SohoWare Auto 10/100 Ethernet PCI card model# SFA110A

[A. Jorge Garcia]

OK, I've never had a problem with networking when using KNOPPIX. Now I'm trying to resurect an old Gateway G6/266 for my kids to surf the web and get them off my new Dell....

Anyway, I upgraded the cdrom drive to a bootable one that can read cdrs (old drive couldn't) and I also upgraded the RAM by adding 128MB (now a total 159MB). All this seems to work fine, the KNOPPIX 2003.0924 CD boots fine, etc.

Now I figure the easy part is to pop in an old ethernet card I had lying around and put this beast on my router. On the boot screen KNOPPIX reports finding eth0 and running DHCP in the background. But when I go to use KONQUEROR, I can surf nowhere! I issued ifconfig from the shell and got only the "lo" configuration info, no internet.

My question: like a cheap internal winmodem that won't work in linux, is this ethernet card also a cheap win version? Is there such a thing? Or, has anyone had success with this PCI card (SohoWare Auto 10/100 Ethernet PCI card model# SFA110A) and I'm just missing something - please let me know!

BTW, I notice that on all the machines I use ethernet cards, they came built-in and are of the 3COM variety - should I get one of those? I figured I'd use this card as cablevision left it here when they wanted me to install my own cable modem (I didn't need the card as my Dell had one already...). In fact I have 2 of these cards as my folks didn't need it either. I kept the cards lying around thinking I could use some day. Maybe not?

TIA,

[CivilEng]

Hey there;

The card seems to be Linux compatible, see http://www.network-drivers.com/drivers/19/19403.htm

so that rules out any crazy win-only ethernet cards. I don't think that would happen however, since ethernet is so easily done more "properly" and would be difficult to turn into a partially software based medium.

Have you tried running netcardconfig from a shell? I have had some trouble with cards previously, which were somewhat miraculously solved by running netcardconfig.

Good luck!

Civ

[A. Jorge Garcia]

Can I use netcardconfig to fix this on the fly - ie: running off CD?

EDIT: I tried out netcardconfig. It asked if I wanted DHCP broadcasting, I click OK, then I got a failed attempt error. So I tried again, without the DHCP broadcasting and set up my ip address, etc. Now ifconfig gives me the "lo" config and the "eth0" config, but I can't surf anywhere still!

TIA,

[Stephen]

Can I use netcardconfig to fix this on the fly - ie: running off CD?

EDIT: I tried out netcardconfig. It asked if I wanted DHCP broadcasting, I click OK, then I got a failed attempt error. So I tried again, without the DHCP broadcasting and set up my ip address, etc. Now ifconfig gives me the "lo" config and the "eth0" config, but I can't surf anywhere still!

TIA,

Can you ping the other machine? If so you should check /etc/resolv.conf to see if the nameserver is set correctly. Also what does lsmod say now that you have an IP for the card does it show it in use? To ansewr the question in the first post if you are going to buy a new card 3Com is one of the best supported manufacturers around so yes buy that brand if you can. One last idea have you tried pump -i eth0 to try to get the IP?

[A. Jorge Garcia]

The only thing lsmod lists that makes sense is tulip as this card used tulip drivers under wimpdoze.

BTW, I can't ping the other PC as my kid just took my router to college. I have to get a new one.

pump returned an error.

Any other ideas? Or should I just break down and get a 3com card off ebay along with a new router?

TIA,