Compliled kernel and eth0 and nvidia are broken

jjmanc · n00b Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 21

I don't know what I did wrong, but I cannot boot into the desktop now. THis is what I did in an effort to enable iptables.

mount /boot
cd /usr/src/linux
make mrproper
make menuconfig (enabled approriate options)
make dep
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/

Then I wanted to make sure my nvidia continued to work so I:

emerge nvidia-glx
emerge nvidia-kernel
modprobe nvidia

To be honest, I really do not have a clear understanding what re-emerging the nvidia stuff does. So I ran the emerge-glx and modprobe to be safe.

Now, when I boot I get;
Failed to load nvidia
Failed to bring eth0 up
ERROR problem starting needed services. "netmount" was not started.

Also, I got a message when emerging nvidia-kernel that the driver name changed from NVidia to nvidia.o.

Any help will be appreciated. I have spend 5 full days trying to get Gentoo up and running. Now, when there is light at the end of the tunnel...darkness

BradN · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 5:21 pm Post subject:

This probably sounds pretty stupid, but are you sure that your network card support is compiled into the kernel? Otherwise try playing with apic and acpi options to see if that has any effect. Watch the boot up messages (or type dmesg after logging in) and look for network card related stuff.

As for emerging the nvidia stuff (what you probably would have wanted to reinstall was just nvidia-kernel I think), when you do "make modules_install" in your kernel installation, all the existing modules are wiped out, so third party ones (such as the nvidia stuff) need to be put back in. I'm not sure why your new kernel doesn't work with this anymore. If you still have your old config, you could compare the two to see what you might have changed to affect it.

Things to look at just off the top of my head are kernel preemption support, apic options, acpi options, agpgart support... Also, try running X with the nvidia driver to see if it works anyway? Maybe the error at boot isn't important... i'm not sure.

jjmanc · n00b Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 21

I entered the kernel and saw that my changes were not there. Although I did not change anything in the network device section I added support for Realtech. I'm not even thinking about iptables at this point so I just recompiled the kernel and ran emerge-nvidia afterwards. I still get the same error.

Does anybody have any ideas. If I can't fix this today I will have to give up on the Gentoo distro. I don't want to and I realize this is my fault, but I just don't have the time...Thanks

Peracles · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 7:02 pm Post subject:

First, it is generally a bad idea to boot up and go directly into the desktop. If you make changes that affect your Xwindows (like munging a video driver), you will be screwed. Change the following in your /etc/inittab file:

# Default runlevel.
id:3:initdefault: <--------- this will be id:5:initdefault in your file

After this change, you can run Xwindows by typing in startx.

Second, as afore mentioned do a dmesg to see what is going on with your eth0. Did you enable modules for your drivers or did you build the drivers into the kernel? If they are compiled as modules you have to make sure that the module is loaded in your module.conf file. If it is not, you can manually load it using insmod <name of module>. If you are going the modules route, make sure you add a file called net into the /etc/modules.d directory that contains your module name. Then run modules-update to let the system automatically generate your modules.conf file.

You only have to do a emerge nvidia-kernel after doing a kernel build. This reinstalls the module into the kernel area. The name of the module will be nvidia.o. You need to make sure that your /etc/X11/XF86Config file has nvidia as the name of the driver. Example of the Device section:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Geforce3ti500"
Driver "nvidia" # unsupported card
VideoRam 65536
Option "NvAGP" "1"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "true"
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP, TV"
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

Lastly, when building the kernel use the following:
make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install

There is no need to do all those different make lines. You have to be really careful if you are going to be making your own kernel. Expect to have to remake it quite a few times before getting it right. I would recommend making the network drivers as modules until you get the right one. Remember, start with a kernel build that may have more than you need and then pare it down to the exact configuration. Starting with a minimal and working up to the complete build you need can be painful.

jjmanc · n00b Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 21

I can't find any reference to eth0 when I run dmesg. My XF86config is correct. When I run modprobe nvidia I get a list off "unresoved symbol" errors poiting to lib/modules/2.4.20-gentoo-r8/video/nvidia.o. Also, it says: you are trying to load a module without a GPL licence and it has unresolved symbols. Finally, insmod nvidia fails. I can't start x, even manually.

Peracles · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 8:30 pm Post subject:

Lets fix the network driver first. Did you explicitly build your network driver into the kernel?

Do a make menuconfig and go to the Network Device support. 10/100 ethernet drivers are located under the Ethernet (10 or 100). Go in that and make sure that your driver is marked with a <M>. We want to compile those as modules for now until we are sure exactly what driver is being loaded.

Also, post your .config file. It is located in your /usr/src/linux/ directory. It contains your make config file that is generated by the make menuconfig.

When you originally did your first make menuconfig did u change a lot of options? Did you originally start out using the gentoo generic kernel that is build during install?

Btw, you can check what is coming up in your pci bus by examining the /proc/bus/pci/devices file.

One extra thing, I know this is frustrating. I've been there, believe me. But let's just chew off one problem at a time and we'll get it all working in the end =)

*edit* Ohhhh schnap.... I realized you did a make mrproper. That totally blows away your .config file. I would wager that a lot of options u need are not specified in your kernel make.

jjmanc · n00b Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 21

I ran make menuconfig and see that I do have my realtech driver selected with an M.

I can't post my .config file because I can't open x anymore. The ethernet section has everything disabled/not set up exept this.

#Ethernet (10 or 100 Mbit)
config_net_ethernet=y
config_net_pci=y

I did use the generic genkernel.

Your right about hosing my .config file. This is a fresh install so maybe I should just blow it away and start fresh. Hey, I'm on a roll. That will be four installs in 7 days. :cry:

Thanks

Peracles · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 10:59 pm Post subject:

You don't need to start over totally. You just need to get a working kernel. I would boot from the live CD, mount your drives, and get the network going so u can pull packages. CHROOT over to your drives. Unmerge your kernel source, re-add it back, and then do a genkernel build using the directions in the install document (genkernel).

Once you get a working kernel where you can get network access when you come up, you can tackle the video problem.

After it works, then go back and do a make menuconfig to specialize the kernel to your liking. Be sure to copy your .config file off to back it up.

One note on make menuconfig. Make sure you have loadable module support. Its under Loadable Module Support

jjmanc · n00b Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 21

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I'll give it a shot. John