[tulip] Unable to get eth0 up using SMC1211TX NIC

Jim McQuillan jam@McQuil.com
Sat, 16 Sep 2000 09:24:15 -0400


Bob,

The SMC-1211TX is a RealTek-8139 chipset.  Try using the rtl8139.o
module.

Jim McQuillan
jam@ltsp.org

Bob Heck wrote:
> 
> I am building a Linux server to place on my small home network.  My
> distribution is Red Hat Linux 6.0.  I am unable to bring up the network
> on either a SMC-1211TX or NetGear-FA310TX NIC.  Both of these cards are
> reported to use the DEC21140 chip or its clone and the Tupip driver.
> These two NICs work OK in a Windows 98 system.
> 
> I have read all of the documentation that I can find and have been
> closely following the messages that appear on the Tulip mailing list.  I
> have tried many of the suggestions made to no avail.  I am learning a
> lot by digging deeply into the Linux system, but I have been trying to
> get the NIC up and running for awhile now and I would really like to
> move on to setting up the whole network.
> 
> I have included copies of some of the files pertaining to the network
> and the eth0 interface below.  Also some of the error responses.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> My 'linuxconf for Network Host Basic Configuration' is:
> 
> Host name = svr1
> 
> Adapter 1
> [X] enabled
> Config mode     (o) Manual     (  )dhcp     (  )bootp
> 
> IP Address = 192.168.1.1
> Netmask    = 255.255.255.0
> Net device = eth0
> Kernel Module = tulip.o    debug = val
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> The '/etc/conf.modules' file cats out as:
> 
> alias scsi_hostadapter aic7xxx
> alias scsi_hostadapter1 ncr53c8xx
> alias eth0 tulip.o  debug=val
> alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
> pre-install pcmcia_core /etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia start
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> When I tried the 'modprobe eth0' command, I received the following
> error:
> 
> can't locate module eth0
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Cat of the '/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifconfig-eth0' file produced
> following:
> 
> DEVICE="eth0"
> IPADDR="192.168.1.1"
> NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
> ONBOOT="yes"
> BOOTPROTO="none"
> IPXNETNUM_802_2=""
> IPXPRIMARY_802_2="no"
> IPXACTIVE_802_2="no"
> IPXNETNUM_802_3=""
> IPXPRIMARY_802_3="no"
> IPXACTIVE_802_3="no"
> IPXNETNUM_ETHERII=""
> IPXPRIMARY_ETHERII="no"
> IPXACTIVE_ETHERII="no"
> IPXNETNUM_SNAP=""
> IPXPRIMARY_SNAP="no"
> IPXACTIVE_SNAP="no"
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> As expected, the 'lsmod' command returns no trace of eth0:
> 
> Module                  Size       Used by
> nls_cp437             3548      1  (autoclean)
> msdos                   8220      1  (autoclean)
> fat                         25664    1  (autoclean) [msdos]
> nfsd                      150936  8  (autoclean)
> lockd                    30856    1  (autoclean) [nfsd]
> sunrpc                  52356    1  (autoclean) [nfsd lockd]
> ncr53c8xx            52112    3
> aic7xxx                106928   7
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------
> When I issued the 'ifup eth0' command, I got the following response:
> 
> Delaying eth0 initialization.
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Issuing the 'ifconfig' command displays only the local loop back
> configuration:
> 
> lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
>           inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
>           UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:3924  Metric:1
>           RX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:48 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> >From the '/proc/pci' file, it appears that the kernel is seeing the NIC
> hardware:
> 
>   Bus  0, device  11, function  0:
>     Ethernet controller: SMC 1211 TX (rev 16).
>       Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 10.  Master
> Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=32.Max Lat=64.
>       I/O at 0xb800 [0xb801].
>       Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe0800000 [0xe0800000].
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> I tried a 'grep' of 'eth0' with the 'dmesg' command and received
> nothing. However the following network related items
> were observed in the '/var/log/messages' file:
> 
> Sep 12 17:47:54 svr1 network: Enabling IPv4 packet forwarding succeeded
> Sep 12 17:47:57 svr1 network: Bringing up interface lo succeeded
> Sep 12 17:47:57 svr1 modprobe: can't locate module eth0
> Sep 12 17:47:57 svr1 ifup: Delaying eth0 initialization.
> Sep 12 17:47:57 svr1 network: Bringing up interface eth0 failed
> Sep 12 17:47:58 svr1 portmap: portmap startup succeeded
> Sep 12 17:47:58 svr1 netfs: Mounting other filesystems succeeded
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Please note that I have only attempted to bring up 'eth0' and the NIC
> using modules that came with the distribution
> and have not tried to do compile anything.  I really do not know how the
> 'eth0 interface device' is generated, but it
> would appear that most things are in place.  Most other aspects of this
> Linux installation appear to be working and
> I am hesitant to try a reinstall.  If I did, without finding a reason
> for the 'eth0' failure in this installation, the results
> would probably be the same.  I would be very appreciative to anyone who
> can help solve this dilemma.
> 
> Bob Heck
> heckr@ameritech.net
> 
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