[NTLUG:Discuss] Networking problem (was Invisible cursor)

[Leroy Tennison]

tophatjames at yahoo.com wrote:
> Update the BIOS, then update FC5 to the latest.  The BIOS will let this particular board start to work, but until you also update the O/S, it is still flaky. 
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Douglas Scott" <dcscott1 at comcast.net>
> To: "NTLUG Discussion List" <discuss at ntlug.org>
> Sent: 10/13/06 9:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Networking problem (was Invisible cursor)
>
> On Thursday 12 October 2006 8:52 am, Wayne Walker wrote:
>   
>> read the man page for your video card driver.  Most of them have an
>>     
> ...
>   
>> On Thu, Oct 12, 2006 at 08:38:55AM -0500, Douglas Scott wrote:
>>     
>>> I've got an unusual problem.  I just installed Suse 10.1 on a new
>>> computer I just built and I can't see the cursor.  It's there.  Icons
>>>       
> ...
>
> Thanks for the tip.  That worked.  Now I can finally look into the other big 
> issue I have with the machine, namely the networking.  The machine duel boots 
> into the other OS and networking, including DHCP, works fine there, so it's 
> not a hardware issue.
>
> The network card appears to be detected but DHCP could never get an address 
> back from the server.  I finally gave up on that and went to a static 
> address.  ifconfig shows I have the address.  Running status on the network 
> service shows it is running.  And running route shows that routing is setup 
> correctly.  However route takes it's time reporting this.  It seems to hang 
> for about 20 seconds twice during the listing.  Once when it lists 
> 192.168.1.0 and once when it lists the default line.
>
> Actually this is the 3rd install on this machine.  While waiting to download a 
> copy of the Suse 10.1 64 DVD I installed Suse Enterprise Edition 10 and 
> Fedora Core 5, both of which I had sitting around from magazines.  I noticed 
> that both also had trouble with the network.
>
> I had assumed that I needed to get a driver for the system.  The motherboard, 
> is an Asus A8N-VM/CSM, which has an nVidia chipset.  The ethernet controller 
> is an MCP51 and is built into the MB.  The MB came with a disk that includes 
> Linux drivers on it, but running the program results in an error.  I checked 
> the nVidia web site and they recommend Suse users should use Yast to upgrade.  
> Of course that rather requires getting the network to work first.
>
> The module that the network card should be using is forcedeth and this is 
> present and lsmod shows that it is loaded.  
>
> So I am out of ideas.  Any suggestions.
>
> Doug
>
>
>
>
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>   
I've never heard of the brand of Ethernet controller you have on your 
motherboard.  I'm actually surprised that it isn't a SIS chip such as a 
900.  In this situation it may be easier to do an "end run" around the 
problem.  You can get 3Com 3C90x (typically 3C905, try to get a 905B or 
higher) cards at 1st/3rd Saturday for $5 or less.  At that price it's 
worth picking up a couple.  It's a well-known card by a major vendor and 
you shouldn't have any trouble with it.  I'm running a 3C905B on CentOS 
4.3 and have used them with various SuSE/Fedora/Red Hat distributions.