Bootup hang w/ LiveCD basic: "Scanning for eth16i...&am

vicG · n00b Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 21

Hello all

The Gentoo developers at Linuxworld were kind enough to burn me a LiveCD, and I'm trying to install it on my IBM A21e laptop. I think it's 1-4 rc2, the splash screen just says 1-4.

I boot from the CD, and it gets to "Auto detecting network modules...". It goes though several types, and then gets to "Scanning for eth16i...." and hangs. Once I let it go for about 2 hours. This is at work, where we have a network that uses dhcp. I've installed Caldera, Mandrake, and RedHat on this latop before, and they've all been able to detect the network without problems.

Any thoughts?

So I tried to boot gentoo nonet, and that gets me to a cdimage logon prompt, logon as root, and I try and run net-setup, but it says, "Command not found". Is that because of the nonet boot choice?
The docs say that networking can be configured manually, but I'm a newbie and don't know how. Can someone point me at a URL with instructions?

Thanks for any tips

-JeaN- · Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 3:57 pm Post subject:

Hello vicG,

Can you tell please what kind of network card is inside of that machine ?
Also have you tried with the network cable unplugged ? Even though i don't know if network module detect process checks for an existing network, maybe that would solve the boot problem, then when boot finishes plugging the cable again and trying a net-setup eth0.

vicG · n00b Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 21

Hi -JeaN-

I thought your idea of unplugging the network cable was brilliant, so I tried it, but it still hung on "Scanning for eth16i..." (at least 15 minutes so far).

Perhaps it is some incompatibility with the IBM laptop, or maybe a defective disk.

This model has a built-in NIC. Well - I did some searching, and then I just ripped open the case - and it's a 3com, not an Intel.
It's a 3com 10/100 LAN+56k modem mini PCI card, product # 3CN3AC15566B.

-JeaN- · Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 6:18 pm Post subject:

My knowledge then won't solve the problem so far, though i've done some research, looks like eth16i is a module for "ICL EtherTeam 16i/32" card, and i don't understand why it hangs there..
Maybe there is some parameter in your bios you should modify, lan boot rom, or any stuff like that, but the best would be that an expert comes and gives you a straightforward answer i'm not able to give you in such circonstances

Sorry and good luck !

dm3 · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2002 Posts: 17 Location: Virginia

I'm getting the same thing when trying to boot from livecd 1.4rc2 on an NEC Powermate with integrated ethernet. It uses 3Com CC920 BR006 chipset.

- Dan

blamothe · Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2003 7:42 pm Post subject:

I am having the same problem, but I am using a Gateway 450L laptop, with an Intle Pro/100 VE Ethernet card. I tried to use the nonet option, but then I couldn't manually load any modules. From what I have read, I think Gentoo is the best distro on the market, and I really want to try it out for myself, but I can't even get passed the auto detection phase. Could this be a common laptop problem, and what should we do about it. Thanks.

dm3 · n00b Joined: 25 Dec 2002 Posts: 17 Location: Virginia

I was able to get the install going on my NEC Powermate by typing 'gentoo nonet' at the boot prompt. Then I loaded the 3Com module using 'modprobe 3c59x' and configured the network with 'net-setup eth0'. Everything is happy now.

vicG · n00b Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 21

Some closure in this case:

I just got the latest Gentoo release (1.4-rc3), and booted off the CD. It hung again on "Scanning for eth16i..." so I booted gentoo nonet, and everything worked great - it even established connectivity for me (which I though nonet would not do), and loaded all the right modules.

Sounds like progress to me!

livewire · Retired Dev Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 42

I added Hotplug (what detected your nic with nonet) to the -rc3 cd, does a pretty good job on most nics without problems, but not all. so
the autoload (force) of net modules is still needed.