Very Computer

Hi,

I installed Redhat 8.0 on a brand new laptop that had a WinME default
install.  Before thrashing WinME, I took the liberty of ensuring that
all system components were working on that OS.

The RH 8.0 install proceeded flawlessly, except for the fact that the
RealTek 8139c network adapter is refusing to send a single packet on the
network.  This it dutifully did on WinME by the way.  For the past six
hours I've been trying to play around with it, and going through the
google archives to no avail.  I've see a lot of similar problems being
reported on the newsgroups, but  I have yet to encounter advice that
solves my problem.

Lest you think that I have problems with IP networking, I must say that
have just installed  8.0 on a Toshiba right next to this laptop and it's
working perfectly there.  Upon startup, eth0 is initialised
successfully, the network configuration tool on gnome show that the card
is active and it properly recognises it, lsmod shows that 8139too driver
is loaded but the thing refuses to work.  I am using exactly the same
hardware, cables, switches etc. that I sucessfully used on ME.

Before I rush out and buy a more reliable PCMCIA card, is could there be
something that I have not done properly ?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dumi

I am having the same problem with a Zonet 10/100 cardbus
zen1200 card. It actually worked on RH 7.3 but I am unable
to get it to work on 8.0

Please keep informed.

Dan

Surely these matters concern the kernel rather than the distribution.
If you upgraded the distribution you would still have the old kernels.

--
Timothy Murphy  

tel: 086-233 6090
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

I think your premise is incorrect. Upgraded kernels are
included in the upgraded distributions.

I recently had the same problem on a laptop (WinXP OK, SuSE 8.1 not). If
you have the same error you should see this in /proc/interrupts; there
should be no interrupts counted for the network adaptor. (Ie. the value
won't increase when trying to use the adaptor.)
The quick fix was a BIOS setting that probably turned off ACPI and lead
to a different interrupt allocation. (This lead to some other problems;
eg. no power management without ACPI.)
The better solution was to enable ACPI-support in the kernel.
Fortunately the SuSE-kernel already supported ACPI, so I only had to use
the kernel parameter pci=acpi (see also
http://sdb.suse.de/en/sdb/html/81_acpi.html).
If your kernel doesn't support ACPI (look at /proc/acpi, or modprobe
acpi), you have to patch it or use a 2.5-kernel.

Andr

There are two separate RT81xx drivers - try the other one (called 8139,
instead of 8139too, IIRC). i believe the "other" driver has gone away in
newer kernels - my kernel 2.4.19 box uses 8139too.

--
----- stephan beal
Registered Linux User #71917 http://counter.li.org
I speak for myself, not my employer. Contents may
be hot. Slippery when wet. Reading disclaimers makes
you go blind. Writing them is worse. You have been Warned.

The other driver you mention is not 8139 but 8139cp, i have not yet seen
a card which uses it, most shops here in NL, (The Netherlands) still sell
RTL-8139C cards, AFAIK A/B and C cards use the 8139too driver.

--
Regards Richard

http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/

Dumisani,

There is an older driver that works with the
realtek 8139 chip:
   rtl8139
i currently run the 8139too on my router and
it works but with a lot of error messages
that constantly state:
   Abnormal Interrupt, status 00000002
or
   Abnormal Interrupt, status 00000020
but only on the card, that is forced to 10Mb/s
to communicate with a DSL-Modem.
Another identical card that talks to different
10/100 Cards in the LAN runs with no errors.
next time i reboot the router i will switch
back to rtl8139 for the 10Mb/s-forced card.
rtl8139 is still part of e.g. the suse 8.1
distribution.
if you do not have access to this module i could
mail it or put it to my homepage, just tell.
As I encountered similar problems, although not
that severe, i would be interested in your further
experience.
cheers,

      Robert

My slackware desktop pc has a "Elements 8139 Dual-Speed Fast Ethernet NIC"
It uses the "fealnx" modular driver  and works fine. Don't know RH at all.
Hope this helps.
jt........n2cwy

Quote:> Hi,

> I installed Redhat 8.0 on a brand new laptop that had a WinME default
> install.  Before thrashing WinME, I took the liberty of ensuring that
> all system components were working on that OS.

> The RH 8.0 install proceeded flawlessly, except for the fact that the
> RealTek 8139c network adapter is refusing to send a single packet on the
> network.  This it dutifully did on WinME by the way.  For the past six
> hours I've been trying to play around with it, and going through the
> google archives to no avail.  I've see a lot of similar problems being
> reported on the newsgroups, but  I have yet to encounter advice that
> solves my problem.

> Lest you think that I have problems with IP networking, I must say that
> have just installed  8.0 on a Toshiba right next to this laptop and it's
> working perfectly there.  Upon startup, eth0 is initialised
> successfully, the network configuration tool on gnome show that the card
> is active and it properly recognises it, lsmod shows that 8139too driver
> is loaded but the thing refuses to work.  I am using exactly the same
> hardware, cables, switches etc. that I sucessfully used on ME.

> Before I rush out and buy a more reliable PCMCIA card, is could there be
> something that I have not done properly ?

> Thanks in advance for any advice.

> Dumi