AS3.0 - bcm5700 vs tg3 drivers

[Rick Stevens]

Waldher, Travis R wrote:
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Rick Stevens [mailto:rstevens at vitalstream.com] 
>>Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 11:32 AM
>>To: redhat-install-list at redhat.com
>>Subject: Re: AS3.0 - bcm5700 vs tg3 drivers
>>
>>
>>Waldher, Travis R wrote:
>>
>>>I've been trying to build a bcm5700 driver for AS3.0.  I 
>>
>>get an error 
>>
>>>that, in the past, meant the driver wasn't meant for 
>>
>>running with my 
>>
>>>particular kernel, even if it runs on the 2.4x kernel.
>>>
>>>I can't find a bcm5700 driver anywhere so far (started on 
>>>www.broadcom.com and fanned out to their OEM distributers), I only 
>>>find the tg3.
> 
> 
> I downloaded the latest version I could find:
> 
> bcm5700-7.1.22-1
> 
> 
>>The Broadcom drivers are available on their website.
>>
>>
>>>Is the tg3 driver better in AS3.0?  I know in the Redhat 8.0 days, 
>>>from which AS 3.0 was based, the bcm5700 was the preferred 
>>
>>driver due 
>>
>>>to less bugs, better reliability, etc.
>>
>>I don't know how good the tg3 is on AS3, but I don't think 
>>Red Hat will support you if you don't use it.
>>
>>If you must have the newer bcm drivers and can't find them on 
>>Broadcom's site, I can post them on ftp://ftp.rhil.net if you wish.
> 
> 
> When I try to load the driver, I get this error message.
> 
> Using /lib/modules/2.4.21-4.ELsmp/kernel/drivers/net/bcm5700.o
> /lib/modules/2.4.21-4.ELsmp/kernel/drivers/net/bcm5700.o: couldn't find
> the kernel version the module was compiled for
> 
> Last time I got that error, it was an issue with the driver not liking
> the kernel name.  Even something as simple as the smp on the end would
> mess it up.  That was using Compaq's drivers.   This latest driver was
> from broadcom itself and still did the same thing.

Did you download the source and build it yourself?  Unless you're using
the stock kernel, no it won't work (all of the modules are built with
"modversion" enabled).

To build them, you must:

1. Download and install the kernel source

2. Change directory to the kernel source:

	cd /usr/src/linux-2.4

3. Edit the Makefile's "EXTRAVERSION=" definition to match your
kernel's name

4. Copy the config file from /boot to .config in the kernel source dir:

	[root at host linux-2.4]# cp /boot/config-kernelversion .config

5. Configure the kernel source:

	[root at host linux-2.4]# make oldconfig;make dep

6. Download the Broadcom source to a scratch directory and untar it.

7. Build the driver source based on their instructions.

8. Test the driver by doing "insmod bcm5700.o"

9. If it loads correctly, copy the "bcm5700.o" file to the appropriate
spot in /lib (usually /lib/modules/kernelversion/kernel/drivers/addon).

10. Finally, do a "depmod -a" to make sure the dependencies are
fulfilled.

Voila!  The next boot should successfully load bcm5700, provided you
have an "alias eth0 bcm5700" in your /etc/modules.conf file.

At least, that's how I do it.  Does that help?

The latest bcm5700 code I have is V7.1.9, but I haven't looked at their
site for a month or more, so I'm sure I'm out of date.  The build
procedure should be the same.

BTW, building kernels from source RPM or tarball is documented at:

	http://www.rhil.net/docs/kernelbuild.html
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-            I'm afraid my karma just ran over your dogma            -
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