eth0: unknown interface: No such device

I am getting the message:

eth0: unknown interface: No such device

when I boot up.

This computer was in mothballs for a while, but it also
has windows on it and the computer networks under
windows.

As I remember this computer was set up to network
under Linux also using Samba. The one change is that
it was 10baseT network previous but that should not
matter as the card works under windows. Should it?

Where do I go from here if I want to get the network
card on this old ancient computer working?

Networking must be compiled into the kernel if I am
getting the eth0 unknown message I assume?

tom <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I am getting the message:
> eth0: unknown interface: No such device
> when I boot up.

Hi,

most likely your kernel is not recognizing the card. If you can boot into
Windows and see what make/model you have and post it here, it would help.
Afterwards, you can compile the network card support into the kernel or as
a module and things should get recognized, hopefully.

Cheers,
Ognen

"tom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:z6Cob.8724$(E-Mail Removed) .com...
> I am getting the message:
>
> eth0: unknown interface: No such device
>
> when I boot up.
>
> This computer was in mothballs for a while, but it also
> has windows on it and the computer networks under
> windows.
>
> As I remember this computer was set up to network
> under Linux also using Samba. The one change is that
> it was 10baseT network previous but that should not
> matter as the card works under windows. Should it?
>
> Where do I go from here if I want to get the network
> card on this old ancient computer working?
>
> Networking must be compiled into the kernel if I am
> getting the eth0 unknown message I assume?
>
>

I just went through a similar problem where a generic NIC worked without a
problem in Windows but was not recognized in Linux. My solution was a
modified Tulip driver ( from Donald Becker) that is part of a driver package
you can find here:

http://www.scyld.com/network/updates.html#release

You may find what you need there as well. Good luck.

Glenn Butzlaff

tom <(E-Mail Removed)> randomly warbled in
comp.os.linux.networking:

> I am getting the message:
>
> eth0: unknown interface: No such device

You have to load a driver (module) for the card.

> when I boot up.
>
> This computer was in mothballs for a while, but it also
> has windows on it and the computer networks under
> windows.

Which means exactly nothing.

> As I remember this computer was set up to network
> under Linux also using Samba. The one change is that
> it was 10baseT network previous but that should not
> matter as the card works under windows. Should it?

Bullshit. Whether anything works under Windoze (or not, as is usually
the case) does not have anything to do with it working under Linux.
As for concluding that SINCE it worked as 10mbit under Windoze AND it
happened to also work under Linux THEN that must mean that it will now
work under Linux BECAUSE it works under Windoze - you'd better kill
your logic teachers and start high school over again - that's horrible
reasoning no matter what the subject.

> Where do I go from here if I want to get the network
> card on this old ancient computer working?

Load the module for the card.

First, know what the card is - if it's a PCI card, a simple "lspci" will
tell you the make & model, if it's ISA you'll have to run "pnpdump" and
a few other utils to get it to work.

Second, load the module for this card with "modprobe modulename".

Check that it's loaded with "lsmod".

Then try to get the interface up again - should work perfectly.

> Networking must be compiled into the kernel if I am
> getting the eth0 unknown message I assume?

Nope, completely wrong again.
IF te driver for this particular card was compiled into the kernel it
would work out of the box, but it doesn't, so it isn't.

Ergo, you have to load the module for it.

"Networking" - as in Ethernet and TCP/IP v4 networking - is definitely
built into the kernel, but that has nothing to do with any particular
hardware you might have; it only means that without it a network card
would be useless.

--
Jeroen Geilman

All your bits are belong to us.