Linksys Network Card in Debian

[Devsforev]

Hey everybody. I have had plenty of experience with debian in the past, but my recent project has been to put it on one of my old computers to make a file server out of it.

So......... I set my partitions, and tried booting off the CD. No luck, the computer is too old to support booting off of a CD. No worries, so I put in the CD, and booted with a WINDOWS 98 boot floppy. Once loaded, I navigated to: "D:/Install." There, I ran "boot.bat", which proceeded to start the debian installation. It did NOT give me an option to install the "bf24" package (the latest kernel) as it does when you normally boot from the CD.

So it loaded the 2.2 kernel (i believe.) No problem, it's a file server and does not need to use that latest kernel (although it would be nice if I could get it to work.)

Finally, I navigated into installing the modules. I read up, and selected the "tulip" module for my Linksys network card. It installed successfuly, and I proceeded on. Next step was to configure the network, so I entered that menu. It asked if I wanted to try accessing the local DHCP server on my router, so I said ok.

It would not let me access it. It just kept saying that it failed.

I have a hunch that if I can get the 2.4 kernel to install as opposed to the 2.2 which it is loading, that I may be able to get the driver to work. Anybody else feel this way?

So my question is....... how do I get my linksys card to work with Debian? I don't have any OS installed yet, but once I get the card working It will be no problem (debian needs to access FTP servers to download the entire OS.)

Also, if someone knows how to make it so the bf24 package (linux 2.4 kernel) will install, that would be great.

Thanks a lot. If you have any questions or need me to clarify my problem, please go ahead and inquire. Thank again!!!

-- Devsforev

[jedthehumanoid]

i've never had a probelem loading the tulip driver in the 2.2 kernel.... are you sure it's the driver? can you try entering the ip addresses manually just to see what happens? if you can get the install done, you can always compile a new kernel and change anything else as needed anyway. just a thought.

[Devsforev]

I did try entering the information manually. Later during the installation when it tries to download everything off of Debian's FTP server, it gives crazy errors. Nothing like a time out error or anything, it just doesn't even try to access the internet.

Thanks again.

[jedthehumanoid]

what do the errors say? how old is the nic card? is it possible the thing is dead?

[Devsforev]

I am quite confident that the card is working. I just took it out of another computer.

In the begining, I had a SOHO Nic installed (using the same module). When that did not obtain and IP address, I thought that I may have more luck with a linksys card installed. Apparently I was wrong.

It is odd...... I only have one NIC card installed, and it still reports eth0 and eth1. Could this be one of my problems?

Thanks a lot everyone. I greatly appriciate it!!

-- Devsforev

[jedthehumanoid]

hmmm, strange. does your mobo have a built-on nic? i imagine it probably doesn't as you implied it's an old machine but just a thought.

[Devsforev]

The mobo does NOT have a built in NIC. This is starting to get annoying..... hehe. Any other sugguestions? Thanks again!!

-- Devsforev

[jedthehumanoid]

do you have more than one pci slot open on your mobo? have you tried to move the card to see if maybe there is an irq conflict? (i know, i know, i'm really reaching now)

also, after it fails to download the packages, have you tried pressing alt-f2 and logging in to a console? maybe you can try fooling around there to get some hints. can you be more specific on how you see it setting up both eth0 and eth1.

[Devsforev]

Before you replied, I did try removing my USB hub (from the PCI slot above the NIC) and moving the Linksys card into that slot.

No luck.......

My ghetto old IBM Aptiva (which i'm trying to get this working on) only has two PCI slots and about seven ISA slots..... hehe.

I also have a lame 56k modem in one of the ISA slots....... a relic really. It's not possible that that may show up as eth1 or be causing conflicts, is it?

I'm running out of ideas. I know that the problem lies in the computer somehow, and I can definatly tell you that it's not the network.

Thanks a lot everyone! More help! MORE HELP!!! Hehee

-- Devsforev

[Devsforev]

Also, one of my last few ideas, do you think possibly disabling PNP in BIOS could help? Do all BIOS's allow you to disable PNP? While I was searching through my BIOS, i did not see an option allowing this, but I could have overlooked it.

Thanks again

-- Devsforev

[sharth]

http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/woody/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/bf2.4/rescue.bin

try using that floppy image. install it to a floppy using dd or rawrite

[Devsforev]

Finally a definite step in the right direction!!! I'm still not there yet though.

With the help of the boot floppy (and a few other floppies needed) I was able to get the 2.4 kernel loaded. I selected the tulip driver one again.

I went into configure network, and held my breath. This time it did not prompt me for eth0 or eth1; there was only one device labled "eth0."

After about a minute waiting (much longer than previously), it timed out trying to reach my DHCP server :-(. I hit ALT+F2, and typed in ifconfig:

No packets were sent, recieved, or have even visited the card.

I feel that I am finally getting on track, but I am overlooking one key component. If anyone can please help me solve this puzzle, I would greatly appriciate it. Thank you everyone for your help and continued support!!

-- Devsforev

[sharth]

well, you can always hit crtl+alt+f2 and goto a console.

ifconfig
try pump -i eth0

[Fryguy8]

the linksys tulip chip is newer than the driver on the 2.2 kernel. There's something on www.scyld.com I think (.net maybe?), that can help you, but the best bet is to just get the linux boot floppies and do the installation process 'correctly' with a 2.4 kernel rather than starting it from a DOS shell.

[jedthehumanoid]

Originally posted by Fryguy8
the linksys tulip chip is newer than the driver on the 2.2 kernel. There's something on www.scyld.com I think (.net maybe?), that can help you, but the best bet is to just get the linux boot floppies and do the installation process 'correctly' with a 2.4 kernel rather than starting it from a DOS shell.

um, again i've never had a problem loading the tulip driver for my linksys card with the 2.2 kernel. i've done so many times installing debian on my firewall box which has two of them. are there multiple revisions of the card that makes them differ?:confused:


if you go to the console after it fails the downloads can you do a 'lsmod' to see if the driver is loaded properly?

[Devsforev]

When I try to use "pump -i eth0" I recieve "pump: not found" in return. Any ideas?

-- Devsforev

[Dracnor]

what does

cat /proc/pci | grep eth0

give you?

[Devsforev]

I performed the "cat" command as you listed, but it just moved to the next line. It did not display any information.

::Cries:: This is looking more and more grim....... ::sigh::

[Dracnor]

what about just

cat /proc/pci

(with out grepping for eth0)?

[Devsforev]

Hey everyone. Don't ask how, but I somehow got the card working. It was deffinatly influenced by the 2.4 kernel. I upgraded to Debian testing, and am just starting to get Samba working. Thanks a lot everyone!!!

-- Devsforev