How to install CNET40B network board to IBM thinkpad 600E

[JohnB316]

Hi, fdufnews!

I'm going to assume that your network card was in the laptop when VL was being installed, since you didn't specify this. (I realize I'm picking on a small detail, but it's a very important one for troubleshooting purposes on our end to refine our installation routines.) ;-)

From the output of lsmod, it seems as though your card is being detected by the kernel, since it uses the pcnet_cs driver and since pcnet_cs is listed among the modules being loaded.

It also appears that whatever network interface (eth0, eth1, etc) that your card is supposed to use isn't being set up at startup of your computer under VL. The next step is to list the contents of /etc/modprobe.conf vis-a-vis your network card and post them here. The easiest way to extract that information is to type the following in a terminal:

Code:

cat /etc/modprobe.conf | grep pcnet_cs

The "cat" command lists the text of the file, and the piping of the output to the "grep" command will display only those lines that have pcnet_cs in them. If you don't see any output at all, that means that there is no network interface mapped to your card.

Please post the output of the cat command given above, and we'll be better able to help you from there. Thanks very much.

John

[exeterdad]

It's sure nice having you around John 

[fdufnews]

Hi John,

Of course the card was in the laptop during the installation.

The cat on modprobe.conf returns nothing. The file is empty except the few lines of comment at the beginning

Fred

[bigpaws]

Below was my first response.

Try lsmod | grep pcnet_cs

since pcnet_cs may not be a module this will show if the module
is loaded.

Then try below.

Ok lsmod is showing the card is setup.

Although as you stated before it is not recognized.

So there is one of 2 thoughts.
  1. Bad card (which you proved it does)
  2. Strange name scheme (card called as something else

Things to try:

   First see if ifconfig eth0 or eth1 bring up the it that does
   then as root use netconfig.

   Second see if the kernel really finds this card:

     dmesg | grep eth
   
    If that fails then remove the device and then in a console as root:

     tail -f /var/log/messages
     
    then insert your ethernet card see if there are any outputs or errors.
 
The goal is to find the card, then a way to address it. From Google I am
have not found many problems with it.

Bigpaws

   

[fdufnews]

Thank you Bigpaws,

Here are the screen copies:

root:# lsmod | grep pcnet_cs
pcnet_cs               34736  0
8390                    8448  1 pcnet_cs
pcmcia                 22560  1 pcnet_cs
pcmcia_core            31512  4 pcnet_cs,pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic

root:# ifconfig eth0
eth0: error fetching interface information: Device not found
vector://home/fred
root:# ifconfig eth1
eth1: error fetching interface information: Device not found

root:# dmesg | grep eth


Network card removed from its pcmcia slot


root:# tail -f /var/log/messages
Dec  2 16:44:25 vector vl-hot_mount: Finishing vl-hot_mount...
Dec  2 16:44:25 vector vl-hot_mount: Starting vl-hot_mount...
Dec  2 16:44:25 vector vl-hot_mount: devname: sda1
Dec  2 16:44:25 vector vl-hot_mount: volname: vol1
Dec  2 16:44:25 vector vl-hot_mount: Mounting /dev/vl-hot/sda1 on /mnt/vl-hot/sda/vol1
Dec  2 16:44:26 vector vl-hot_mount: /dev/vl-hot/sda1 Filesystem is FAT16
Dec  2 16:44:26 vector vl-hot_mount: mounting FAT16 filesystem: /dev/vl-hot/sda1 on /mnt/vl-hot/sda/vol1
Dec  2 16:44:26 vector vl-hot_mount: Showing desktop file vl-hot-sda-vol1.desktop
Dec  2 16:44:26 vector vl-hot_mount: Finishing vl-hot_mount...
Dec  2 16:51:40 vector kernel: pccard: card ejected from slot 1
Dec  2 16:52:32 vector kernel: pccard: PCMCIA card inserted into slot 1
Dec  2 16:52:32 vector kernel: pcmcia: registering new device pcmcia1.0
Dec  2 16:52:32 vector kernel: pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820


Googling around I have found that information concerning PCMCIA on the IBM Thinkpad 600E (copy of <http://ploticus.sourceforge.net/stevepages/thinkpad.html#pcmcia>):
I had to edit the file /etc/pcmcia/conf.opts to say:
include port 0xc00-0xcff
# removed the range 0x100-0x4ff

include memory 0xc0000-0xfffff
include memory 0x60000000-0x60ffffff
# removed the range 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff

I have modified the comf.opts file but noticed no difference

[bigpaws]

If the card was removed when you ran the command
tail -f /var/log/messages
there will be  failure since the card does not exist.

Try that command after reboot and then use the commands below.

Please post output of:

dmesg | grep pcnet

If nothing returns please post dmesg

Looking for an error for the pcnet_cs

Bigpaws

[fdufnews]

Thank you for your help.

