3c509b-TPO initial config prob under RH6

roboates · 09-21-2005, 09:22 PM

I need help with basic network interface configuration on a vintage system. PC is a Gateway Pentium 60 MHz/64MB ram/2.1GB HD/3c509B-TPO. It's a former Win98 machine that I'm converting to Linux as a learning tool. I plan to use it for web mail and chat full time while I do 'real work' on another PC. May use it as a firewall learning platform.

Regarding my current problem, yes, I have RTFM as best I know how. I've searched HOW-TOs, FAQs, Linux books I have and other web sites.

I used the 3Com DOS utility to disable PnP and set the card to irq=10 io=0x210. Card passed all the utility's tests.

Onto a 'blank' HD, I installed RH6 from the CD included with Sam's _Red Hat Linux 6 Unleashed_ -- mostly because I had it! (And, yes, I do plan to upgrade as far as my hardware will allow -- once I'm on the network.) During the install I used the Workstation option and the card was detected. The machine boots and runs just fine (perhaps a bit slow). During boot eth0 doesn't initialize -- [Failed] message.

My home network includes a d-Link DI-514 4-port switch / router / wireless access point used to connect together two wired Win XP Pro boxes, a wireless Win XP Pro desktop, a wireless Win2K laptop and a DSL modem.

The d-Link is running DHCP for windows boxes. I hard wired into the d-Link this static IP address for the linux box using the 3c509's MAC addr:

IP=192.168.0.101
Netmask=255.255.255.0
Gateway=192.168.0.1

ifconfig -a shows only the lo loopback at 127.0.0.1, no eth0.

dmesg shows no attempt to start eth0 -- nothing at all about eth0. These lines are there:
Linux NET4.0 for Linus 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
Initializing RT netlink socket

Again, using the book, I checked the settings in these files:
/etc/sysconfig/network
/etc/HOSTNAME
/etc/hosts
/etc/services
/etc/host.conf
/etc/nsswitch.conf
/etc/resolv.conf

All settings seemed to match what the book said to expect.

The book also referred to a file /etc/init.d/network that was not on my system:

IPADDR=192.168.0.101
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
NETWORK=192.168.0.0
BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
GATEWAY=192.168.0.1

I added it and ran ../init.d/network restart, but it didn't change my results.

From a message on this forum I got the info to add this line to the top of my lilo.conf file:

ether=10,0x210,0,0x3c509,eth0

I added it and just rebooted, it still didn't change my results.

I can ping localhost, but can't ping the router, duh. For completeness I tried to ping .101 from the XP box with no joy.

Obviously I'm a newbie here and to linux, but I am enthusiastic! In my efforts to get started I'm out of places to check/configure, but I suspect that there's probably a fairly simple solution to this question. I must have missed setting a value in some file...

Thanks for any assistance anyone can provide!

Slim_Pikins · 09-23-2005, 09:17 AM

Hi

I had a similar problem with this nic running debian (sorry I don't know redhat) I used a "modconf" to install the kernel module, I dont know if its the same for redhat

roboates · 09-25-2005, 05:50 PM

Using a suggestion from another site I got to:

insmod 3c509

which got the module loaded, then

../init.d/network restart

got it initialized and running.

I can now ping myself(!), the router, other PC on the LAN and IP addresses on the internet by IP or name.

Next challenge: Netscape [4.51] in it's default config has Java enabled, but when I try to load a page with Java (like mail.yahoo.com or www.foxnews.com) the message "Starting Java..." is displayed on the status bar at the bottom for a few seconds and then the browser closes. The Yahoo and Google home pages display just fine for comparison.

I've got no problem with upgrading the browser. My first thought though, was to get the box fully operational before making substantial changes. On the other hand, improvements in later browsers may speak to upgrading as a better choice.

A couple more challenges: 1) I've never used rpm; and, 2) I don't know which script to change to load the 3c509 module and start it so I don't have to do it manually each time.

Thanks again for any help you can provide.

Snowbat · 09-26-2005, 07:06 AM

Try adding the following to /etc/modules.conf to get your 3c509 running on boot

Code:

alias eth0 3c509

roboates · 09-26-2005, 06:35 PM

I added

Code:

alias eth0 3c509

to the top of the /etc/conf.modules file and it's now loading, but still not starting on boot.

What else have I missed?

Thanks.

Snowbat · 09-27-2005, 07:04 AM

Configure the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

For static IP address 192.168.0.2

Code:

DEVICE=eth0
IPADDR=192.168.0.2
ONBOOT=yes

or to get a dhcp allocated address (no guarantees this will work in Red Hat 6 but I think it should)

Code:

DEVICE=eth0 
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes

I recommend you use a static IP address if you are going to use the box as any kind of server. 192.168.0.2 should work fine if no other machine uses it.

roboates · 09-28-2005, 11:09 PM

I checked that file and those entries are there.

Any other ideas!?

Thanks for the suggestion.