NIC problems after HDD install - new to linux question...

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01-02-2005, 05:03 PM
sdalek

NIC problems after HDD install - new to linux question...

I installed Knoppix 3.7 on a Compaq Presario V2030 turning it into a dual boot Knoppix/Debian - XP machine in order to learn linux. The current problem I am trying to solve is how to get the built-in NIC configured and working. It works fine for XP and the live CD of Morphix; I can browse the web without problems. However, if I boot from the live CD of Knoppix, I have to use the nodhcp cheat, and if I boot from the HDD install of Knoppix, the card will not work at all. I've confirmed that the correct drivers are being loaded by comparing the modconf settings between Morphix, which works, and Knoppix, which doesn't, and they are using the same drivers (Realtek RTL-8139 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter support, WinBond W89c840 PCI Ethernet support). I've compared the lsmod settings and noticed that while both mii and crc32 point back to 8139too for both distros, Morphix points 8139too to eth0 but Knoppix simply states that it is not in use or says 'initializing'. Also, 'cat /proc/interrupts' on Morphix shows that the Realtek card is using IRQ 10 while doing it on Knoppix shows no entry for the IRQ settings.

Based on some reading that I've done, I tried 'mii-tool -r' and 'netcardconfig'. Both lock the terminal session. Also, when shutting down Knoppix from the HDD install, the system locks when trying to shut down eth0.

I've considering installing Morphinx over Knoppix but would rather not, primarily because Knoppix is what I've concentrated on as the first distro of linux to learn as opposed to SuSE or Red Hat, and secondly because Morphix is not picking up my battery and can't give me a power level status while I'm working. I've also noticed some other quirks with Knoppix on this laptop but would like to get the NIC working first so I can do 'apt-get update' and 'apt-get upgrade' to see if those quirks go away getting the updates.

Can anyone suggest anything that I try, do, read that might help me solve this problem?
01-03-2005, 11:32 PM
DeepCreek

I'm a bit of a newbie myself, but I'll throw in a suggestion that might help. I noticed you said that everything worked when you booted from the CD and yet you had trouble when booting stand-alone after doing the hard drive install as a dual boot. I wonder if you have checked the contents of your lilo.conf file (found in /etc). In the file, look for the lines like this:
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7
label="Linux(2.6)-2"
initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.7
append="ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off nomce quiet nodma myconfig=scan"

Notice that the boot options are contained on the append= line. Perhaps you should ensure your options there are the same as those used to boot from the CD. Hope this helps.

David
01-04-2005, 04:41 AM
sdalek

Thanks for the suggestion DeepCreek but unfortunately that didn't work. While I can find lilo.conf on the Knoppix CDs, which don't work, I can't find it on the Morphix CD. Just for grins and giggles, I tried booting with the 3.3 and 3.4 versions of Knoppix in case the kernel versions were different enough to work but I still can't a network connection. What I find really annoying is that Morphix is actually based on Knoppix but I don't know what they did different that makes the 8139too drivers work right on that distro. I've even tried the live CD of Debian and SuSE with no luck. I'll keep researching and if I find something, I'll post it.
01-04-2005, 02:52 PM
rrfish72

Give Kanotix a try. It seems to work better for detecting some hardware and maybe it will work for you.
01-04-2005, 05:27 PM
Durand Hicks

Sdalek,

Are you saying the if you boot with the nodhcp option from the knoppix livecd, your net connection works? If you can confirm this, this can easily be fixed in your hd install by changing one of your config scripts in /etc/pcmcia.
Open /etc/pcmcia/network.opts in any text editor and change the line:

Quote:

DHCP="y"

to

Quote:

DHCP="n"

Modify /etc/network/interfaces to something like this:

Quote:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# This entry denotes the loopback (127.0.0.1) interface.
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# This is a list of hotpluggable network interfaces.
# They will be activated automatically by the hotplug subsystem.
mapping hotplug
script grep
map eth0

# This entry was created during the Debian installation
# (network, broadcast and gateway are optional)
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.x.xxx
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.x.0
broadcast 192.168.x.255
gateway 192.168.x.yyy

Replace the "x" and "y" with your correct numbers before saving.
Reboot and let me know if that does it for you.

HTH,

Durand
01-05-2005, 03:09 AM
DeepCreek

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdalek

Thanks for the suggestion DeepCreek but unfortunately that didn't work. While I can find lilo.conf on the Knoppix CDs, which don't work, I can't find it on the Morphix CD. Just for grins and giggles, I tried booting with the 3.3 and 3.4 versions of Knoppix in case the kernel versions were different enough to work but I still can't a network connection. What I find really annoying is that Morphix is actually based on Knoppix but I don't know what they did different that makes the 8139too drivers work right on that distro. I've even tried the live CD of Debian and SuSE with no luck. I'll keep researching and if I find something, I'll post it.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, I was referring to the lilo.conf located on your hard drive after you did the install. It should be located in the /etc directory. The install process creates a default lilo.conf file for you. When I did my install, I had to edit the lilo.conf file to indicate that I wanted to boot from my Windoz drive as the default and then have the various Linux kernels listed as optional boot points. If you let me know if this makes any more sense to you, we can pick it up from there.

David
01-05-2005, 03:41 AM
sdalek

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrfish72

Give Kanotix a try. It seems to work better for detecting some hardware and maybe it will work for you.

Thanks for the suggestion, rrfish. I tried the live CD and it works. What is interesting is that it detects eth0 and eth1 but only uses eth1. I thought at first that it had detected the build-in wireless card but it doesn't see the proprietary HP/Compaq wireless hardware when I try to configure it. Doesn't bother me a bit at the moment though, because I have both an Orinoco Silver and Orinoco Gold that I would rather use with linux..

sdalek
01-05-2005, 03:48 AM
sdalek

Quote:

Originally Posted by Durand Hicks

Sdalek,

Are you saying the if you boot with the nodhcp option from the knoppix livecd, your net connection works? If you can confirm this, this can easily be fixed in your hd install by changing one of your config scripts in /etc/pcmcia.
Open /etc/pcmcia/network.opts in any text editor and change the line:

Quote:

DHCP="y"

to

Quote:

DHCP="n"

Modify /etc/network/interfaces to something like this:

Quote:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# This entry denotes the loopback (127.0.0.1) interface.
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# This is a list of hotpluggable network interfaces.
# They will be activated automatically by the hotplug subsystem.
mapping hotplug
script grep
map eth0

# This entry was created during the Debian installation
# (network, broadcast and gateway are optional)
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.x.xxx
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.x.0
broadcast 192.168.x.255
gateway 192.168.x.yyy

Replace the "x" and "y" with your correct numbers before saving.
Reboot and let me know if that does it for you.

HTH,

Durand

Unfortunately not. When I boot with the nodhcp cheat, the NIC doesn't work at all and whenever I try to configure it either using the build in netcardconfig GUI or manually, the terminal windows doesn't respond or just goes away. rrfish72's suggestion to try Kanotix payed off though and the live CD detects and works with the build in NIC. I'm going to try and see what the difference is in the way Kanotix and Knoppix detect the NIC. If I can figure it out, I'll post it for future reference for anyone trying to configure a Presario V2030.

sdalek