Network problem (Reaktek & Marvell)

Tha1 · 08-11-2007, 07:12 AM

Hey. Long time no write.

I need some help in configuring a Reaktek 8139 card and/or a Yukon Marvell that is part of my MB A7N8x-e Deluxe.
After installing the latest release of Arch Linux (w/ 2.6 kernel), I can't get these network adapters to initiate, none of them.

this is what i get when the system is initiating:

Code:

IP-Config: no devices to configure

I already added

Code:

alias eth0 8139too
alias eth2 sk98lin

to /etc/modprobe.conf. Doing ifconfig -a shows me eth0 and eth2,just as intended.
Doing dmesg gives me these relevant parts:

Code:

8139cp: 10/100 PCI Ethernet driver v1.3 (Mar 22, 2004)
8139cp 0000:01:07.0: This (id 10ec:8139 rev 10) is not an 8139C+ compatible chip
8139cp 0000:01:07.0: Try the "8139too" driver instead.
8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.28

Code:

eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xe084c000, 00:30:4f:39:6c:02, IRQ 17
eth0:  Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8100B/8139D'
eth2: Yukon Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Adapter
      PrefPort:A  RlmtMode:Check Link State

Code:

eth0: link down
eth2: network connection up using port A
    speed:           100
    autonegotiation: yes
    duplex mode:     full
    flowctrl:        symmetric
    irq moderation:  disabled
    scatter-gather:  disabled
    tx-checksum:     disabled
    rx-checksum:     disabled
eth2: network connection down
eth0: link down
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
eth0: link down
eth2: network connection up using port A
    speed:           100
    autonegotiation: yes
    duplex mode:     full
    flowctrl:        symmetric
    irq moderation:  disabled
    scatter-gather:  disabled
    tx-checksum:     disabled
    rx-checksum:     disabled
eth2: network connection down
eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1

I already did also modprobe 8139too and modprobe sk98lin, but without results.Oh, and turned off acpi in GRUB.

Any ideas? this is driving me nuts!!!!

Electro · 08-12-2007, 12:34 AM

Use ifconfig to show network devices. If they are not there, type "ifconfig ethX up" to make them show up. Then use ifconfig to configure them by manually assigning an IP address and gateway address.

Tha1 · 08-12-2007, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electro

Use ifconfig to show network devices.

They show up when i type ifconfig. From what i read in the man pages, i can't manually assigning an IP address to any of these devices because i'm behind a cable modem. How do i do then?

Electro · 08-12-2007, 04:45 PM

You read the manual wrong. You can change the IP address to anything although try to stay with private IP addresses.

If you type the following
ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.101 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255

If one of the NIC is connected to the cable modem and your provider did not provide any IP address information, you may have to setup a DHCP client to setup the IP address and name servers that is gathered from your providers DHCP server.

Since you gave little information of your setup and what you want to do, I or someone else can not help you any further.

Tha1 · 08-12-2007, 09:10 PM

This is the setup then:

I'm directly behind a cable modem,connected by ethernet,that assigns me an IP, each time i want to connect to the internet,using DHCP.The modem doesn't have any sort of page acessible by browser.Right now,i'm using one of the integrated NIC's in my motherboard(Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe) to connect in Windows. I have another separated NIC installed, with a RTL-8100B/8139D chip in it. In any of them i can connect to the internet in Windows. I just want to be able to do that also in Arch Linux.
Any more info that can be helpful?

Electro · 08-13-2007, 03:47 PM

Use either dhcpd or pumpd (aka bootp). Also to make sure the DHCP server is up on your IP provider side use dhcping. Some IP providers may require you to tell them the MAC address of the NIC or device that the cable modem is connected to if their software is unable to look it up. In ifconfig the hardware address is the MAC address.

After the DHCP client is finish it should setup the IP address, the broadcast address, netmask, and name servers or DNS. If nothing is in /etc/resolv.conf, the DHCP client has came to an error or was denied by the IP provider server.

Tha1 · 08-14-2007, 08:30 AM

I've decided to start all over again. I've installed the latest Arch (Don't Panic) to address this problem with these NIC's. From what I've searched, there was some issue with dhcpcd version in Duke(3.0.17),that make someone hard to configure networks.
Anyway, I've downloaded it and burned it to an ISO. When the pc boots from the cd, it stops in a step where it says:

Code:

NTFS Driver version (something something)

and don't pass from here.
To not open another thread again just to get an answer to this,i've decided to ask it here.

Anyone can help me on this one?

Electro · 08-14-2007, 04:19 PM

If you are creating a router and/or a more sophisticated firewall, use a different Linux distribution. Gentoo and Slackware could be used. The scripts of both of the distributions are based on BSD, but I prefer Gentoo because it feels more complete and the user can select what feature he or she wants for the desire programs to install. If you want a consumer router look-a-like, use Smoothwall.

IMHO, Arch Linux could be used only if you know how to use Linux because not a lot people use this distribution.

Tha1 · 08-14-2007, 06:36 PM

No, I was just trying to configure it for a desktop system. But i've solved it. I "activated" the gateway in rc.conf and left the rest as is. I´ve managed to connect to the internet. Thanks