Procedure to replace a NIC - PLEASE HELP!

[Steven Stromer]

> Robert L Cochran wrote:
>>> I noticed on the Realtek site that there is no 
>>> downloadable driver for the 2.6 kernel. 
>> 
>> 
>> http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads1-3.aspx?lineid=1&famid=4&series=2003072&Software=True
>> 
>> Download the source code. Unzip the tarball.
>> 
>> There is a C program in the src directory that has to be corrected
>> before it will compile:
>> 
>> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_RTL8168
>> 
>>>From the r1000_v1.04 directory:
>> 
>> su
>> make
>> depmod -a
>> 
>> The module will build and install correctly with no changes to any of
>> the Makefiles.
>> 
>> Probably you will find the tulip driver has been erroneously loaded. Get
>> rid of it:
>> 
>> rmmod tulip
>> 
>> change to the correct /lib/modules.../net directory then
>> 
>> insmod r1000.ko
>> 
>> This should get the Realtek working. 
>> 
>> 
>> One last bit of advice -- it took me about 15 minutes of Googling to
>> locate the links above. That was with time to sip coffee. I got my
>> Realtek 8168 gigabit adapter for PCIe running as soon as I did the
>> insmod, and I'm using it now to send this email. Why not try Google a
>> little more in the future?
>> 
>> Bob Cochran
>> 
>> 
> Steven --
> 
> The r8169 driver sounds like it might have its roots based on the 2.4
> kernel. I would remove it (rmmod it) and change modprobe.conf to read
> 
> alias eth0 r1000
> 
> and reboot.
> 
> It would be useful to examine your dmesg output. I don't know how else
> you have changed your network scripts. If my suggestion does not fix
> your problem, send me your dmesg output as a text file attachment. You
> can plug a USB flash drive in your machine and then
> 
> dmesg > /put the name of your usb drive here/dmesg.txt
> 
> I have several other things to do today, and may not be able to look
> over your output till tonight, but I'll review it. 
> 
> Bob


Bob,

Thank you for your help with my problem. I had changed modprobe.conf to 
read 'alias eth0 r1000' when I last reported no success, so that hasn't 
resolved the problem. I rmmod'ed the r8169 driver, but this seems to 
remove it only until the system is rebooted. dmesg returns some 
interesting output that may point us to the problem, but I am not able 
to understand it fully. The pertinent part is as follows:

PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 0000:00:0f.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 0000:00:07.5
PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 0000:00:0d.2
eth0: Identified chip type is 'RTL8169S/8110S'.
eth0: r10001.04, the Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet 
Controllers at 0xc800, 00:40:f4:ee:2f:ff, IRQ 11
BUG: soft lockup detected on CPU#0!
  <c043dad5> softlockup_tick+0x90/0xa1  <c0423d50> 
update_process_times+0x35/0x57
  <c0406134> timer_interrupt+0x60/0x98  <c043db72> 
handle_IRQ_event+0x23/0x4c
  <c043dc17> __do_IRQ+0x7c/0xd1  <c0405035> do_IRQ+0x63/0x80
  =======================
  <c04036f2> common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20  <c040d556> delay_tsc+0xb/0x13
  <c04d8125> __delay+0x9/0xa  <e88160bd> R1000_WRITE_GMII_REG+0x36/0x3c 
[r1000]
  <e8817208> r1000_init_one+0x69f/0x892 [r1000]  <c053d851> 
__driver_attach+0x0/0x8b
  <c04dfc3b> pci_device_probe+0x36/0x57  <c053d78d> 
driver_probe_device+0x45/0x9a
  <c0419231> __cond_resched+0x17/0x28  <c053d8b4> __driver_attach+0x63/0x8b
  <c053d21f> bus_for_each_dev+0x37/0x59  <c053d6ee> driver_attach+0x16/0x18
  <c053d851> __driver_attach+0x0/0x8b  <c053cf25> bus_add_driver+0x6f/0x10d
  <c04dfddf> __pci_register_driver+0x5b/0x7d  <c0433a69> 
sys_init_module+0x134f/0x14b2
  <c0423c25> __mod_timer+0x0/0x94  <c0402cb3> syscall_call+0x7/0xb
Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
Driver version:1.04
Released date:2006/07/07
Link Status:Linked
Link Speed:1000Mbps
Duplex mode:Full-Duplex
I/O Base:0xC800(I/O port)
IRQ:11

I am trying to research possible causes of the 'BUG: soft lockup 
detected on CPU#0!', but the lines here are causing me nightmares! on 
the other hand, there is much more recognition of the card in the final 
lines than before the switch to the r1000 driver. If you need the rest 
of the dmesg output, please let me know. I tried to parsse it down to 
what I thought to be the essentials.

Thanks again for your help!

Steven