I have
    1) rebooted the PC without network card
    2) entered the tail command
    3)after a few seconds plugged the network card

here is the screen copy of tail:

root:# tail -f /var/log/messages
Dec  2 17:27:05 vector kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 0000:01:00.0
Dec  2 17:27:08 vector kernel: powernow: This module only works with AMD K7 CPUsDec  2 17:27:09 vector kernel: parport0: PC-style at 0x3bc [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
Dec  2 17:27:09 vector kernel: lp0: using parport0 (polling).
Dec  2 17:27:09 vector kernel: lp0: console ready
Dec  2 17:27:16 vector vcpufreq-load: vcpufreq-load disabled in config...
Dec  2 17:27:16 vector ifplugd(eth0)[2608]: ifplugd 0.28 initializing.
Dec  2 17:27:16 vector ifplugd(eth0)[2608]: Using interface eth0
Dec  2 17:27:17 vector ifplugd(eth0)[2608]: Failed to detect plug status of eth0Dec  2 17:27:17 vector ifplugd(eth0)[2608]: Exiting.
Dec  2 17:29:24 vector kernel: pccard: PCMCIA card inserted into slot 1
Dec  2 17:29:24 vector kernel: cs: memory probe 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff: excluding 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff
Dec  2 17:29:24 vector kernel: cs: memory probe 0x60000000-0x60ffffff: clean.
Dec  2 17:29:24 vector kernel: pcmcia: registering new device pcmcia1.0
Dec  2 17:29:24 vector kernel: pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820


   4) entered the dmesg |grep pcnet_cs
root:# dmesg |grep pcnet_cs
pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820
pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820
vector://home/fred


Looking inside dmesg I've found this:
The PCMCIA bridge is identified

Yenta: CardBus bridge found at 0000:00:02.0 [1014:00eb]
Yenta: Enabling burst memory read transactions
Yenta: Using CSCINT to route CSC interrupts to PCI
Yenta: Routing CardBus interrupts to PCI
Yenta TI: socket 0000:00:02.0, mfunc 0xfba97543, devctl 0x62
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x0498, PCI irq 11
Socket status: 30000006
Yenta: CardBus bridge found at 0000:00:02.1 [1014:00eb]
Yenta: Using CSCINT to route CSC interrupts to PCI
Yenta: Routing CardBus interrupts to PCI
Yenta TI: socket 0000:00:02.1, mfunc 0xfba97543, devctl 0x62
Yenta: ISA IRQ mask 0x0498, PCI irq 11
Socket status: 30000006


and this
The card is detected but pcnet_cs seems to have problem to access it
pccard: PCMCIA card inserted into slot 1
cs: memory probe 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff: excluding 0xa0000000-0xa0ffffff
cs: memory probe 0x60000000-0x60ffffff: clean.
pcmcia: registering new device pcmcia1.0
pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820
pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820

[lagagnon]

pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820
pcnet_cs: unable to read hardware net address for io base 0x820

The only thing that comes to mind for me is that your BIOS has already allocated those addresses to other devices. Try your BIOS setup and see what you can find in there....I may be way out to lunch but it might be worth a try.

[bigpaws]

Could be a kernel problem please post the VL version
and output of uname -r

Bigpaws

[fdufnews]

I can't find nothing in the bios. The only thing I've done is disabling quick boot otherwise the sound card don't work.

The VL version is 5.8 std Gold

The kernel version is 2.6.18.5

The login console says:
Linux kernel 2.6.18.5
Compiled #2 SMP PREEMPT sat dec 9 19:01:25 MST2006
...
...
728.55 VL Supercharge Bogomips Total

[bigpaws]

It appears that a conflict of some type is happening being either
with yenta or the pcnet_cs modules.

There are 2 options that I can think of.

The first one would be try slapt and upgrade the
kernel.

The second is try a bios update.

You may also try a live CD to see if the card is being seen.

Bigpaws

[uelsk8s]

you may need something like this

Code:

alias eth0 pcnet_cs
options pcnet_cs io=0x300, irq=5

in your  /etc/modules.conf

[fdufnews]

@bigpaws
I have tested with knoppix and have the same problem.
Before I install VL on that computer it was running win98se and the card was working great. So not sure there is a bios problem (may be) but the problem is that I have no floppy on that computer and the bios update can't be made without one.

@uelsk8s
the options line is not recognized by pcnet_cs which says that io is an unknown parameter

[lagagnon]

@uelsk8s
the options line is not recognized by pcnet_cs which says that io is an unknown parameter

I think it should read instead:

Code:

alias eth0 pcnet_cs
options pcnet_cs hw_addr=0x300, irq=5

[uelsk8s]

I got that from google.
I think you need to add the ioport to the 8390 module.
try rmmod 8390 and then modprobe 8390 io=0x300