Realtek 8139 and Fedora Core 5

[guilli]

Hello to everyone.
I'm a new linux user, not expert at all. I've downloaded Fedora Core 5 and installed it with no problem on my Pavillion dv5000, except for the ethernet card and the wireless. Practically no internet at all.
I've searched the forums here and tried the solutions posted with no results.
Basically the eth0 looks in the system but is inactive. When trying to activate I get
"Determining IP.....failed!". If I turn off ACPI or try other ACPI settings I get always SCIOCSIFFLAG: function not implemented.
Please help me. I have no idea what to do next. I have a cablemodem and for the moment I'd like to access internet by eth0.

Thank you.

Guilli

[David Becker]

What does 'lspci -vv' say?

[guilli]

Hello David, thank you for your answer.
I havo no way to copy/paste here. I write you manually what comes out regarding the Realtek 8139

06:06.0 Ethernet Controller; Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Unknown device 30a4
Control: I/0+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <Tabort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Latency: 128 (800ns min, 1600ns max)
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
Region 0: I/0 ports at a000 (size=256)
Region 1: Memory at c0202000 (32-bit, non prefetchable) (size=256)
Capabilities: (50) Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375ma PME(DO-,D1+,D2,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: DO PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

I have no idea what all this means....
Thanks for your time.

Guilli

[David Becker]

There does seem to be something wrong with your Ethernet's power management capabilities/settings. lspci reports your card without D2 for AuxCurrent. Looking here there's an apparent difference (D2+) with working ethernet :

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Gentoo_Linux_64bit_on_HP_Pavilion_dv5000z _series_notebook/lspci

How are you turning off ACPI? As kernel parameter (acpi=off)? Some also suggest disabling APIC (noapic).

There are discussions about this machine where it's suggested to first perform a BIOS upgrade of the machine, then turn ACPI off. I'd first try the BIOS upgrade to see if it works.

Not sure if this is for your model, but here's a BIOS update. DO CHECK IF THIS MATCHES YOUR MODEL PRIOR TO FLASHING!!! (sorry for shouting, but it just emphasizes I assume no liabilities/responsibilities for improper bios flashing).

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/previousVersions?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&os=228&product=1162737&lang=en&softwareitem=ob-40404-1

David

[guilli]

Hi David,
Thanks for your reply. I did a BIOS update from HP's website with my product number, so I got actually the right model. However nothing has changed. I've tried also both acpi=off and noapic but there is no changement. I really don't know what to do.

G.

[David Becker]

Hi David,
Thanks for your reply. I did a BIOS update from HP's website with my product number, so I got actually the right model. However nothing has changed. I've tried also both acpi=off and noapic but there is no changement. I really don't know what to do.

G.

It's getting difficult. I wish I had a more modern laptop to be able to experience this situation myself. Try 'nolapic' as kernel boot parameter as well. Have you fiddled with the ACPI settings in the BIOS as well?

David

[guilli]

I tried nolapic. No luck. There are no ACPI settings i the BIOS. I actually have very limited options regarding boot order and hard diks test, but that is all. It looks like there is no way to configure anything on this laptop in the BIOS.

G.

[David Becker]

Hmm,

I seem to forget my laptop actually uses an 8139 card. This is a PCMCIA card though.

There's two drivers for the 8139. Module '8139cp' and module '8139too'. My laptop's 8139 didn't function with the default module but functioned when I tried the other module.

Check which module you're using with 'lsmod | grep 8139'. Unload that module (rmmod 8139...) and load the other module (modprobe 8139other).

Still, both drivers seem to handle pci power management in the same manner, if power management is the cause of the problem.

David

[guilli]

Thank you for your help. I actually was using the 8139too. Changing to the other module did not work. When I tried to activate the card it tells me "DHCP already running....exiting."
What does this means?

G.

[David Becker]

Thank you for your help. I actually was using the 8139too. Changing to the other module did not work. When I tried to activate the card it tells me "DHCP already running....exiting."
What does this means?

First do 'ifdown eth0', then unload the module. Load the other module and then do 'ifup eth0'.

David

[guilli]

Both modules give me "Determining IP address for eth0......failed"

G.

[David Becker]

Are you supposed to get an IP address automatically, i.e. is there a DHCP server running on your network?

[guilli]

Well, I don't have a static IP. My ISP gives dinamically a new one. DHCP is the setting I always used. I think there was an option on my Mac, or even in a Windows computer, that says "Automatically detect" something.
G.

[guilli]

I checked now at my ISP homepage. They say to set everythink "Automatic detect". However they do show the primary and secondary DNS for information.

G.

[David Becker]

The question is whether the device is working or not and if your IP problem is related to something thereafter.

Do you see the interface/device with 'ifconfig'?

Can you manually configure an ip address (for testing purposes).

Is your firewall working against you ? From the commandline run 'setup' then go to firewall configuration and disable it (for testing).

David