Ethernet connection not working in DSL on laptop


Forum: Networking
Topic: Ethernet connection not working in DSL on laptop
started by: jhsu
Posted by jhsu on Sep. 29 2008,14:59
I have a Dell Inspiron B120 laptop computer with the Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller for the Ethernet card.  The modem is an Actiontec GT701-WG.

Everything works fine in Windows XP.  In fact, I am using this laptop in Windows XP to enter this message.  So the problem is NOT a hardware issue.

However, in Damn Small Linux 3.3, the Ethernet connection does not work at all - neither the light on the Ethernet port on the laptop nor the Ethernet light on the modem are lit.  When I go into netcardconfig, it shows that my Ethernet card is not recognized at all.

What do I need to do?  If you tell me what commands to type, I can give you the output.
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 29 2008,16:53
Is the card pci? If so, is it listed under "lspci"?

Does this card use the b44 driver? If so, is it listed under "lsmod"? If it does use b44 and it is not listed, does "sudo modprobe b44" install the driver?
Posted by jhsu on Sep. 29 2008,18:14
dsl@box:~$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2590 (rev 03)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2592 (rev 03)
0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 2792 (rev 03)
0000:00:1b.0 0403: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub Audio (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub PCI Express Port 0 (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub USB2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev d3)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub LPC (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. I/O Controller Hub PATA (rev 03)
0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM5705M 10/100/1000Base T (rev 02)

dsl@box:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
af_packet              13544   0 (autoclean)
soundcore               3428   0 (autoclean)
unionfs                68800   7
ntfs                   50944   0 (autoclean)
msdos                   4684   0 (autoclean)
nls_iso8859-1           2844   1 (autoclean)
nls_cp437               4348   1 (autoclean)
serial                 52100   0 (autoclean)
mousedev                3832   1
hid                    22372   0 (unused)
input                   3168   0 [mousedev hid]
pcmcia_core            39840   0
thermal                 6564   0 (unused)
processor               8976   0 [thermal]
fan                     1568   0 (unused)
button                  2508   0 (unused)
battery                 5888   0 (unused)
ac                      1824   0 (unused)
rtc                     7036   0 (autoclean)
cloop                  39204   2
ieee1394              183076   0
usb-storage            61696   1
usb-uhci               21644   0 (unused)
ehci-hcd               16392   0 (unused)
usbcore                57600   1 [hid usb-storage usb-uhci ehci-hcd]
ataraid                 6180   0
ide-cd                 28512   0
ide-scsi                8816   0

DSL Control Panel -> System Stats
Under hardware
NETCARD_FULLNAME="Broadcom Corporation|unknown device 14e4:170c"
NETCARD_DRIVER="unknown"

DSL Control Panel -> Netcardconfig
No supported network cards found.


Ndiswrapper default settings:
inf file: /mnt/hda1/windows/netcard.inf
device: wlan0
side: <nothing>
wep: <nothing>

prism2 default settings:
device: wlan0
channel: 11
sid: <nothing>
wep: <nothing>

PPPOE: NO INTERFACE FOUND
When I select Yes to run modconf, I get an error message
/usr/sbin/modconf: line 178: /usr/share/modconf/params: No such file or directory.

So why isn't the Broadcom network card properly identified in DSL even though it is properly identified in Windows XP?
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 29 2008,18:32
Well, it's not obvious that "Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller" = "Broadcom Corporation BCM5705M 10/100/1000Base T" and ndiswrapper is for wireless networking

Did you try to load the b44 driver? - i.e. "sudo modprobe b44"?
Posted by jhsu on Sep. 29 2008,19:02
dsl@box:~$ sudo modprobe b44
/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/drivers/net/b44.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
     You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/drivers/net/b44.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/drivers/net/b44.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/drivers/net/b44.o: insmod b44 failed
Posted by jhsu on Sep. 29 2008,19:40
I am able to connect to the Internet using DSL embedded on my Windows XP setup.  I only had to go to netcardconfig and answer yes to DHCP broadcast.  Going through the commands again:
dsl@box:~$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II]
0000:00:01.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II]
0000:00:01.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Cirrus Logic GD 5446
0000:00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8029(AS)
0000:00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI]

dsl@box:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
apm                     9768   1 (autoclean)
mousedev                3832   0 (unused)
hid                    22372   0 (unused)
input                   3168   0 [mousedev hid]
usbcore                57824   0 [hid]
unionfs                68800   7
af_packet              13544   0 (autoclean)
es1370                 30348   0
gameport                1388   0 [es1370]
soundcore               3428   4 [es1370]
ne2k-pci                4480   1
8390                    6400   0 [ne2k-pci]
crc32                   2816   0 [8390]
serial                 52100   0 (autoclean)
pcmcia_core            39840   0
rtc                     7036   0 (autoclean)
ide-cd                 28512   0

DSL Control Panel -> System Stats
hardware shows:
NETCARD_FULLNAME="Realtek|RTL-8029(AS)
NETCARD_DRIVER="ne2k-pci"

So why can DSL embedded in Windows XP connect to the Internet through the Ethernet cable but stand-alone DSL does not?  Why am I seeing a different netcard under two different working setups?  How can I get standalone DSL to do the same thing DSL embedded in Windows XP does?  DSL embedded in Windows XP is awkward and clumsy, and it doesn't even allow me to use an external USB drive.
Posted by chaostic on Sep. 29 2008,19:54
Quote
[5] Internal Broadcom BCM5705M Gigabit Ethernet NIC

The ethernet card in this d600 works perfectly with the kernel 'tg3' driver. No issues whatsoever.

