I installed Mandrake 9.2 today and have not been abke to configure my network or inet connection.

I am running a Soltek SL-75FRN2 MB with built in LAN card.

The ethernet card shows in the configuration panel (HardDrake I think) When I slect auto configure it says there are no parameters set for the card. If I try to manually set it up, it eventually comes up and tells me that there is no network adapter.

I am running XP on this computer and it works fine. (Inet)

Any ideas ?

Download these (nvidia driver and mandrake 9.2 kernel source):

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/n....0-0261.tar.gz
ftp://mirror.sit.wisc.edu/mirrors/li...10mdk.i586.rpm

Install the kernel source ( rpm -i ... as root)

In a terminal logged in as root, go to where you downloaded the nvidia file and enter this:

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
tar -zvxf NVIDIA_nforce-1.0-0261.tar.gz
cd nforce/nvnet
make
make install
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

The module is now set up, you can use either of the methods you describe to set up your network now.

The problem is nvidia does not open source their drivers.

I think there were two 9.2 kernel sources, a 2.4.22-6 one and a 2.4.22-10 one, the above is the -10 one. Check your kernel with this command:

uname -a

If you have the 2.4.22-6... kernel, look around for the source.

Wow, I'm just blown away by all these new terms getting throw at me, haha !!

Ok, I downloaded the above mentioned files in XP, (I can't get on the net in Mandrake yet), and saved them on my XP drive as XP cannot see the Linux drive in explorer.

You say to install the kernel file (.rpm file) as root. I assume you mean from terminal ? Can I do this as a user or do I need to log in as an administrator ? If so, how l do that ? Also, how do I navigate to the files which are now in a Windows partition ? Lastly, I think the command to install the kernel will be rpm -i (filename) Is this correct ?

Same with the Nvidia drivers, how do I navigate to the file while it is in a Windows partition ? Also, the 4 command lines you give above, what exactly does each one do ?

Sorry for all the lame questions but I'm so new at this it's sad. I have a fairly extensive Windows background but this is all quite foreign to me so far.

Thanks again.

From Mandrake, you'll need to mount your Windows partition. Assuming that you installed Windows first on your first hard drive, try:The hd in hda1 refers to the fact that your drive is on the IDE bus (use sd for SCSI drives). The a refers to your first physical hard disk (the primary master in the BIOS in most cases). The 1 refers to the first partition on the disk. If Windows is on the first partition of this disk, it should be hda1.

That should mount your C: drive in Windows to the /mnt directory in Mandrake. Use /dev/hda2 for the second partition on the disk (if you have a D: drive or similar). Just use cd to navigate to wherever you downloaded it.

BTW, you'll need to do all this as root.

I hope this helps you!