So, I bought a Linksys Fast ethernet 10/100 card and, predictably enough, I can't get it running.... So, now having officially given up on that, I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a simple card that I can actually plug into a box running Red Hat 7.1 and have it work without massive problems/headaches/kidney pain.

thanks

adam

Do you have the LNE100TX card? Mine always seems to work alright with RedHat, with the exception of 7.0. I know for a fact it works well with 6.2. Haven't tried with 7.1 though.

Usually 3com cards work best under linux.

Yeah, it's the LNE100TX card. I even tried another card, some weird knock off brand that a friend of mine had lying around and I couldn't get that up and running either. But at least I can explain that by saying I had no idea what drivers to run or the like.... Do you know if there's a way to conclusively tell if your network card is functioning? I've been getting lots of different information but no one can say for sure whether my card is runnning or not, so I figured I'd just try one more card and then chuck the whole thing....


thanks

adam

You probably have to recompile your kernel with support for NE2000 clones module and also try the "Tulip" module. I've read on RedHat that in the 2.4 kernel the Tulip module is used for LinkSys cards now, but I have been able to get my LinkSys PCI 10/100 card to work using the NE2000 clones module. I haven't tried the Tulip module.

I think the previous post is right on. I use Linksys cards almost exclusively in my machines at home. I've had RedHat 7.1 running on at least 3 of them. If the network card doesn't work it's usually because the kernel doesn't recognize it. I would recommend using the tulip module. At least thats what works for me. run 'make menuconfig' and check under network devices to make sure the necessary modules are included. If you are using the default kernel you can recompile the kernel and modules and only use the new modules. Once they are compiled they should be under /lib/moduiles/<kernel version>


Try that and see if it helps.

P.S. Did you have a nic in this machine previously?

To answer a few questions... this machine hasn't had an NIC card in it before, but my windows box runs fine on the same DSL line... I haven't recompiled my kernel because the instructions I found were just short of entirely incomprehensible.... The card came with a version of TULIP.C on it and then ran off a long string of commands with nonsensical line breaks.... but my big concern was I had no idea where I should copy the TULIP.C drivers and what would happen if I got something wrong.... However, I could tell (with cat/proc something or other, or maybe a log, I can't remember) that the Tulip module was loaded properly.... but I can't be certain that they're the most up to date Tulip drivers and that it's recognizing my card.... Should I try recompiling my kernel with the TULIP.C that came with the card? And if so, where should I move it to so that the following line makes sense....

gcc -DMODULE -D__KERNEL__
-I/usr/src/linux/net/inet
-Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O6 -c tulip.c
`[ -f /usr/include/linux/modversions.h ]
&& echo -DMODVERSIONS`


In Red Hat usr/src/linux/net/inet doesn't actually exist.... is that where it compile to, or where it's looking for the source to compile...


thanks guys


adam

Here is a quick and dirty for compiling a kernel:

1. su - root
2. cd /usr/src/linux-(your kernel rev here) (ie. /usr/src/linux-2.4.2-2)
3. make clean
4. make xconfig (if you are in xwindows) make menuconfig (from commandline)
5. Go through the topics one at a time and get rid of what you don't need and add what you do (ie. in the "filesystems" topic you may want to add DOS support, VFAT support etc...). But if you just want to add the Tulip drivers module, just go to Network Device Support > Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)> DECchip Tulip (dc21x4x) PCI support and make this a MODULE <M>.
6. Save & Quit
7. Run these commands from the command line:
"make dep && make clean && make bzImage && make modules && make modules_install && make install"
8. while the kernel is compiling (it may take a long time or it may only take about 10-15 minutes depends on size of kernel and what you added/subtracted and machine speed, may take a couple of hours) cd /lib/modules and do an "ls" you should see a directory named for your kernel revision number (ie. /lib/modules/2.4.2) do "mv 2.4.2 2.4.2.old" to save the modules if you need to backout.
9. cd /boot, move old kernel image "mv vmlinuz-2.4.2 vmlinuz-2.4.2.old" "ln -s vmlinuz-2.4.2.old vmlinuz-old" This will make a link to your old kernel image if your new one doesn't work.
10. vi /etc/lilo.conf and add this to the end:
image=/boot/vmlinuz-old
label=last
read-only
root=/dev/hda4 (This should be your root partition, it's different from the one here, check your existing lilo.conf file and just copy it but add the /boot/vmlinuz-old and change the label to "last or old". Leave the original image= stanza for the new kernel to use.
11. wait for compilation to finish, it should run /sbin/lilo which will activate the new kernel. If there are errors in /etc/lilo.conf this will tell you and you can go in and fix them before reboot.
12. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at borg@pcgeek.net

I think 3com and Intel have the best support in Linux. You should be able to get that Linksys working however. I

might not require a kernel rebuild. Have you tried running the 'netconfig' command to setup the network? See if it detects the card. If it does not, then you might have to recompile the kernel. But it should work with Linux.

