Onboard rtl8139 works in 2.2 kernel but not in 2.4 kernel, please help
Hi,
First off, is this the correct place to get answers on kernel/driver problems?
Should I instead post to debian-boot, should I email the kernel maintainer,
or should I submit a bug report?
Now the problem ... I recently purchased a Gigabyte GA-8SIMLH motherboard. It
has an onboard network card identified as a REALTEK RTL8100L LAN chip (see
http://www.giga-byte.com/products/8simlh.htm). I installed woody using one
of the mini-install CDs and that went fine with one exception.
The 8139too module in kernel-2.2.20-idepci loads and drives this network card
just fine. kernel-image-2.2.22 also works. In 2.2.22, 8139too.c claims to
be driver version 0.9.18-2.2.
The 8139too driver in woody's 2.4 kernels successfully loads and I can see
eth0 (i.e. ifconfig eth0) but it simply isn't able to communicate on the
network. kernel-image-2.4.18-686, kernel-image-2.4.20-686 (from proposed
updates) and the 2.4 boot floppy kernel (2.4bf?) all show this problem.
8139too.c in 2.4.20 claims to be driver version 0.9.26.
I get the message "NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out" when using the
2.4 kernels and no successful network communication occurs. mii-tool show a
successfully negotiated 100baseTX-FD connection
According to Donald Becker this chip has been supported for quite a while (see
http://www.tux.org/hypermail/linux-eepro100/2001-Oct/0002.html).
An interesting side note is that the kernel from Redhat 8.0 (2.4.18-14) works
fine. The driver in Redhat's kernel claims to be version 0.9.25 but they are
patching it. The redhat kernel has the same options selected regarding the
8139too (driver as a module and support for older boards is checked).
Redhat's 2.4.18-14 actually seems to be more a 2.4.19 kernel since they apply
the following patch:
ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/testing/patch-2.4.19-rc1.bz2
The above patch does modify the 8139too driver.
Can anyone suggest a course of action? I have no problem with compiling my
own kernels but since the redhat kernel works with the same options as
Debian's kernel I'm not sure what a recompile might accomplish without
patching.
Thanks for any help!
--
Fraser Campbell <fraser@wehave.net> http://wehave.net/
Brampton, Ontario, Canada Debian GNU/Linux
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