network card not detecting at all

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

I have a winbond chipset Linksys 10 MB PCI card and I can't get drivers that work for it even when doing a fresh install using the universal live cd. I'd love to be able to use the computer on line. I get sick of this windows machine and I'd love to beable to use this machine that I'm trying to get Gentoo setup on.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 12:37 pm Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

Please post the relevant bit of lspci. You may need to emerge pciutils first.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

thanks for the tip. I got it to see what winbond chipset it is. It's a W89C940, and it's on 00:12.0 I don't know how to get those pciutil out since I just downloaded a ISO of this and just burned it off to see if it'd work better than the RedHat 7.2 that I have. I'm trying to set this computer up to be a LAN server or file server for this XP Pro computer and my Dad's XP Home computer.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 2:10 pm Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

There are reports of the W89C940 being NE2000 compatible, so build that kernel module and have a play.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

The ne2k-pci driver didn't work. I don't know if this computer can run any version of linux with it having a Cyrix M II 250 MHz CPU and 160 MB od RAM. I know that I'll need to get another network card for it. The biggest problem I've had with versions of linux is with my cable modem and linsys router. The router is running as DCHP host.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 11:28 pm Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

I've got Linux running on a 386SX with only 13Mb of RAM (Red Hat 6.1) and a Cyrix MII something that runs at 200MHz. That box is my SmoothWall, with 3 NICs.

If your modem is plugged into the router and the router is running DHCP for your network, it should 'just work'(tm).

Even the Winbond W89C940 data sheet says the chip is software compatable with a NE2000. The ne2k-PCI help names the chip as one of the supported ones too.

What make you think it doesn't work?
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

it gave me some errors that says it failed to load the drivers.

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

The Motherboard is a TriGem Computer Inc. Delhi 3 with built on ATI Rage 3D IIC AGP and Crystal CS4236. I just got the latest Bios for it after having to do a lot of searching. I'm not sure if I have the Bios set up right. It's a old eMachine 333cs computer. The only thing added was the NIC the rest of the cards are out of it. I took out the 2.1 GB hard drive and put in a 8 GB hard drive.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 12:03 am Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

Post the errors. It may have dependancies that were not satisfied.
Which kernel are you using?
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

With the ISO cd's that I made of Hedhat 7.3 I got it installed on it and it works but it's very sluggish. I'll copy and post those errors that I got from Gentoo. I'm going to give Gentoo another try. Is Gentoo going to work a bit faster than RedHat 7.3 and is it a little easier to get updates for than RedHat 7.3? I'm mostly looking for good linux options for this old computer. I'm thinking that setting it up as a workstation might be a better way to go, since I want to learn how to use linux.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 12:15 pm Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

Since your network worked with Red Hat, it will work with Gentoo too. The linux kernel is the same for eveyone. It starts at kernel.org and gets patched differently by different distros.

What do you want to do with that PC?
Its never going to be fast running X but with 160Mb of RAM it won't swap. I recall that RH 7.3 was compiled for i386, so Gentoo may be a bit faster, since you can build it for an i586

How much level 2 cache RAM do you have?
Paradoxally, it may go faster if you actually remove RAM, provided you don't get into swapping. This is usually displayed on boot up.

===================== edit =====================
Iv'e got the manual for your motherboard now
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

I looked at those error codes and seen a lot of 2.6's listed so I tried loading Gentoo with the 2.6 kernel and so far it's working. I got it to do the network test in the handbook. so far I'm setting it up with the stage3 x86 tarball from the cd. I couldn't figure out how to use the setup browser to get a tarball from the net. the handbook is still a little fuzzy to me on configureing the compile options section, which I'm soon to that point.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 7:48 pm Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

While you are using the boot CD, do a

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

Yes it's listed for the 2.6 kernel, and when I got to install with that kernel it detects it. The biggest question I have now is if I get a Linksys LNE 100 TX card to put in it after I have it installed will it auto detect it, and get rid of this one that's in it now?

wildcat44g8 · n00b Joined: 26 May 2004 Posts: 9

I got the Network card working with Kernel 2.6. I had everything installed but messed up on Configuring the Compile Options.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 1:32 pm Post subject:

wildcat44g8,

You can always get back into the install with the liveCD. There is no need to start from the begining again.
You can add and remove network drivers to the kernel to suit yourself. Your new card will not be detected and the driver installed automatically unless you have already included it in the kernel (or as a kernel module). Neither will you old driver be removed, although if its a module, it will not be loaded into memory.

You can add modules to the running kernel without rebooting. I'm not encoraging you to plug a card into your PC without switching off though. Thats a seperate constraint.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.