I just upgarded to Slackware 10.0 and went to start my normal routine of getting the network to work. I always forget what I do, so I always start from ground zero. This time around though, the problem arises when I try to load the modules for my card. It's model is DFE-530TX+ which has worked before with the 8139too module. I run modprobe 8139too and get nothing. 8139cp is loaded, but it displays errors.

I can't get 8139cp to unload and I can't get 8139too to load, is there something I'm missing? If I have to, I'll figure out how to rebuild the kernel with 8139too incorporated, but I'm new and would rather play around before I get to the dirty stuff.

Here are commands to use:

lsmod : list all loaded modules.

rmmod <module> : remove a module from the Kernel

rmmod -f <module> : remove a module from the Linux Kernel forcefully. Note if above command does not work then use this command.

depmod : creates a list of module dependencies.

more /etc/modules.conf : Config file for modules. You may need to edit this file.

And make sure you compile NIC module in kernel. Try following to see if driver compiled or not

grep "DRIVER_NAME" /path/to/kernel/source/.config

Hope this helps.

You could add 8139cp in /etc/hotplug/blacklist to avoid it being loaded by hotplug and add a line to modprobe it in /etc/modules.conf (nixcraft was refering to this too )

okay, my mistake. It wasn't loading 8139cp, it was displaying error messages. 8139too is loaded and running fine, but it still wont get the address through DHCP.

Just to see if something was weird with my hardware, I booted up DSL and looked at the lsmod. Everythings the same, but DSL got the IP address and slackware doesn't. Any suggestions? cause I've got nothing.

P.S. this wasn't a problem with slack 9.1, so I'll probably end up going back to that

try this
ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 up
dhcpcd
if works check /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1
do you have uncommented line
dhcp=yes
and commented lines with IPADDR, NETMASK, NETWORK, BROADCAST

Hi,

I also have problems getting 8139too working with dhcp... (also, after an upgrade from mdk 10.0 to mdk 10.1, that got me 2.6.8.1 kernel...; and the network card worked before...)

From what I saw in the logs, there is an error regarding the hardware adddres: "unknown hardware address 776" (this is comes from dhcpd:sid0 (donno what sid0 is...))

I suspect I missed some config related for the kernel because:
- I have the same error when I try installing gentoo (which also uses kernel 2.6.8)
- the card worked before, I managed to configure it with a static IP and responded to echo request, however, the net was still down
- ethtool shows everything is ok, settings detected correctly, link detected...
- there is an error complaining about a function not being implemented (SIOCSIFFLAGS - or something like that - function not implemented) that is being logged in 2.6.8 but not in 2.4.7 (however, when I booted with 2.4.7 kernel the dhcp negotiation still failed because my card did not work correctly; the dhcp server is up and runnig ok for about 40-50 machines...)
- I found some other pages related to problems about 8139too and >2.6.8 kernels (but they were in german... :-) )

Does any body know anything about this ? It's unlikelly that 8139too was bugged somewhere around 2.6.8 but something is changed and I did not found a solution....

Regards,
tudo

My problem wasn't related the module (even though I thought it was). It was related to Slack 10 thinking that I had a wireless card. I made rc.wireless unreadable and that took care of my problem.

Don't know what to tell you with your situation. I'd try a different (cheap) network card and see if that worked before I dug around too much. No use making life harder than it is.

Yeah... we think alike :-)
This is the same thing I was thinking about...
However, just in case I solve the problem afterwards, I will post here the details...


Regards,
tudo

I have that card and have never had a problem. Here is what my "lsmod" showed:

8139too 14376 1
mii 2272 0 [8139too]
crc32 2880 0 [8139too]

Hi,

I strongly think there is something wrong with the kernel 2.6.8.1 configurations that I have (on a gentoo live cd and on mandrake 10.1 - either one cannot get the ethernet up)... because I tested another netcard (that uses the tulip module) and I have the same results (i.e. the net is still down)

Does anyone know anything about the log messages mentioned above ("unkown hardware address" and "SIOCSIFFLAGS: function not implemented" that came when trying to ifup eth0 ?)


Regards,
tudo

P.S. sorry about discussing this on the slackware forum, but this is where I found the thread about 8139too)

You can try this way.

Put the module you don't want to loaded in /etc/hotplug/blacklist, then reboot your computer and look with lsmod for the loaded modules. If the other module is loaded, use netconfig. If it is not use modprobe to load it and then netconfig.

Hope it helps...

Now that I think about it, I probably don't use DHCP on my ethernet card. Since there's only one connection, I just specify its address myself. I don't like using DHCP when I don't have to.