Complete n00b realtek NIC problems

Bad_Sector · n00b Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 3 Location: UK

Ok my first time using linux and im trying to compile a custom kernal using the 1.2 livecd to boot but using the tarball from the 1.4. After getting PCMCIA support loaded it reconises my RTL8139 card. cardmagr says : unsupproted card in socket 0
product info: "realtek", "RTL8139"
function: 6 (network)
PCI id: 0x10ec, 0x8139
exiting

the light on my coupler and hub are lit up for this NIC, does this mean that the hardware layer is working but the software is not, do i need some drivers. This is really hindering me becuase i cant download the portage tree which is my next stage

. the card is not identifyed as eth0 but ifconfig says that i have an IP address and sub net mask. As a windows man i have no idea how linux works so please help

barlad · l33t Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 673

I am not sure I understood everything.

Your card is recognized and it gets configured properly (through DHCP?) but you get some error message "cardmagr says : unsupported card in socket 0" . Does it have any further consequence?

I have no clue how pcmcia works but maybe you have some drivers loaded up that do recognize the card, hence the proper configuration.

What does ifconfig say precisely? You should try to ping the adress given by ifconfig. If that works then most likely you can go through the next step.

Bad_Sector · n00b Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 3 Location: UK

thnx for your reply. No i cant enable DHCPD nor assign a static becuase it is not reconising the NIC as eth0. if i type any command relating to eth0 it will not work.

Bad_Sector · n00b Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 3 Location: UK

sorry missed that 1, this is my ifconfig:

Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 METRIC:1
RX: 3776
TX 3776

Dragon561 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 25 Oct 2002 Posts: 112

I am not sure about 1.2 but i know that the 1.4 module is 8139too, not rtl8139. Try loading 8139too. If that doesn't work, type lsmod and see what modules are loaded at boot, report them here. If that doesn't work, I highly suggest moving to an 1.4 cd. I also have a realtek 8139 card and my module (8139too) works perfectly. Good luck. Hope this helps.

Dragon561 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 25 Oct 2002 Posts: 112

The second suggestion of mine, I probably didn't explain fully. If you have extra modules running, then if may conflict with other modules, so just repot them so we can see.

Also, it doesn't matter what tarball you use. The livecd is using the 1.2 kernel and therefore you are using the older module. If none of my suggestions work, upgrade to 1.4_rc2. rc3 isn't all that stable yet in the network card department.