ECS Desknote 901 BIG PROBLEM

[anastas]

I am desperate!!! Can someone help, please? This is my story:
I have a ECS Desknote 901, and it works fine under win(2k or XP). I am trying to get to know the Linux world and the concept of Live CD Linux got my attention. I found out that the Knoppix is the best of them so I decided to give it a try. I booted the machine, all of my HW (except my modem) was identified, but the NIC was not working. It is a Realtek 8139, the driver is loaded, but I could not do anything (DHCP failed, tried manual address, same thing). I have tried all the cheatcodes, tips and tricks found on this forum and the NIC will not work. I have decided to try the modem. Luckily, I made it, but only after switching off my sound from BOIS and installing the PCTel divers. Unfortunaltely, I need the NIC more then the modem. Is there any solution to my problem, preferably not involving kernel modifications, since I only have the Live CD, and I don't have any space on my HDD to make a HDD install.

Here is the output of lspci -v with the sound on:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 630 Host (rev 31)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [c0] AGP version 2.0

00:00.1 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0) (prog-if 80 [Master])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS5513 EIDE Controller (A,B step)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 16
I/O ports at ff00 [size=16]

00:01.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:01.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at dffd0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:01.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Onboard USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
Memory at dffe0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:01.4 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS PCI Audio Accelerator (rev 02)
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at d400 [size=256]
Memory at dfff0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

00:01.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Intel 537 [56k Winmodem] (rev a0) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
I/O ports at d800 [size=128]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2

00:02.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS 530 Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
Memory behind bridge: dfe00000-dfefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: cfc00000-dfcfffff

00:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
Memory at dffc0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS630 GUI Accelerator+3D (rev 31) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: 66Mhz, medium devsel
BIST result: 00
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Memory at dfee0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
I/O ports at ac80 [size=128]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 1
Capabilities: [50] AGP version 2.0

---------------------

and here is the same with the sound off

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 630 Host (rev 31)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [c0] AGP version 2.0

00:00.1 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0) (prog-if 80 [Master])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS5513 EIDE Controller (A,B step)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 16
I/O ports at ff00 [size=16]

00:01.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 85C503/5513
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:01.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at dffe0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:01.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Onboard USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
Memory at dfff0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:01.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Intel 537 [56k Winmodem] (rev a0) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
I/O ports at d800 [size=128]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2

00:02.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS 530 Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: dfe00000-dfefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: cfc00000-dfcfffff

00:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at d400 [size=256]
Memory at dffc0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS630 GUI Accelerator+3D (rev 31) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Alpha-Top Corp: Unknown device b901
Flags: 66Mhz, medium devsel
BIST result: 00
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Memory at dfee0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
I/O ports at bc80 [size=128]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 1
Capabilities: [50] AGP version 2.0

-----------------------------------
I even tried to disable the modem too, since it has the same IRQ with the NIC, but no luck.

Please help!

Anastas

[Harry Kuhman]

I've written of what sounds like a very similar problem in several threads including http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2164 and
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2117
although usually some of the cheatcodes help. Still, why not get a replacement NIC and try it to see if "something" hasn't stopped the current NIC from working except under Windows. NICs are extremely inexpensive (my last four or five were free after rebates, I can buy them locally without sales or rebates for $5 or less, compaired to $150 or more that I paid for many of the 10 mb/s NICs I bought a dozen years or more ago). Since you can change the NIC (you have a desktop, not a laptop), give it a try. And put the Knoppix CD in before you shut the system down, so that when you reboot with the new NIC you'll boot into Knoppix rather than Windows. That way you can be sure if the NIC works under windows or not, rather than not knowing if Windows did anything to the configuration eeprom.

[arkaine23]

The ECS desknotes don't have PCMCIA slots, so you can't easily add a NIC- unless they make external ones for firewire or usb....

My A929 works if I use knoppix noapic, but its the sis900 nic not an 8139 as found on the A901.

[Harry Kuhman]

I'm sorry. I thought, both from the name and from the reference to the Realtek NIC that it was a desktop, not a notebook. Sounds like you are in the same situation as I am (except I know for a fact that Knopix did run and connect to the network on my notebook before I ran the "WinXP security update"). If neither the cheat codes nor the commands to reset the NIC and then manually reconfigure it work, you're bad shape. No PCMCIA card either. You might try a USB to ethernet adapter, but how well this will work under Knoppix is questionable. I have very bad experience with the Belkin USB to ethernet adapter, would suggest you stay away from that one if you do decide to try spending money on this.

You may well find that some other Linux systems, even ones that boot and run from CD do work. I've seen a few that will run on my notebook in spite of Knoppix no longer able to work. My working theory is it depends on if the startup code trusts the NIC eeprom configuration (which in my opnion it should) or if it just resets everything and sets it up as it wants (which seems to bypass the damage done to the NIC eeprom). If we had a little more hard documentation on what is really happening here (proof that the security updates are doing this) I would try to get the way Knoppix boots changed to fix this, but so far I haven't been able to get what I consider proof that would justify bapassing a ligitimate eeprom boot configuration.

[sjmacko]

Not that this helps much, but... I have a Desknote A900 that I bought off of HSN alkmost two years ago. Windows identifies the card as the 8139. I have a Celeron (1.1), and Knoppix has always worked flawlessly. It picks up an IP from the router with no problems. No config, whatsoever.

Steve