Hey everyone.. I'll be here often.. i've run linux Red hat a while back.. but, i'm checking out Mandrake for I've heard it was a bit easier to work with. but, not too sure, b/c i was having trouble installing.. couldn't figure out why.. I finally took my computer off the desk, and put it bakc on, and didn't hook everything back up.. Anyways, it installed. i was like, yea, i'm goign to get it up and running now.. I plugged evrything up.. wouldn't run.. hm.. anyways, i found out the problem will appear when I plug my mandrake machine into my netgear fvs318.. I unplugged it, and it works great.!.. but, when i plug it in, it will either freeze, or jsut restart and wont go back into mandrake os until i unplug the network cord.. I tried configuring my network configuration on my mandrake machien.. still wont work. So, i'm up for ANY suggestions..
Thanks
DAS

If Mandrake "hangs" upon startup, it may be awaiting an IP or trying unsuccessfully to initialize the lan interface.

If it reboots, or even fails to begin to boot, then you have a serious hardware issue.

In the latter case I'd start by replacing the LAN interface, and checking the LAN cables.

A good intelligent port tester would be helpful too, something which can detect voltages on the ethernet ports.

You may have a ground fault or other such problem.

i understand.. but, win xp it ran fine... the Only time it has problems is when i plug the network cord into the network card .. tha's the ONLY time it will freeze (while in mandrake).. sometiems it reboots, then gives some.. problem syncing error..

Shut down the machine then hook it up.

Power it back up and let it go into Mandrake.

When prompted hit SHIFT-I to go thru the startup.

Observe where it fails as you let the machine start each service one at a time.

Remember that Windows chooses the lowest common denominator, and Mandrake may not be.

e.g. Windows may be resorting to half duplex 10baseT, etc while Mandrake is initing the card at 100baseT full duplex, etc.

In ANY case mandrake should NOT reboot, unless there is another underlying hardware issue.

One thing I would do immediately in your shoes...

Open the machine and move the LAN card to another slot.

You may have a bus mastering or resource problem and often swapping cards around a bit resolves this.

BTW: The same thing happens with Windows rebooting under similiar circumstances...


Also try specifying nolapic or noapic to the kernel as a startup parameter.

it's an onboard lan port... but, i'll check the shift I thing real fast

it does fail at the network card.. the eth0 thing.. it also doesn't find the sound either.. but, it will freeze .. unless i reboot it with out the network cord plugged in

How about some more system information?

Motherboard, chipset, lan chipset info etc?

While it MAY be possible that the LAN driver itself is to blame, I'm using Mandrake 10.1 for 24/7 production servers, firewalls, etc. and I have never had problems with integrated LAN adapters causing reboots.

However apic problems still plague many motherboards and the Kernel is not always able to work around the issues. Each sucessive kernel does a better job though.

Which kernel are you running?

You may need to update both the kernel-source and the kernel to .24mdk which is available in the repository.

Amoung other things it fixed some apic issues.

Try the noapic kernel parameter...

..boot to safe mode, edit /etc/lilo.conf and insert "noapic" into one of the append lines...

Save and run lilo as root.

Make sure that lilo drops you to the prompt w/o any errors... then reboot and try out the entry.

Does this stop the reboot and hangup at eth0 initialization?

hey, i finally got frustrated, and re-installed .. and now, it's working.. i saw an extra package i didn't install the first time.. it was for firewall's/ROUTHERs... i didn't see the routers word, adn i was assuming i needed it installed since i'm running off a router with a firewall.. but, it's installed with the new installation..and i'm online and everything is good.. thanks for all the help

haha, i take that back.. it still stalled up.. but let me surf and stuff for a while..
so i'm not sure what's wrong..
i'm going to try sase..

You should REALLy try the noapic parameter before you do anything else.

This is a known motherboard problem and has nothing to do with the distro.

While the motherboards are at fault, the kernel does not have a complete set of workarounds for the faulty apic controllers. This may have already been addressed in updated kernels.

yea, but, i'm really new to this kinda... and i opened that file.. but saw several apend lines
i donht know which one to put it in

and i have my User name set to automatically log in.. i dont see where i can log in as root.. and i really dont know how to log in safe mode either..
i could ahve logged in root and stuff with redhat, i really want to use mandrake.. i like the way it looks

Man I dont know
I've checked the kernel.. i think it's 2.6 soething.. i entered the noapic thing as root.. went to konsole and did the command lilo -v.. it ran with no errors.. rebooted back into my name.. and still having trouble.. i guess the only other thing i can try is to install a nic into one of my other slots..
i'll try it next .

HEY GUYS
everything is working now!!
I guess i forgot to restart into my normal account.. etc ...... i reconfigured my network configuration with a dhcp and everything is dandy..
thanks for the help man, if there's anything i can help you out with.. let me know
DAS


i'm re-edioting this to keep the replies down.. but, i dont know, i haven't tried the new card yet.. but i was up and srufing and everything was working for about 10 minutese.. then frooze.. i'll have to get a new card and try it tonight after work.. but, i'm just posting all this as a "journal" to keep everyone updated and possibly to help anyone else who is having the say problem

hey,
this is me again.. I'mjust getting on here to let you all know how i fixed my problem.. I got a new pci network card.. i installed it, did the little configuration for it in the startup.. i left it unplugged at the time.. then mandrake started up.. i made sure it was configured right.. plugged it in.. no stalling YET.. i went to open the browser..(which i'm on now).. and it's working fine.. so the problem was the onboard nic.. i guess i could have fixed it with a bios update or something.. but, oh well.. it's working now.. thanks for the help