. At least if I got the NIC working then I could do some research on the onboard soundcard driver from within Linux ;)

Thanks in advance for any help!

P.S. I'm not a linux newb (I've been using it since 1993), but I'm totally unfamiliar with the 2.6.0 kernel and I think that's where my downfall is here.

Just goes to show you what another hour of research can do for you after spending a week already looking for the solution.

I went to http://www.nforcershq.com and found this link in the nForce Linux forum:

http://www.hailfinger.org/carldani/l...hes/forcedeth/

Then I downloaded the kernel patch (link at the bottom of that page) forcedeth_2_6_patch_v20.txt

After patching the kernel I was able to add support for "Reverse Engineered nForce Ethernet Controller" (or something very close to those exact words anyway) in the kernel. I compiled it as a module and all I had to do after I saved the configuration file was:

1) make
2) depmod -a
3) modprobe forcedeth
4) /etc/rc.d/rc.inet

And here I am! Typing this in Linux!

The driver seems to work well for my motherboard (look at subject line of post). I haven't stress-tested it yet, but I'm just happy I can actually get online in Linux again!

As an added bonus I just got sound working also. The Documentation directory in the Linux kernel source is really informative if you bother to read it ;)

Anyway, for all of you out there upgrading to 2.6.0 and using ALSA for the first time, make sure to run the linux/scripts/MAKEDEV.snd script.

After I ran that I just had to type 'amixer set master on' and then 'amixer set master 100%' and music started pouring out my speakers.