A7N8X Deluxe - nforce2 lan problems

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

I just installed gentoo the other day on my main box, and everything was running very well. I then had to change some settings so that my fat32 disk would work correctly, so I made the quick edit to my /etc/fstab and was restarting my computer. On restarting, my ethernet failed to start up. I tried switching between the nforce2 (the one I had enabled) and the 3com, I tried recompiling my kernel countless times, and now I'm stuck, booted from the live cd, posting from links. The nvnet module loads fine in my install, which leaves me to believe there is a problem in my kernel settings somwehere. Or should I switch to the 3com integrated lan? If so, which kernel module needs to be compiled for it? I believe it is seen as a 3c920... I'm desperate for a fix over here, and I'm tired of recompiling my kernel and hoping that things will work.

rtlee · n00b Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 10 Location: Atlanta, GA

I'm using the same board. I compiled in support for the 3COM 3c590/3c900 series (if you use a module, I think it's called 3c59x).

Hope that helps.

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

** Trying to get 3com working, we'll see how this goes **

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

Hmm, I have a feeling that the 3com ethernet is broken... I was having problems with it in windows xp the other day (it would give me a lovely stop error whenever I tried to enable it). And I couldn't ping anything from the livecd...

nForce lan may be my only way to go...

Would the 2.6 kernel aid me in any way? I'm considering giving it a try...

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

Okay, for a bizzarre twist of fate, now the nforce2 lan won't work from the livecd! I've just about had it with my motherboard... Oh well, maybe it will work after I go shovel some snow off the driveway.

PermaNoob · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 3:40 pm Post subject:

I also have an A7N8X Deluxe, and my nvidia lan is working fine. For 2.4 kernels, 'emerge nforce-net'. For 2.6 series kernels, you should use the forcedeth driver in the kernel config. *NOTE* If you're using the nforce-net ebuild, you'll have to 'emerge nforce-net' everytime you recompile your kernel.

I've only tried using the 3com Lan once in winXP... I could never get it to connect any faster than 10Mbps. So I disabled it in the BIOS and I only use the nvidia lan now... with zero problems.

Out of curiosity, what BIOS version are you using?

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

Well, after some rigorous testing, and lots of unplugging and plugging in things, I got it the 3com to work, but when booting it up it takes a litle while for eth0 to start up, and it doesnt work all the time for some reason. I'll probably switch to the 2.6 kernel and use forcedeth + nforce2.

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

Well, I switched back to the nForce2 ethernet adapter, which works fine in windows, but it wouldn't connect in gentoo. So I booted from the live cd, tried the 2.6 kernel and used forcedeth, and still no love. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't.

As for my BIOS version, I believe it is the C1007 Uber BIOS.

What files do I need to check?

sneakerski · Apprentice Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 168

while you're under windows, download the 2.6.2-rc2 source and the 2.6.2-rc2-mm2 patch. reboot into gentoo. mount your windows drive, and copy these files into /usr/portage/distfiles
then emerge mm-sources (this assumes you have emerged sync recently)
cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.2-rc2*
make mrproper
make menuconfig
make;make modules_install;cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot
nano /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 (add all your modules you want loaded at boot time like networking, sound, ntfs support, whatever)
shutdown -r now

forcedeth works perfectly stable for me. if you need the official drivers under 2.6, do this:

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

Oh yeah, I left out a major detail. I did an lspci after booting up, and in both kernels almost ALL of my devices lacked the model name, everything was mostly "nVidia Unspecefied USB Host Controller" etc. including my ethernet and IDE controller! I know I compiled everything into the kernel (I lost about 3+ hours of sleep just last night working on this, and I needed it.)

PermaNoob · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 3:36 pm Post subject:

I'm starting to think this may be a hardware problem... I would recommend posting this problem here as well:

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/

The people there know this mobo inside and out. There's a section specifically for linux and I've noticed alot of people use Gentoo.

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

Yeah, like it was mentioned, this seems more and more like a hardware problem. It just seems that sometimes my NIC will connect effortlessly, but most of the time it doesn't work. The only 100% situation is booting from the livecd. I'm going to make a post in the hardware forums + call asus tech support if I keep having problems.

lighty14 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 111

I plugged my enet into my router, and now my net works but its slow as all heck... Probably mydoom slowing down my ISP heh. But I still have ghetto hardware problems, and I'm posting in the hardware forums in just a second. I still don't consider this problem "solved."