Problem with NON-Wireless network card

[Steven J. Brown (NY)]

Nigel Henry wrote:
> On Friday 20 July 2007 20:04, Steven J. Brown (NY) wrote:
>   
>> Andy Green wrote:
>>     
>>> Somebody in the thread at some point said:
>>>       
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> Since I updated the kernel on my Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook running FC6
>>>> to release 2.6.22.1-15.fc6, my wired network card, a BroadCom BCM4401
>>>>         
>>> I think this device is meant to be handled by a module called "b44".
>>> confirm first that it isn't all actually fine
>>>
>>> ifconfig -a | grep eth0
>>>       
>> ifconfig -a | grep eth
>>
>> 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev
>> 01) 02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4309 802.11a/b/g
>> (rev 02)
>>
>> Looks OK.
>>
>>     
>>> and
>>>
>>> lsmod | grep b44
>>>
>>> If b44 isn't in the lsmod result, try
>>>
>>> modprobe b44 ; dmesg | tail
>>>
>>> to see if that brings any joy.
>>>       
>> b44 is in the lsmod result.
>>
>>     
>>> -Andy
>>>       
>> I tried to add a device in the network configuration utility with a
>> static IP address but this did not work.  Also, when I activated a
>> single device, multiple devices would be marked activated, even after
>> receiving a 'Cannot activate' message.
>>
>> Under the kernel that does work, three devices appear in the config
>> utility (eth1, eth0.bak and eth0) with eth0 as ethernet and the other 2
>> as wireless (not sure why).
>>
>> Under the kernel that does NOT work, one time there were 5 devices
>> another only 2.  One time I could add a device with the correct
>> hardware, another time the correct hardware was not selectable.
>> Something really screwy going on here.  Hopefully another kernel update
>> will fix it.
>>
>> --
>> *Steven J. Brown*
>>     
>
> Hi Steven. Personally I'd wait and see if the next kernel update fixes the 
> problem, and in the meantime use the kernel that works ok for your NIC.
>
> Incidentally, where did you get the 2.6.22.1-15.fc6 kernel? The latest kernel 
> on F7 on my other machine only shows 2.6.21-1.3228.fc7, and I'm on FC2 on the 
> machine I'm posting from, but looking at FC6's /boot on the same machine (and 
> I havn't updated FC6 for a couple of weeks) the latest kernel I have is 
> 2.6.20-1.2948.fc6. Just interested.
>   
My kernel updates seem to be coming from the updates-*testing* 
repository, so that might explain why I have later releases than you 
have.  It might also explain why they don't work right.  I installed yet 
another update (2.6.22.1-24.fc6, I believe) and still have the problem.  
I noticed the following error at startup:

Determining IP information for etho...SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not supported
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not supported
    failed
> Could you post the output of /etc/modprobe.conf. It would be interesting to 
> see if the ethernet card, and the wireless card are there. I ask because I 
> have had more than one audio device detected by Alsa, and have had to set 
> options lines so that they are loaded in the correct order.
>   
Old (works):
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-intel8x0 index=0
remove snd-intel8x0 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0 >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; 
}; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-intel8x0
alias usb-controller ehci-hcd
alias usb-controller1 uhci-hcd
alias ieee1394-controller ohci1394
alias eth0 b44
alias eth1 bcm43xx

New (does not work):
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-intel8x0 index=0
remove snd-intel8x0 { /usr/sbin/alsactl store 0 >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; 
}; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove snd-intel8x0
alias usb-controller ehci-hcd
alias usb-controller1 uhci-hcd
alias ieee1394-controller ohci1394

The only difference I see is that the aliases for the network cards are 
missing.  On another occasion, the lines WERE there, but still no 
network connection.

> For example on F7 my ethernet driver shows up in /etc/modprobe.conf as.
> alias eth0 8139too
>
> Now I only have one NIC on each of my two machines, but perhaps you can set 
> options lines also if you have multiple network cards. something like 
> perhaps.
>
> alias eth0 b44
> options b44 index=0
>
> And if the wireless drivers are also there, set them to index=1
>
> There's also a line you can put in /etc/modprobe.conf to prevent drivers being 
> loaded (your wireless ones for instance), but I'm darned if I can remember 
> it. I know it starts with "install" (without the double quotes), but can't 
> remember the rest of the line.
>   
I don't want to prevent wireless drivers from being loaded because, once 
I have the wired one working, I hope to get the wireless working as well.
> Any help folks on that one?
>
> Nigel.
>
>   


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