(Solved) Nvidia ethernet problem

Hi all,

First let me say that I've searched and searched, I've spent 2 days trying to find an answer to this. I know there's a similar thread shortly down in this forum - which is how I found this forum - but that didn't solve my problem, which is slightly different. I've now tried this first in Debian, then in Fedora. So I know the problem is not just one distro. I'll describe it mostly in Fedora since that's what I'm currently using.

The short summary (before my long explanation) is that I installed Nvidia's drivers, but still the ethernet does not work.

I have an Asus A7N8X-X motherboard which uses on-board Nvidia nforce ethernet and sound. I can't get the ethernet to work. There are 2 options: install drivers from Asus, or install drivers from Nvidia. Asus only makes Linux drivers for Redhat and Slackware; plus I've read it's better to go with Nvidia. (By the way, I've tried the Redhat install on Fedora, it's no good, just a ton of parse-type errors).

I went to Nvidia's website and downloaded their drivers for the board. (http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_nforce_1.0-0261). I got the tar.gz from the bottom of the page, followed the instructions. I had some problems about include files, so I got the source package for my kernel (2.4.22-1.2115.nptl currently; the Debian version was something like 2.4.18-bf). After setting the appropriate pointers, and adding in a Tab before a period at the end of a make file that was giving me a "*** Missing separator" error message, the drivers installed just fine.

I added the following line to modules.conf:
alias eth0 nvnet

Then I added it also to modprobe.conf when the first didn't fix the problem, but still no success.

What happens now is that when I boot the computer, the bootup pauses for a long time when it tries to get to the network (using DHCP as is required for my cable modem), then fails and moves on. The computer recognizes eth0 but it's as if eth0 is talking to a void. It's also interesting to note that if I remove the ethernet cable before booting the computer, the network setup on bootup fails much faster and suggests that the cord is unplugged.

I don't know what else to do. When I had Debian, I also added the following to /etc/network/interfaces:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

which told Debian that I wanted to have DHCP. But Fedora seems to know that I want DHCP - it did ask me on my first bootup after installing the Nvidia drivers if it should configure the card, and I told it yes. I'm pretty sure the problem is not DHCP. I know that when I had Debian I installed dhcp-client, and I saw it sending requests and getting nothing back.

Anyway, I think that's about all I know. So I'll leave you with some files.

Output from /sbin/ifconfig:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:6E:B7:89:9E
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:9950 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:603435 (589.2 Kb) TX bytes:2052 (2.0 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1000

Plus info about the loopback interface which I assume is not relevant. When the ethernet cable is unplugged, eth0 doesn't show up under ifconfig.


lspci -v (the ethernet part):
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
Subsystem: Asustek Computer, Inc.: Unknown device 80a7
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at e2001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at d400 [size=8]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2


I would be willing to go buy a cheap network card, but I'm not sure I won't have the same exact problem I'm having now. I've gotta be missing something fairly simple. I did come across a thread that suggested disabling ACPI helped, but I tried putting "option acpi=off" in grub.conf (something like that; don't remember exactly) but it didn't fix the problem. I have seen mentions of ACPI in some log files, so if that's possibly the cause, please tell me how to disable it. I haven't been able to find how to disable it (with grub) short of recompiling the kernel.

I'll be glad to provide any more info that might be relevant, just ask. Thanks in advance for the help.

Gosh, I should have posted this under the Networking forum, sorry about that. If a moderator comes across this and wants to move it... I'd appreciate it.

SilverGator, this may be a dumb question but, your Internet connection works OK? it checks out when running it under Windows or something? Is there a router between your box and modem? cable/DSL modems can go bad. I had to have one replaced just a year ago. Other than that, When my computer hangs and fails at eth0, my first thought is that the ISP is down, and am always right as it comes back up after a while. I use cable at home and DSL at work. The problem may be before it gets to your box since it sounds like you've done everything right.
If your connection is checking out OK, my advice in such sutuations is to just run down to the computer store and buy a pci nic. I saw some Belkins and D-link nics last night at OfficeMax for $15.00. (Don't know how much more they'd be in New York..;)) Installing a pci nic *should* get you up and running provided there are no issues with your Internet connection. Hardware detection and configuration is really good in RH 9. I assume it works as well with Fedora. Good Luck.

The connection is fine, I flip the ethernet cable back and forth from my laptop (sometimes running Windows XP and sometimes running Debian) and my desktop. The laptop works fine with either OS, but the desktop does not.

Ok, so I went out and bought a cheap NIC (Netgear). Fedora recognized it and auto-configured it. And I have the exact same problem - I still can't get out to the internet. eth1 (the new card) fails on bootup just like eth0 (on-board lan) did.

When you run
redhat-control-network
or whatever it is now called in Fedora, and you click "activate" does it say it is is activated? Are both eth0 and eth1 showing up there?

Both eth0 and eth1 are listed there. When I click "activate" it says "Determining IP information...." and then eventually fails. Same thing for both eth0 and eth1. That's using DHCP (from the configuration part of the GUI). Bootp gets the same result.

If I choose "dialup" for getting the IP address (which I assume is pppoe but I'm not sure), then the activation appears to work (doesn't give me a "Failed", the window it pops up closes too quickly for me to read it) but it is still listed as inactive. If I manually configure the IP address and netmask, then when I click "activate" it's listed as active.

However, with any of these 4 ways, including the manual configuration that said the connection was active, I tried connecting to the internet through a web browser and through gaim, and I couldn't connect to anything.

Also, I should note that for a time (a few days ago) I had Debian installed on my laptop, and it used DHCP to connect. It does connect through a cable modem, but it works for the laptop (like I said, I'm constantly flipping the ethernet cable back and forth).

It might be worth noting that with the new Netgear NIC, when the cable is plugged in a light on the back blinks. Also, I tried deactivating acpid through redhat-config-services and it didn't help. And I'm sure the firewall is off.

Hmm. Very perplexing! Everything works, but it won't work! I'll ask my "go to" Linux guy for help. He does this type thing for a cable company. I'll try to get you an answer as soon as possible. In the meantime, if anyone else has ideas about this and can assist SilverGator in any way, please step in.

SilverGator, while Im waiting on his response, a thought occured to me. Are you taking the Cat 5 cable that runs from the modem and switching the other end of it between your laptop and your pc or is it coming from a router? I think this may be the source of your problem. With cable, the modem looks for a mac address and it will only work with just one. I think that is why it works with your laptop and not your pc. You must have a router to make both work. Am I on to something here, or are you using a router?

I think you're on to something. I'm not using a router. I'm pulling the ethernet cable out of the laptop and plugging that now loose end into the desktop. Maybe I need to reconfigure the cable modem? Is there a way to do that? I'll check to see if there's a reset switch on it maybe.

That's it! I looked up how to reconfigure a cable modem, found that I should unplug it. So I did, then after only a minor reconfiguration of my network, it works! Thank you so much! I think I'm going to switch back to Debian now. I really appreciate your help. I had no idea cable modems were set to only one mac address.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it has something to do with cable modem recognizing only one mac or ip address so when you switch to another box it will not work because it is looking for the one it was originally connected to.
I just wish I'd thought of this before you bought that nic!
Sorry.

Extra NIC card, extra floppy cable (which I was way overcharged for), extra keyboard, all for various reasons and all turned out to be unnecessary. The extra NIC was the best of them though; it made my Debian installation a lot easier (had internet automatically, didn't have to go through the hassle right now - now I'm working on my graphics card lol). Plus I can use my new computer as a router for my old one since it now has 2 ethernet connections. Actually cheaper than buying a router. Not sure if I would have, but it's not all bad.

Thanks again.