no ethxx device

Hi,
What do you do when linux (RH9) doesn't automagically create a network
(ethxx) device for your NIC?
The Networking howto doesn't say, and it doesn't say what to do when it
doesn't work.
I installed a NIC in a machine with two other NICs, it 'swapped' one of
the old NICs for the NEW one, and refused to recognize the old one.
I.e. the device (eth0) had been reassigned to the new card and the
card which was previously eth0 is now not recognized. Kudzu only wanted
to re-configure the 'new' eth0.
The new and old card is a SMC-1255TX, it uses the tulip driver afaik.
What to do?

Regards,
Tobias Skytte

PS: I also asked this in another thread

On 2005-09-05, (E-Mail Removed) <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> What do you do when linux (RH9) doesn't automagically create a network
> (ethxx) device for your NIC?

You use lspci to get which nic, then load the required module by hand,
then figure out how to put the aforementioned module into the modules.conf
file so he gets loaded on his own.

Davide

--
Q: How do you make Windows run faster?
A: Throw it harder!

Hi,

Ok, thanks. I don't see how I can use that info to load it by hand
though? Below is the output of lspci -v for the 3 ethernet cards, and I
think it's either device 00:0a.0 or 00:0c.0
But I guess I first have to find out which one exactly, so is it
possible to see which ethxx device belongs to which?
Secondly, do I use insmod to install it? I don't see how I can tell it
to use 'PCI device 00:0a.0' for example.
I allready tried to add:
alias eth2 tulip
to /etc/modules.conf but that didn't do anything. (please see
modules.conf below)
I suspect I need to do something else in order to actually create the
device. Any hints? Thanks.

regards,
Tobias Skytte

lspci -v output:
*****************
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation EN-1216
Ethernet Adapter (rev 11)
Subsystem: Standard Microsystems Corp [SMC]: Unknown device
1255
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
Memory at df000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX
(rev 10)
Subsystem: Accton Technology Corporation: Unknown device 9211
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
I/O ports at e400 [size=256]
Memory at df001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation EN-1216
Ethernet Adapter (rev 11)
Subsystem: Standard Microsystems Corp [SMC]: Unknown device
1255
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 9
I/O ports at e800 [size=256]
Memory at df002000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

/etc/modules.conf
*********************
alias eth0 tulip
alias eth1 8139too
alias char-major-81 bttv
alias usb-controller usb-uhci
pre-install pentaval insmod scanval
alias pentaval0 pentaval

On 2005-09-05, (E-Mail Removed) <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Ok, thanks.

Learn how to quote.

> I don't see how I can use that info to load it by hand

> possible to see which ethxx device belongs to which?

As a rule of thumb, connect one and see which one has the 'link ok'
flag once you've loaded the driver.

> Secondly, do I use insmod to install it?

Or modprobe

> 00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation EN-1216
> 00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX
> 00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation EN-1216

Searching on google, it seems that the driver is the one for tulip:
http://www.apcmag.com/apc/v3.nsf/0/4...256E3F000B7478

Davide

--
It isn't the volts that kill, it's the missing brain waves.
-- Matt Roberds

> /etc/modules.conf
> *********************
> alias eth0 tulip
> alias eth1 8139too

When the tulip driver loads, it will find both "tulip" cards, and these
will be labeled eth0 and eth1. The "8139too" will become eth2. That
is, unless you are using nameif. If you have something in /etc/mactab
(or wherever else nameif gets its information) then fiddling with
modules.conf won't do you much good. (Been there, inadvertently.)

In your shoes, I would probably do this in steps. First rename
/etc/mactab to /etc/mactab.ignore.me or something similar, then
(probably after a reboot) try to get both tulip NIC's working, then get
the 8139too working, and finally (if necessary) get around to fiddling
with /etc/mactab. Davide's advice on figuring out which Tulip NIC is
which is good.

I'm on google, it doesn't let you quote easilly.

I don't see where the 'link ok' flag is?

You're right, it's the tulip driver. It loads the tulip driver *but for
the other SMC1255tx NIC*. Somehow the tulipdriver doesn't realize that
there are two identical cards.
I don't understand where I can tell insmod or modprobe which PCI device
to attach the driver to?

Regards,
Tobias Skytte

Well, the problem is that the tulip driver only finds one of the cards
and not the other. I know that the card is working because it actually
found the 'new' card and *un-found* the old card..... strangely.
Please see also my response to Davide.

I'm not using nameif AFAIK and dont have a /etc/mactab file. I'm using
stock RH9.

Cheers,
Tobias Skytte

On 2005-09-06, (E-Mail Removed) <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> You're right, it's the tulip driver. It loads the tulip driver *but for
> the other SMC1255tx NIC*. Somehow the tulipdriver doesn't realize that
> there are two identical cards.

The SMC2-1211 is appearently a Realtek-based, the module should be 8139too.

> I don't understand where I can tell insmod or modprobe which PCI device
> to attach the driver to?

You don't. The driver will search and 'attach' every device that he can
drive and recognize.

Once you've loaded the drivers you should be able to use ifconfig eth{0,1,2}
to display the info about the cards and eventually configure them.

mii-tool will also display which card has an actual network link
(the cable is in and there is something connected on the other side).

Davide

--
Coming soon: Visual Edlin for Windows.

> Well, the problem is that the tulip driver only finds one of the cards
> and not the other. I know that the card is working because it actually
> found the 'new' card and *un-found* the old card..... strangely.
How do you know this? (I don't doubt it, but it never hurts to go back
and re-examine things that you think you "know".) Specifically, what do
the boot messages say?

Another thought - make the other NIC eth0, go out on the Internet and
download+burn the latest edition of Knoppix (2.6 series kernel). Boot
that and see if it can find all three cards. Try also with an older
version of Knoppix with a 2.4 series kernel, if you can find it.

> I'm not using nameif AFAIK and dont have a /etc/mactab file. I'm using
> stock RH9.

OK, so you are using a 2.4 series kernel. Getting the latest from RH
might be a good idea.

RH9 does have nameif, so ultimately you will be able to use it if you
need it. That's a ways off yet though - first problem is to confirm
that the driver is having trouble supporting both cards.