linux (debian) and RTL8201CL ethernet card

[RRB]

I have recently found that the a/m card is not supported, at least from the
debian installer. Some sources suggest forcedeth.c driver but it doesn;t work.

Anybody has dealt with this card on linux (debian) ?

TIA

[Dances With Crows]

On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 19:27:22 +0100, RRB staggered into the Black Sun and

I have recently found that the [Realtek RTL8201] card is not
supported, at least from the debian installer.

Debian, unlike some distros, sort of assumes that you've Read The Fine
Manual and have a bit of experience. If this is not the case for you,
you'll be happier with another distro. Also, if your hardware is in any
way recent, you want to be using testing, not stable.

Some sources suggest [the] forcedeth driver but it doesn't work.

mallory:/usr/src/linux/drivers/net$ grep RTL8201 *
sis190.c: { "Realtek PHY RTL8201", { 0x0000, 0x8200 }, LAN, 0 },
sis900.c: { "Realtek RTL8201 PHY", 0x0000, 0x8200,

...so, try modprobing sis900 and/or sis190. HTH,

[RRB]

Post by Dances With Crows
On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 19:27:22 +0100, RRB staggered into the Black Sun and

I have recently found that the [Realtek RTL8201] card is not
supported, at least from the debian installer.

Debian, unlike some distros, sort of assumes that you've Read The Fine
Manual and have a bit of experience. If this is not the case for you,
you'll be happier with another distro. Also, if your hardware is in any
way recent, you want to be using testing, not stable.

Thanks for replying. I must admit i never ran (at least from several years to
now) into problems with NIC's, so i'm perhaps not very much prepared to deal
with strange drivers, the installation program from debian worked fine in 99% of
the cases.

Post by Dances With Crows

Some sources suggest [the] forcedeth driver but it doesn't work.

mallory:/usr/src/linux/drivers/net$ grep RTL8201 *
sis190.c: { "Realtek PHY RTL8201", { 0x0000, 0x8200 }, LAN, 0 },
sis900.c: { "Realtek RTL8201 PHY", 0x0000, 0x8200,
...so, try modprobing sis900 and/or sis190. HTH,

I will try as you suggest and eventually report.

[RRB]

...

Some sources suggest [the] forcedeth driver but it doesn't work.

Some googling was useful to know that the nic is divided in 2 chips:
the PHY that is this rtl8201 (and is a transceiver), and the MAC which could be
e.g. this sis900, but in the case of out motherboard (an AsRock K8NF6G) it is
based upon nvidia, so the driver seems to be forcedeth, because it is what sits
behind the PHY that needs the module.

But manually selecting this driver in the netinstall process of debian testing
doesn't bring anywhere: it sticks complaining about no having detected nic.

Any idea?

[Dances With Crows]

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:08:37 +0100, RRB staggered into the Black Sun and

Some sources suggest [the] forcedeth driver but it doesn't work.

Some googling [told me] that the nic is divided in 2 chips: the PHY
that is [an] rtl8201, and the MAC which could be [a] sis900, but in
the case of [our] motherboard (an AsRock K8NF6G) is based upon nvidia,
so the driver seems to be forcedeth

What does lspci say about this thing? That should usually be your first
stop when you're dealing with unknown hardware. If lspci says it's a
FOO, and kernel module BLAH is supposed to work with FOO but it doesn't,
it may be time to contact the kernel guys. Or use a newer kernel.
Which kernel are you using? Debian Stable's kernel is ancient and
may not grok this particular chipset if it's newer than ~1 year old.

But manually selecting this driver in the netinstall process of debian
testing doesn't [get me] anywhere: it [starts] complaining about [not]
having [a] detected nic.

Yeah, network-install things do that when they can't find a NIC. See
first paragraph.

[RRB]

Post by Dances With Crows
On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:08:37 +0100, RRB staggered into the Black Sun and

Some sources suggest [the] forcedeth driver but it doesn't work.

Some googling [told me] that the nic is divided in 2 chips: the PHY
that is [an] rtl8201, and the MAC which could be [a] sis900, but in
the case of [our] motherboard (an AsRock K8NF6G) is based upon nvidia,
so the driver seems to be forcedeth

What does lspci say about this thing? That should usually be your first

Nvidia chipset. In this moment the machine is by the client so i cannot be more
precise. On nvidia site they simply say to use forcedeth.

Post by Dances With Crows
stop when you're dealing with unknown hardware. If lspci says it's a
FOO, and kernel module BLAH is supposed to work with FOO but it doesn't,
it may be time to contact the kernel guys. Or use a newer kernel.
Which kernel are you using? Debian Stable's kernel is ancient and
may not grok this particular chipset if it's newer than ~1 year old.

It's a testing, just downloaded. I tryed to modprobe and the module loads but no
network possible. Perhaps playing with parameters could work.

[Dances With Crows]

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:01:39 +0100, RRB staggered into the Black Sun and

Post by Dances With Crows

Some googling [told me] that the nic is divided in 2 chips: the PHY
that is [an] rtl8201, and the MAC which could be [a] sis900, but in
the case of [our] motherboard (an AsRock K8NF6G) is based upon
nvidia, so the driver seems to be forcedeth

What does lspci say about this thing?

Nvidia chipset. In this moment the machine is [with] the client so i
cannot be more precise. On nvidia site they simply say to use
forcedeth.

If the machine's with the client, have the client run lspci and lspci -n
, and post the results. The PCI list for forcedeth in 2.6.19.2 (latest
stable version) lists a lot of vendor and device IDs. You need to
figure out whether the vendor and device IDs for your card are present
in forcedeth. If not, you need to talk to the forcedeth maintainer. If
they are, you need to check through dmesg for anything the forcedeth
module reports. Do that anyway and post what you find.

Post by Dances With Crows
If lspci says it's a FOO, and kernel module BLAH is supposed to work
with FOO but it doesn't, it may be time to contact the kernel guys.
Or use a newer kernel. Which kernel are you using?

It's a testing, just downloaded.

...tells us very little. "uname -a" is what we're looking for here.

I [tried] to modprobe and the module loads, but no [networking is]
possible. Perhaps playing with parameters could work.

There are no parameters for forcedeth that are useful AFAICT.

[RRB]

Dances With Crows wrote:
...

Post by Dances With Crows
If the machine's with the client, have the client run lspci and lspci -n
, and post the results. The PCI list for forcedeth in 2.6.19.2 (latest
stable version) lists a lot of vendor and device IDs. You need to
figure out whether the vendor and device IDs for your card are present
in forcedeth. If not, you need to talk to the forcedeth maintainer. If
they are, you need to check through dmesg for anything the forcedeth
module reports. Do that anyway and post what you find.

Absolutely correct, but if the vendor is not listed, i could ask people
maintaining the forcedeth driver to include it, the problem is that meanwhile
(and i say this not to hurry in any way the programmers nor to criticize -the
critics, in case, should go to the hardware manifacturer-, only to be practical
and solve the problem) i could (and will probably...) simply disable that weird
onboard nic, configure a nice 10euro rtl8139 and the client's machine will live
happy that way.

Post by Dances With Crows

Post by RRB
It's a testing, just downloaded.

...tells us very little. "uname -a" is what we're looking for here.

Yes, i will do this as soon i reach the client's machine, (which is at the
moment running windosw)...

Post by Dances With Crows

Post by RRB
I [tried] to modprobe and the module loads, but no [networking is]
possible. Perhaps playing with parameters could work.

There are no parameters for forcedeth that are useful AFAICT.

Meanwhile thanks for now.