Is there anybody out there that has already found the solution to getting this NIC card to work with Red Hat 8.0 willing to do what NETGEAR will not and supply me with the correct drivers and detailed installation notes?

I'm truly exhausted from researching the solution to this problem and I've found no real CLEAR explanation on what I need to know or do to get it to work. This is my last attempt at resolving the problem before I throw both the NIC and Redhat out the window.

I've read this post already:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ighlight=fa311

And please dont direct me to http://www.scyld.com/network/natsemi.html
unless you can provide with a direct link to what it is exactly that I need to download.

I would greatly appriciate if anybody who can understand my frustration would be so kind as to help me out with this matter.

Thank you.

What does "lsmod" show?
What does "ifconfig -a" show?

Have you run "netconfig"?

-Kevin

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:09:5B:09:82:F0
inet addr:192.168.1.103 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0xd000
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:74 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:74 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:4882 (4.7 Kb) TX bytes:4882 (4.7 Kb)


[root@localhost root]# lsmod

Module Size Used by Not tainted
ide-cd 31432 0 (autoclean)
cdrom 30976 0 (autoclean) [ide-cd]
sb 9012 0 (autoclean)
sb_lib 41006 0 (autoclean) [sb]
uart401 8068 0 (autoclean) [sb_lib]
sound 70196 0 (autoclean) [sb_lib uart401]
soundcore 6180 4 (autoclean) [sb_lib sound]
autofs 12228 0 (autoclean) (unused)
natsemi 17712 1
iptable_filter 2316 0 (autoclean) (unused)
ip_tables 14456 1 [iptable_filter]
mousedev 5236 1
keybdev 2688 0 (unused)
hid 20836 0 (unused)
input 5664 0 [mousedev keybdev hid]
usb-ohci 20360 0 (unused)
usbcore 71680 1 [hid usb-ohci]
ext3 64224 2
jbd 48180 2 [ext3]


Yes, I've run netconfig, and I managed to get an "OK" message when eth0 loads on startup, but the lights on my NIC dont light up.

if you don't get a light... you need to check the cable or hub/switch port. Do you get a link light on the hub/switch?

What tests are you using to determine if the NIC is working or not?

-KevinJ

I dont get a link light on either the card or the switch.

Its a dual booting system with Windows 98 and Red Hat 8.0 and the NIC works great with Windows.

From the information from lsmod and ifconfig, does everything else check out to be ok?

BTW, I really appriciate your helping me out with this.

well... lsmod shows the natsemi module loading, and ifconfig shows the card is active.

If it works in Windows, I guess that proves the rest of the setup is okay.

This particular card is not listed as supported in RH's database for v8.0.

Some other folks have said that IRQ conflicts can cause some issues with some cards. Does "dmesg" show any kind of error on boot up?

You know... its just a thought.... but you can probably get 5 different cards from $10-$20 at elinux.com that are guaranteed to work.

http://www.elinux.com/NavBar3.jsp?Navid=34687000

That's like what? Sacrificing 3 or 4 trips to McDonalds? Just a thought.

Lemme know if you see any errors in the boot logs.

-KevinJ

Nope, the log shows no errors.

So.... you never said... what exactly makes you think the NIC isn't working? What tests have you run? What about Gateway and DNS addresses? Are they correct?

-Kevin

Well, the link lights dont light up in Linux but they do in Windows. This baffles me. I was thinking this was the result of an improper driver, but it sound more system setting related. Manually configuring the DHCP isn't going to activate my card I dont think. But I dont know...

But if it is a driver issue, what do I need to do?

The only thing I can think of is to recompile the driver from source.

Try this maybe?

http://www.scyld.com/network/updates.html#rpm

-KevinJ

EASY AS PIE!!!!!

Take your magnifying glass to the main chip on your NetGear FA311 board. You'll see a marking like 'DP81815xxx' Run that thru Google and you'll see this is a National Semiconductor chip.

Then on the Linux 8.0 System Settings>Network>Network Configuration>Hardware pulldown, you'll notice a selection for 'NatSemi DP83815 fast ethernet', pick it. ACTIVATE!!!!!!

(lsmod shows the 8139too module is being used)

You're welcome

Tom Tugan, Colorado