Driver for Realtek RTL8101L Fast Ethernet Controller

lqfun · 03-06-2009, 03:28 PM

Does anyone know of a distribution that includes driver support for the Realtek RTL8101L Fast Ethernet? FWIW, it is on the motherboard of a HP Pavilion A1010N.

farslayer · 03-06-2009, 04:00 PM

According to the Realtek site those drivers are built into the kernel already..

http://www.realtek.com.tw/DOWNLOADS/...&GetDown=false

lqfun · 03-06-2009, 04:32 PM

Yes, I saw that before I posted. But neither Ubuntu, Fedora, Or OpenSuse seem to have a driver in reality.

lqfun · 03-07-2009, 02:42 PM

I finally found this thread http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...t/2533/cat/473, the summary of which seems to be-- sometimes it works, and sometimes if doesn't.

farslayer · 03-07-2009, 04:04 PM

Those posts are pretty Old I would have though support would be improved a lot by now. the one post that says it doesn't work is using the old 2.4 kernel.

It's funny that there would be so many issues with a actual wired NIC from realtek, when their wireless cards work so well in Linux with Free Drivers.

If you have another NIC laying Around I would probably just throw it in the machine, and disable the on-board NIC (unless this is a laptop) I have never had an issue with an intel NIC in Linux.

tredegar · 03-08-2009, 07:37 AM

Have you ever booted windows on this PC?
If so, please try this: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...26#post2946826
Otherwise try completely unplugging your PC from the power socket (and remove battery if a laptop). Wait 2 minutes. Re-connect power. Boot to linux. Any better?

Randux · 03-08-2009, 07:46 AM

This should have been supported sometime around 2.6.7.26 kernel. Ubuntu is based on Debian, which traditionally uses old kernels. Fedora, not sure why they wouldn't have support in the latest version. OpenSUSE is also fairly current. If you run the latest it should work (did for me).

Have you tried SLACKWARE? I run o/b RealTek NICs on two boxes and they both work without effort on Slackware 12.2 and Slamd64 12.2

lqfun · 03-09-2009, 08:03 AM

I attempted to try the "Wake-on-lan after shutdown | enable" solution, but now for some bizarre reason everything I try goes to a blank screen after login. I've concluded that this HP hardware combination just doesn't run Linux.

Thanks for your help.

farslayer · 03-09-2009, 09:25 AM

So just putting in a cheap NIC card is too much ??

lqfun · 03-09-2009, 10:09 AM

The Wake-on-lan after shutdown | enable resolved the ethernet issue- thank you tredegar for the pointer to the thread.

Now, if I can figure out why the video only works about half the time, I may have a functioning box.

Thanks again to all of you for the ideas.

tredegar · 03-09-2009, 01:20 PM

Quote:

The Wake-on-lan after shutdown | enable resolved the ethernet issue

Excellent!

Quote:

Now, if I can figure out why the video only works about half the time

Then it's time to start another thread if your searches don't lead you anywhere.

Bluestreak · 03-10-2009, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lqfun

The Wake-on-lan after shutdown | enable resolved the ethernet issue- thank you tredegar for the pointer to the thread.

Now, if I can figure out why the video only works about half the time, I may have a functioning box.

Thanks again to all of you for the ideas.

You shouldn't have to turn on Wake-on-LAN to get it to work. I have an HP d330, and the built-in LAN port works with all the latest distros:

Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10
openSUSE 11.0, 11.1
PCLinux OS 2007
Mandriva Powerpacks 2007, 2009
Kubuntu 8.04

Wake-on-LAN turns the computer on if another one is trying to access files on it. Could be a potential security risk.

lqfun · 03-10-2009, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tredegar

Excellent!

Then it's time to start another thread if your searches don't lead you anywhere.

Sadly, I'm going to have to do that... is there a Linux- Hostile Hardware site? I'd like to nominate the HP a1010n for most hostile hardware

Note to Bluestreak: I'm aware of the potential threat- in fact I experienced it in my former life as a corporate cubicle drone. But, the fact is, on this hardware- and a few others, according to web forum info- that is a requirement to get internet access. If some guru could find the reason, and get the fix into Linux- now that would be good, but beyond my capacity.

farslayer · 03-10-2009, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluestreak

You shouldn't have to turn on Wake-on-LAN to get it to work. I have an HP d330, and the built-in LAN port works with all the latest distros:

Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10
openSUSE 11.0, 11.1
PCLinux OS 2007
Mandriva Powerpacks 2007, 2009
Kubuntu 8.04

Wake-on-LAN turns the computer on if another one is trying to access files on it. Could be a potential security risk.

It's not the wake-on-LAN function of the NIC card itself that is the issue,

As I understand it, it's a problem with the state Windows puts the NIC in when you shut down the Windows OS. It leaves the NIC card in a state where Linux is unable to bring the card up and operational.

tredegar · 03-10-2009, 12:52 PM

Quote:

As I understand it, it's a problem with the state Windows puts the NIC in when you shut down the Windows OS. It leaves the NIC card in a state where Linux is unable to bring the card up and operational.

That's the way I understand it too. If you shut it down from windows without windows having "Wake-on-lan after shutdown" enabled then linux will not see the chipset at the next boot unless the MoBo has been completely powered down. Unplugging everything is a PITA.

Once lqfun has his chipset recognised, he can turn off WOL (if it is still enabled, as the kernel currently seems to be disabling this at power-down) with ethtool -s eth0 wol d and it will still continue to work with linux.