Kevin J

I ran netconfig... it doesn't detect a card... but it never has any of the times I run it... but I can see an eth0 device and that it is active....

I tried running some of the commands for recompiling my kernel, but a lot of those folders don't exist and I can't seem to get make clean and make menuconfig work anywhere.....


adam

I know for a fact the tulip driver is what is needed in kernel version 2.2.x with Redhat 6.2 or lower. Linksys even has the tulip driver for download on their site. But I know I couldn't get it to work in Redhat 7.0... maybe your tip on the NE2000 clones is the key for Redhat 7.0 or later.

What you've got (tulip.c) is the source code for the driver, not the compiled driver (tulip.o) itself. The "gcc -DMODULE etc. etc." is the command used to compile the source. I think Redhat uses the /usr/src/linux/net directory instead of the /net/inet subdirectory, so you would type only /usr/src/linux/net. That dir is where gcc will look for the neccessary header files (needed by the tulip.c source file) during the compile.

The thing is that you really shouldn't have to compile/recompile. The tulip module has been supported natively by the kernel for some time; you should just be able to select it in netconf/linuxconf.

Regardless of which card you're using, here's my generic "NIC troubles 101" guide:Those are the most basic steps; try them and see what happens. If you still have issues, repost with specifics on the problems.

Ok, here we go....

Eth0 has always come up "OK" in my boot sequence, but everytime it tries to initialize my DSL connection I get "Failed.... Connection Timed Out." I've turned off Plug and Play OS in my BIOS and turned each PCI slot to LEGACY as opposed to PnP. My card boots up at IRQ 10 without conflict. The computer recognizes it with cat /proc/pci and I can confirm it runs at IRQ 10 with cat /proc/interrupts.

I can't run Linuxconf, but I can run Netconfig. I have a static IP address and I enter that, and then I enter my netmask.... One question I do have, every time I've done this, Linux kicks out a default gateway and nameserver IP that don't even come close to relating to my actual default gatway and DNS.... does that matter? I've been changing them, but should I have been?

When I run ifconfig I can see my IP address correctly and my subnet mask correctly, but I'm not sure if my broadcast number is right or not.... My ISP hasn't been a whole lot of help but they tell me I've got all the numbers right and they are the numbers that run properly on my windows box, is there some reason that any of them would be different on a Linux box?

I actually tried (before I did a clean reinstall) to configure my card manually using ifcfg eth0 up to set my broadcast, IP and netmask, but even that didn't seem to work..... I've tried two networks card to no avail..... Should I switch distributions of Linux? Should I try a 3com card? Should I slap myself around a little bit? Can I officially call this an ISP problem? And even if I do, does that get me anywhere?


you guys have been fantastically helpful, here's hoping somebody has an idea.....


adam

Buy a 3COM NIC, that costs you money. Get Linux-Mandrake 7.2 iso's and it is free to download, and it does work with the included Tulip drivers.

Skot.

If eth0 is being recognized and you are able to run netconfig, then is probably nothing wrong with your card, but you just don't have your settings right.

You should definitely be changing your gateway and DNS server to what they should be as provided by your ISP. I am sure you are missing something minor.

You said something about "initializing DSL". What is that? Do you have some kind of DSL dialup progam? I use cable so I don't know anything about DSL, but you should read http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/DSL-HOWTO/index.html

To see if there is something you are missing there.

KevinJ

Mmmkayyyy.

You're using a DSL service. Unless you explicitly ask (and pay $$$)for a static IP you will need a DHCP client (pump, dhcpcd, dhclient).

The ISP I use requires each machine on their network to 'register' the MAC address of the NIC that will be on the network. Registration is done thru a secure web page. A client who has not registered their NIC will get a 'private' IP address so that they can get to the registration page. I can either do it thru Windows as a 'one-step' process or manually enter the information.

Static IPs on DHCP services will get ignored.