network card realtek 8139d problems w/ Mandrake 9.2

PSICE · 02-12-2004, 02:01 PM

I am a newbie to Linux and I have just installed Mandrake 9.2 on a dual 500 mhz proccessor machine and I can not get the network card to see the network.

I have a Realtek 8139d NIC and the driver it installed is the 8139too. I run ifconfig and it say the address is the loop back address. I go in and set up the card to use dhcp so it will obtain the address from the D-link Internet router and it just will not do this.

During boot up it states that the eth0 failed. What will cause this?

Please help I'm trying to get this up and running to use as a server for my business.

Thank you,
Aaron

kilgoretrout · 02-12-2004, 03:23 PM

What error messages do you get if you run:

# ifup eth0

Check your /etc/modules.conf file and see if there is a line in there like:

alias eth0 8139too

Also, check the output of:

# lsmod

and see if the 8139too driver loaded.

If it's not loading and you have the correct line in modules.conf to load the driver, post back.

Also, do you have more than one nic in that box? If you do, you have to hand configure because the auto config tools don't seem to work very well in that situation.

PSICE · 02-12-2004, 04:50 PM

When I check the ifup eth0 it states that the device or resource is busy.

I only have one card installed.

Also not sure how to check the /etc/modules.conf and when I try to run lsmod in the konsole it says command not found even logged in as the root.

PSICE · 02-12-2004, 06:39 PM

I checked the #lsmod and it listed 8139too used 0 and mii used 0 (autoclean) 8139too. I also checked the /etc/modules.conf and there is a line alias eth0 8139too.

The eth0 still fails on boot up and the modprobe as well.

kilgoretrout · 02-12-2004, 09:15 PM

You can check /etc/modules.conf by navigating to the file in konqueror and clicking on it. It's just a text configuration file that controls the loading of modules at boot. If lsmod shows 8139too is loaded then the line is probably in there.
Something seems to be interfering with the module. Before going any farther, make sure plug 'n play is disabled in your bios setup. In mdk 9.1 the acpi(bios power regulation) system used to cause some problems with certain realtek nics as well. Here's a way you can test that theory.

Reboot and as soon as you see the lilo boot screen, hit the Esc key. That will take you to a boot prompt at which you should type:

linux noapic

then hit the Enter key. Note if eth0 fails to open during boot. If eth0 comes up, then it should work.