< http://jaeger.morpheus.net/linux/d600/ >

Quote

Broadcom BCM4401-B0 Fast Ethernet
b44 driver

< http://gentoo-wiki.com/Dell_Inspiron_B120_/_B130 >

Quote

Ethernet adapter

There is a lot of history here. Initially drivers existed only here. Later, broadcom started giving its own drivers (source), here.

From version 2.4.22-pre10, the official linux kernel tree has a driver for the bcm 440x card. I don't know where the source that was embedded in the kernel came from.

For some time I have been using the driver from broadcom (version 2.0.5), without any problems. Now I switched to the driver included in the kernel and is seems to be working good as well.

For the auto module loading to work, I created the file /etc/modutils/eth0 with the following contents:

# build-in ethernet card from Broadcom
alias eth0 b44

Update 17-10-2003: I just discovered that the on board ethernet auto detects a cross or straight etnernet configuration. The b44 module has some problems with that. I was using a straight etnernet cable to connect two computers and this driver failed some times. The only solution I found was to remove the module and reload it.

< http://www.softlab.ntua.gr/~amanou....thernet >

Quote

2.4.x kernels

When running 2.4.18 kernel, I didn’t find any suitable driver, I downloaded the Broadcom driver bcm4400 from their website. Using kernel-headers-2.4.18-bf2.4 package, I recompiled only the driver. Nothing to report: it works properly!

When switching to 2.4.27 Debian kernel, it’s possible to use the free driver b44 instead.

See /etc/modules for 2.4.x kernels

< http://wiki.pauthier.eu/doku.php?id=samsung.m40& >

Quote

Update: The 2.4.23 and 2.6.0 kernels include a working driver for the built-in Broadcom card. It is the "b44" module. This driver works well and is included in all recent linux distributions.

If you have a 2.4.22 or older kernel (eg in Redhat 9, Mandrake 9.1) then you can either update to a more recent release (Fedora Core or Mandrake 9.2) or compile the Broadcom driver yourself.

If you want to compile the Broadcom drivers as follows. Grab the linux driver from broadcom.com.

< http://www.geocities.com/randomnumbergenerator2001/#broadcom_b44 >

---

Don't recall what kernel dsl 3.3 has, but it could be a kernel issue.
Posted by chaostic on Sep. 29 2008,20:03
Quote (jhsu @ Sep. 29 2008,15:40)
I am able to connect to the Internet using DSL embedded on my Windows XP setup.  I only had to go to netcardconfig and answer yes to DHCP broadcast.  Going through the commands again:
dsl@box:~$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II]
0000:00:01.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II]
0000:00:01.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Cirrus Logic GD 5446
0000:00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8029(AS)
0000:00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1370 [AudioPCI]

dsl@box:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
apm                     9768   1 (autoclean)
mousedev                3832   0 (unused)
hid                    22372   0 (unused)
input                   3168   0 [mousedev hid]
usbcore                57824   0 [hid]
unionfs                68800   7
af_packet              13544   0 (autoclean)
es1370                 30348   0
gameport                1388   0 [es1370]
soundcore               3428   4 [es1370]
ne2k-pci                4480   1
8390                    6400   0 [ne2k-pci]
crc32                   2816   0 [8390]
serial                 52100   0 (autoclean)
pcmcia_core            39840   0
rtc                     7036   0 (autoclean)
ide-cd                 28512   0

DSL Control Panel -> System Stats
hardware shows:
NETCARD_FULLNAME="Realtek|RTL-8029(AS)
NETCARD_DRIVER="ne2k-pci"

So why can DSL embedded in Windows XP connect to the Internet through the Ethernet cable but stand-alone DSL does not?  Why am I seeing a different netcard under two different working setups?  How can I get standalone DSL to do the same thing DSL embedded in Windows XP does?  DSL embedded in Windows XP is awkward and clumsy, and it doesn't even allow me to use an external USB drive.

That's because DSL embedded is seeing the virtualizer's (Quem, VirtualBox, VMWare, Parallel) virtual network card, not the physical device's (Ie, your laptops) network card.
Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Sep. 29 2008,21:07
DSL 3.x has kernel 2.4.26.  I seem to recall various problems with the b44 module, but it does seem he has a 57xx card.  Taking a look in mydsl: < http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....00.info >
Posted by chaostic on Sep. 30 2008,00:11
Quote (^thehatsrule^ @ Sep. 29 2008,17:07)
DSL 3.x has kernel 2.4.26.  I seem to recall various problems with the b44 module, but it does seem he has a 57xx card.  Taking a look in mydsl: < http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....00.info >

That may work for him, but from his first post description, and the hardware section of system stats reporting a device with pair "14e4:170c", it seems that it is indeed the 440x card that the dell b120 comes with. Thats the weird part, since lspci reports the 57xx card.
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