Very Computer

Hi All,

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I had successfully installed LM 8.1 on my PC with an nForce-based MB
(MSI K7N420 Pro).

Post-install, the machine was without sound or ethernet, so I went and
downloaded the Linux unified drivers available from the NVIDIA website
for LM 8.1 and followed the install instructions.

Being a newbie to Linux, after installing, I didn't know what the next
logical step should be to bring my ethernet and sound to working
condition.

I tried configuring my ethernet in the Mandrake Control Center using
autodetect, but at some point it would present me with a list of
manufacturers, asking "Which net driver should I use?". The choice
defaulted to the very first option in the alphabetical list, and none
of the manufacturers seemed correct to me (there was no "NVIDIA"
choice or the like). There did not appear to be any "generic" choice
that I could choose.

(As an aside, I also noticed that neither the onboard sound or onboard
ethernet appeared under the HardDrake list. The onboard graphics card
appeared as a "Generic VGA" and seemed to be using the "3DLabs Oxygen
GMX" driver.)

How can I get my ethernet working after installing the drivers?
From previous postings it seems that many of you with nForce MB's were
able to get the onboard components working correctly.
I have been stuck on this for many days now, and would be grateful to
anyone kind enough to lend a helping hand.

Discouraged linux newbie,

Johnny

Quote:> Hi All,

> Thanks for taking the time to read this.

> I had successfully installed LM 8.1 on my PC with an nForce-based MB
> (MSI K7N420 Pro).

> Post-install, the machine was without sound or ethernet, so I went and
> downloaded the Linux unified drivers available from the NVIDIA website
> for LM 8.1 and followed the install instructions.

> Being a newbie to Linux, after installing, I didn't know what the next
> logical step should be to bring my ethernet and sound to working
> condition.

The next logical step would be to read the documentation that came with
it. Also try the documentation on the nforce area of nvidia's website.

Quote:> I tried configuring my ethernet in the Mandrake Control Center using
> autodetect, but at some point it would present me with a list of
> manufacturers, asking "Which net driver should I use?". The choice
> defaulted to the very first option in the alphabetical list, and none of
> the manufacturers seemed correct to me (there was no "NVIDIA" choice or
> the like). There did not appear to be any "generic" choice that I could
> choose.

It's in the docs....

go here and read then if you still need help come back.

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/nforce/1.0-0236/readme_nforce-1...

Quote:> (As an aside, I also noticed that neither the onboard sound or onboard
> ethernet appeared under the HardDrake list. The onboard graphics card
> appeared as a "Generic VGA" and seemed to be using the "3DLabs Oxygen
> GMX" driver.)

> How can I get my ethernet working after installing the drivers? From
> previous postings it seems that many of you with nForce MB's were able
> to get the onboard components working correctly. I have been stuck on
> this for many days now, and would be grateful to anyone kind enough to
> lend a helping hand.

> Discouraged linux newbie,

don't be discouraged... print out the documents if you must, but, follow
them step by step and your problem will be solved. If not come back and
post the error messages.

Quote:> Johnny

-red-
--
Bill Gates was right.... Win-98 was the last OS I ever needed to buy.
Registered Linux Machines: # 116618 # 116620 # 116626 # 156271 # 156273
Stand up and be Counted http://counter.li.org/
to reply by email get the lead out

Thanks for your response :)

Let me provide some additional info below.

In the few days that I had been stuck, I had resorted to various
resources, such as the Mandrake 8.1 and NVIDIA driver documentation,
www.mandrakeforum.com, the NVIDIA forums, google groups archives, and
the Ethernet and Net HOWTO's from the LDP. However, the information I
needed was very specific, and since the nForce is a relatively new
technology, the body of available knowledge on it was small.

Quote:> go here and read then if you still need help come back.

> http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/nforce/1.0-0236/readme_nforce-1...

Thanks for the link. :)
As a matter of fact, earlier I had already followed the instructions
in this file in running "rpm -i " on the LM 8.1 rpm binary that I
downloaded from their site.

The NVIDIA documentation only tells you how to install the drivers. It
does not provide any additional information, such as troubleshooting
or ways to verify whether the drivers installed correctly (and are
subsequently being properly recognized by the OS). From the
documentation: "Installation: To install a binary rpms, you only need
use rpm to install the package. This should install and configure the
drivers." They did not say exactly what was meant by "configure", and
did not discuss what actions were required on the user's part
post-install.

Here is my dilemma:

I used rpm to install the binary according to the instructions.
Subsequently, I rebooted, and when the Mandrake's hardware detection
utility (kudzu) appeared upon boot and asked me whether I wanted to
Configure, Ignore, or Do Nothing for the newly detected components, I
chose "Do Nothing" for each case (in a previous LM install, I chose
"Configure" and it crashed my system, and subsequently I was not
prompted for that component anymore).

At that point, I expected that all that needed to be done was to
configure 5 items: my IP address, subnet mask, gateway, primary DNS,
secondary DNS (like on my Windoze machine), and it should be smooth
sailing from there.

