A problem with internet connection.

Max Davies · n00b Joined: 03 Apr 2003 Posts: 3 Location: United Kingdom

Yo. I have recently installed Gentoo, and am a total novice in the field of Linux. I ask if anyone has any ideas as to resolve my problem with getting connected.

I installed from stage1, doing all the jazz required and having a reasonably easy install thanks to the kind help of the good Dessimat0r, a user who has been at it for a while. A new problem has arisen though - when starting up I am met with an error along the lines of :-

bringing up eth2
could not bring up eth2

This was not the initial error though - I was previously prompted to edit /etc/conf.d/net to change the original "iface_eth1="dhcp"" to reflect the correct network card (eth2). This was done and is where I stand now.

During the first stages of setup, I needed to load the correct drivers for my card - these being 3c59x for the network card '3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)' in order to get my connection working. This was done and I made note of the driver so I could compile the mofo in to the kernel later. I went back and checked to be sure that the right driver had been compiled and it was so - the problem does not lie there (as far as I can tell).

I also tried doing dhcpcd and received no errors, then tested the connection by doing emerge sync and trying to ping various boxen - all to no avail.

I have no idea what to do now. Any suggestions are appreciated =)

BonezTheGoon · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 10:56 pm Post subject:

How many network cards do you have? Most machines only have one network card and it is eth0 not eth2. I'd check your /etc/conf.d/net again to see if you edited it correctly.

Regards,
BonezTheGoon

Max Davies · n00b Joined: 03 Apr 2003 Posts: 3 Location: United Kingdom

I have three. One is on my mobo, and two are pci - the first of which is used for a direct connection to another computer (in windows, anyway). I think it would make sense that the card is eth2; the first being the mobo and then going in order of the pci slot that the last two cards are in.

Also, right at the start of the setup I had to "dhcpcd eth[x]" in order to set up initial networking - I tried 0 first, which did not work, then 1, then finally 2 which did work - I tested that by using lynx to go on google.

edit: I went and tried changing the line for eth0 and eth1 just to be sure, neither of them worked.

lazarusrat · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 4:21 pm Post subject:

Did you compile the drivers directly into the kernel or as modules?
If modules, are you sure they're loaded (lsmod as root to find out)?
Does ifconfig show the card(s)?

Max Davies · n00b Joined: 03 Apr 2003 Posts: 3 Location: United Kingdom

I compiled the drivers into the kernel - ifconfig gives a 'device not found' error.

Also, under the advice of a friend I checked out /proc/pci for IRQ conflicts; of which there were none.

lazarusrat · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 7:22 pm Post subject:

Is that error from 'ifconfig ethX' or 'ifconfig -a' or just 'ifconfig' by itself?
If it's from 'ifconfig ethX' that's not too surprising, you'll probably need to fiddle with your kernel. If that's the output from ifconfig -a or ifconfig on its own, that doesn't sound good at all.
See if your card(s) show up in the output of dmesg.
My next suggestion would be trying it as a module instead. I've never used a 3Com card so I'm not familiar with that driver's specific quirks. Some work better as modules, some work better in the kernel.
According to what's going on in https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=45273, you might also want to try turning off APIC in the kernel if it's there, and/or using vanilla-sources if you're not already.

BonezTheGoon · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 8:23 pm Post subject:

I am using a 3Com 905B PCI NIC with the support compiled directly into the kernel. Make sure you have the proper support compile as there are SO many 3Com cards in the kernel. Make sure that you didn't get the 3c509 if you meant to get the 3c905b for instance. I have APIC disabled, which is not to be confused with ACPI. APIC gives you more IRQ's, ACPI lets you have power management features. The reason I have APIC disabled has nothing to do with my NIC though (so I am unaware of issues relating to APIC and NIC's) -- My mainboard chipset does not have an implementation of APIC that the current kernel's play nicely with. It is a SiS chipset in case you are wondering, there are many threads on these issues search if you are interested.

Hope you get things working!

Regards,
BonezTheGoon