Hi there,

I'just setup SUSE 9.2 and it works quite well. Just one problem - and a big one:

SUSE saw my NIC just right (Onboard Gigabit LAN on the Abit AV8 by VIA). I setup my router (SMC 2804WBRP-G) to automatic net connection, which works quite well under windows.

I can access the internet and the speed is very good but after approx. 1 minute the net connection is lost. If I start YAST and look at the network options just to close them again (and thus restarting the network) it works again for a short time...

weird... I've also tried to manually insert DNS, Router IP etc. but nothing changes...

Any ideas anybody???

Thanks!

Do you have another PCI NIC card to try, preferably a realtek chipset? If you do , pop it in and disable the onboard gigabut LAN. If this works, suspect drivers.

Hi,

I can't test that right now, but I suspect the drivers as well... I downloaded the VIA drivers for the NIC, but I relly don't get the readme. I guess for some Linux pro this is easy, but I don't understand this:


1) Create a temporary directory:
mkdir /temp

2) Change to the temporary directory:
cd /temp

3) Copy driver (.tgz file) from DOS disk, (mcopy below is one tool in
mtools, if you didn't install mtools, you can type
'mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt' and use 'cp /mnt/velocityget.tgz /temp'
command to copy the driver to the temporary directory):
mcopy a:velocityget.tgz .

4) untar the archive file:

tar xzvf velocityget.tgz
cd velocityget

5) Compile the driver source files and it will generate object file, and
copy it to correct driver installation path (The installation directory
is different in different kernel versions. In 2.4.x/2.6.x kernel, the path
is /lib/modules/KERNEL_VERSION/kernel/drivers/net/, and in 2.2.x kernel,
the path is /lib/modules/KERNEL_VERSION/net/, the KERNEL_VERSION (see
above) means the kernel version of your Linux distribution. If you don't
know your kernel version , please run 'uname -r' command in command
line. The kernel version will look like '2.2.16', '2.4.2-2smp' etc.) :
make install

HOW? What do I have to do exactly???

6) Check configuration file (/etc/modules.conf or /etc/conf.modules or
/etc/modprobe.conf, it depends on your Linux distribution) for loading
kernel modules. Make sure the first line below is appeared in the
configuration file, where # is the interface number (eg: alias eth0
velocityfet). If you need to set the driver options, below second line
is an example to set the NIC to 100Mbps fullduplex mode (remember to
unmark the line if it is put in the configuration file).
alias eth# velocityget

7) Reboot now:
shutdown -r now

8) Install your driver module (If the driver module is in the wrong place,
an error message will appear, and say that can't find the driver
module):
insmod velocityget.o

9) Use ifconfig command to assign the IP address, where # is network
interface number:
ifconfig eth# <IP>

10) Check the interface works:
ping <remote_host_IP>

Help Meeeee!!!!!

Thanks,
Zzorrkk

PS. If I somehow make it - can I use YAST to configure it or is it console 'til death from then on?

Ok - I found my old 3com 10/100 card and now I use that one... No problems now.

I am having the EXACT same problem as you are / were. It definately seems to be a driver issue. I have not tried the compile of velocityget driver yet. I can appreciate your work around of throwing an old card into the box, because it is real frustrating!

Man, they still have the driver issue unresolved? Thats lame, because I guess the driver is not so unpopular. I simply didn't bother to pursue this any further, because my old card does the job perfectly. I don't need gigabit lan at home...

But then again - what can you expect from an OS thats downloadable for free? I guess the support is limitied because they have a slightly differnt funding...

Maybe you can find some HowTos on the net by now...

Don't get frustrated,
Zzorrkk

I thought it was just me having this problem. Glad I'm not alone. The solution is to install the velocityget driver from VIA. Just install the appropriate kernel-source rpm, untar the file to a temp directory and type make install. The next thing you have to do is configure the network card in Yast to use the right driver. The default is via_velocity (under advanced section). You have to change this to velocityget and reboot. SuSE should load the new velocityget driver until you upgrade your kernel when you will have to do it all again.

The bigger issue is how can SuSE screw up the kernel drivers? The kernel's via_velocity driver works in all other distros I have tried. Both packaged kernels (Debian & Arch) or self-compiled kernels (Gentoo & Slackware) work fine. When I use the via_velocity driver, it works briefly then freezes with the send/receive lights on the router blinking alternately. I haven't tried recompiling the SuSE kernel because it is much quicker to just compile the driver.

Yeeeeaaahhhh!

Thanks for solving this one hkctr!

Seems like your post was far easier to understand for me than the readme. I just hesitated when I couldn't select the new driver but had to write the driver name in yast when reconfiguring the NIC. But after the reboot all worked flawless. Been on the net for 10 Minutes without a problem. Seems like my 3com PCI-card can go to sleep again

Thanks for posting this.

Zzorrkk

I have an AV8 also so I was glad I was able to help. Yes, you do have to manually type velocityget into the space typing over via_velocity. Still can't figure out why the SuSE kernel fall over using the kernel driver. Anyway, the via driver uses a bit more of the cpu compared to a pci slot 3Com card but I don't care. I use the onboard sound too, even though it sucks compared to any soundblaster.