RealTek 8139 nic not working at all! [SOLVED]

think-x · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 52 Location: UCSB

I just went to install Gentoo on my box the other day (generic celeron d w/ realtek 8139 built in to mobo), since I haven't used Linux in a while and Windows just gets old :wink:

I got the minimal CD up and went to configure the network, but had no luck. I figured maybe when I got my system installed I could mess with the driver, etc. so I just downloaded the packages I needed to install on my laptop and put them in my /usr/portage/distfiles. Long story short: I got everything installed but still have no luck getting my network card active. No matter what I do, not even the lights turn on on the port. I've configured all the extra options on the 8139too module to see if those might help, I've even tried using an old 2004.1 install disc and Ubuntu. Nothing works. It does just fine in Windows XP, and always has. I'm on my university network, but that really shouldn't matter since it just uses the standard DHCP, and I'm not even to the point of setting up access since my nic won't even turn on. Any help would be extremely appreciated!

Just in case anyone is wondering: I have been searching these forums and Google for a couple days, so please don't hate me if there is a fix somewhere else. I've also tried everything I've seen and more.
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eccerr0r · Advocate Joined: 01 Jul 2004 Posts: 2212 Location: USA

did the kernel detect it even, or is it totally oblivious to it? Any sign of it in dmesg?
Does ifconfig <<ethernet handle>> do anything? (i.e., ifconfig eth0 or possibly eth1 or higher...)
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think-x · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 52 Location: UCSB

Oh yeah, it gets detected and, from the looks of it, properly set up. There are no errors in the dmesg output, and ifconfig works just fine, the problem is that none of it does anything to actually turn it on. I have even set manual ip address, router, subnet, etc. and still nothing. It only complains when dhcpcd times out, or when I try to use it (e.g. ping something, or load a webpage in links). If anyone wants to see the actual output of a command, I could try typing it in here. Just let me know. Thanks!
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think-x · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 52 Location: UCSB

Anyone? Please! I am really frustrated and want to know how to fix this, if possible. I want my Gentoo!
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paulbiz · Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject:

If the lights on the port don't even blink, it sounds like a hardware/cable problem to me. That happened to my dad recently, replaced his wireless router (which was still working for wireless access) with a new one and everything started working again.

paulbiz · Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:27 pm Post subject:

Oops, never mind that. I just saw the part about it working in Windows XP.

think-x · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 52 Location: UCSB

Yeah, that's not it but it's cool. Thanks for trying!

I've got new info now: I just found the rtl8139-diag utility and tried it out to see if it would give any extra info and everything looks fine before I do "ifconfig eth0 up", because then it says that the transmitter is "enabled with NONSTANDARD! settings, maximum burst 1024 bytes." And also: "Flow control: Tx disabled Rx disabled" which seems to fit the lights not being lit, but is weird since I can't figure out how to change that anywhere. If anyone could offer even suggestions on how to configure this driver to set up the nic differently, since it seems that something is messed up in that regard, I'd really appreciate it!
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Gluteusmaximus · n00b Joined: 20 Oct 2007 Posts: 1

Hi,
I have probably the same problem here, can´t download anything. It´s strange because I can ping the servers, but nothing else works. The "ifconfig" output looks ok, i even reduced the MTU-value...
The PC worked ok with my former Debian (and Windows) installation, though.
Weird...

pigeon768 · l33t Joined: 02 Jan 2006 Posts: 617

Are you using the 8139too driver or the 8139cp driver? (try both. the other one might work) What's the output from lspci -v that's relevant to your card? When you change the kernel options, does the rtl8189-diag give different error messages?
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sertrex · n00b Joined: 27 Feb 2004 Posts: 7

I had the same problem. I solved it changing an option of the Windows driver. Try enabling "Wake on Lan after shutdown" (or something similar, I don't remember exactly) from the Windows device manager. It seems to be a problem of initialising registers after a Windows shutdown.

think-x · n00b Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 52 Location: UCSB

sertrex: you are my hero! Thank you so much!
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