Ethernet problem

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Fri, 2006-03-31 at 07:29 +0530, Tamal wrote:
> I have MSI K8NGM2-IL motherboard. It has in-built VITESSE VSC8201 RX/
> Realtek 8201CL LAN card. From the manual of the motherboard, I got
> this. My Device Manager (in Windows) shows the Network adapter's
> driver is provided by NVidia.

Depends.  There is the MAC (Media Access Control) logic and then the PHY
(physical) interface.  Sometimes the MAC is two portions -- the chipset
logic and then the external controller.

It's these newer combinations are what typically causes most issues with
drivers until newer kernel revisions.  E.g., I have several nForce 4x0
chipsets that had issues with the GPL "forcedeth" driver, but none with
the latest nVidia "nvnet" driver.  But with a quick kernel update that
was about the same age as the nVidia driver release, the "forcedeth"
driver started working more reliably.

nVidia actively assists on the GPL "forcedeth" driver development, but
still maintains the "nvnet" driver so it's easier to install for older
kernels.

So if you're ever having issues with the GPL "forcedeth" driver, try 1)
upgrading your kernel and, then, 2) the nVidia "nvnet" driver.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith             Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org       http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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