However, my stumbling block is that I am always prompted for
additional information which I am unsure about, and without this
information I was not permitted to save any changes to the
configuration. In the Mandrake Control Center, when attempting to
configure my ethernet, (besides the 5 items, ) it asks me to choose
among a list of manufacturers to decide "which net driver to use",
where none of the options looks correct to me, and there is no default
(or "generic") choice. A similar situation arises when I tried running
netconf from the shell.

My take on this is that although the Mandrake Control Center detects
that the ethernet card exists, it is unable to recognize it and/or
unable to locate a driver for it (despite having installed the rpm
binary). So it presents me the full-blown list of manufacturers and
ethernet card types, but none of the 40 or so items seemed to be what
I needed. I even tried choosing a few types at random (such as "Intel
Gigabit Ethernet"), but the drivers wouldn't load properly (i.e., the
drivers are incompatible with the card).

I have already tried downloading the binary again, running rpm -e and
reinstalling the binary, and even reinstalling my Linux distro, but I
would reach the same place and get stuck there again.

Any thoughts on how I could go about tweaking this?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Johnny :)

Quote:> > go here and read then if you still need help come back.

http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86_40/nforce/1.0-0236/readme_nforce-1...
.txt

Quote:

> Thanks for the link. :)
> As a matter of fact, earlier I had already followed the instructions
> in this file

Obviously you did not. Quoting this file:

================
The binary packages will also update the modules configuration
file, commenting out existing network, audio and usb entries, and adding
entries for the new
drivers. A backup file is created before this happens. If the binary package
is uninstalled, it
attempts to restore the original version of the file.

The source rpm and tar files don't try to modify the module configuration
files. You should
make sure the following lines are in the configuration file (it will be
named modules.conf or conf.modules):

*alias eth0 mcpeth
*alias sound-slot-1 i810_audio
*alias usb-interface usb-ohci

Neither the binary nor the source packages try to install the drivers into
the currently running kernel. You can do this
manually using insmod or modprobe. Upon reboot, the installation should
happen automatically.
================

(of course "installation" in the last paragraph is the wrong word but well
...)

 in running "rpm -i " on the LM 8.1 rpm binary that I

Quote:> downloaded from their site.

rpm -i just puts binaries in proper place on your system. The above readme
explicitly warns you that it does not try either configure system to use
these drivers or load these drivers without reboot.

Quote:> The NVIDIA documentation only tells you how to install the drivers.

Sure. And how to incorporate them into your system. Enough information
actually.

Quote:> It
> does not provide any additional information, such as troubleshooting
> or ways to verify whether the drivers installed correctly (and are
> subsequently being properly recognized by the OS).

if your ethernet works, drivers are installed properly.

dmesg -> check for any messages from driver

 From the

Quote:> documentation: "Installation: To install a binary rpms, you only need
> use rpm to install the package. This should install and configure the
> drivers." They did not say exactly what was meant by "configure", and
> did not discuss what actions were required on the user's part
> post-install.

They say _exactly_ what you need to do.

Quote:> However, my stumbling block is that I am always prompted for
> additional information which I am unsure about, and without this
> information I was not permitted to save any changes to the
> configuration. In the Mandrake Control Center, when attempting to
> configure my ethernet, (besides the 5 items, ) it asks me to choose
> among a list of manufacturers to decide "which net driver to use",
> where none of the options looks correct to me, and there is no default
> (or "generic") choice. A similar situation arises when I tried running
> netconf from the shell.

Do not use autodetection. Of course it has no idea about your driver. Use
expert mode and just tell it to configure existing interface eth0. That's
all.

Quote:

> Any thoughts on how I could go about tweaking this?

You have to carefully read documentation in the first place.

=arvi=

Thanks for responding!

Quote:> > As a matter of fact, earlier I had already followed the instructions
> > in this file

> Obviously you did not. Quoting this file:

[snip]

I believe I did follow all instructions correctly. See below.

The drivers were released in 3 formats: binary rpm, source rpm, and
tar.
Now, from the NVIDIA documentation (as you have quoted; I have added
bullets for emphasis):

================
[1]
The binary packages will also update the modules configuration file,
commenting out existing network, audio and usb entries, and adding
entries for the new drivers. A backup file is created before this
happens. If the binary package is uninstalled, it attempts to restore
the original version of the file.

[2]
The source rpm and tar files don't try to modify the module
configuration files. You should make sure the following lines are in
the configuration file (it will be named modules.conf or
conf.modules):
[snip]
(instructions follow)
================

Quote:> rpm -i just puts binaries in proper place on your system. The above readme
> explicitly warns you that it does not try either configure system to use
> these drivers or load these drivers without reboot.

Regarding configuring the system, the *source rpm* and *tar* releases
do *not* try that, so you would need to do it yourself [2]. However,
the *binary rpm* (which I installed) *does* attempt to configure the
system properly [1].
And I did follow through with a reboot immediately after the install.

Thanks for your suggestions on dmesg, not using autodetection, and
expert mode. I will look into this tonight and let this group know the
outcome :-)

Johnny