Netgear GA311 (RealTek 8169 chipset) PCI network card and fc5

[Norm]

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:32:04 +0100
Greg Frith <gfrith at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> On 28 Sep 2006, at 18:25, Rick Stevens wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2006-09-28 at 16:49 +0100, Greg Frith wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >>
> >> I'm setting up a reasonably old PC with FC5 to use primarily as a  
> >> test
> >> server for web development.  A few days ago i installed FC5 and
> >> spent 2 days trying to configure a wireless network card.  Having
> >> finally compiled the kernel with the additional drivers for the
> >> wireless card i got it up and running and everything was fine.
> >> The box was hidden away in a corner (where my partner couldn't see
> >> it) and all was good. This morning however the hard disk went in
> >> the machine, so i had to purchase a new disk and start all over
> >> again.
> >>
> >>
> >> So my present situation:  Not wanting to go through the pane of
> >> setting up a wireless card again, i thought I'd save myself a great
> >> deal of hassle and put a standard wired ethernet card in.  So i  
> >> did, a
> >> Netgear GA311 which i believe uses the Realtek 8169 chip set.  I'd
> >> already checked online and everyone reported this card as working
> >> hassle free under fedora.  But not for me.  On boot I see the  
> >> message:
> >>
> >>
> >> r8169 device eth0 does not seem to be present, delaying  
> >> initialisation
> >>
> >>
> >> I get the same message if i do ifup eth0.  ifconfig -a does not
> >> list eth0.
> >>
> >>
> >> Using the GUI tool Network Manager the device can be seen under
> >> hardware.
> >>
> >>
> >> So the network card not working is the first problem, any thoughts
> >> gratefully received.
> >>
> >>
> >> In order to try and fix this i have downloaded linux drivers from
> >> the Realtek site.  To install i need the kernel source, so i also
> >> downloaded kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.i686.rpm.  When i try to
> >> install this rpm i get:
> >>
> >>
> >> -> rpm -Uvh kernel-devel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.i686.rpm
> >> error: cannot create %sourcedir /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES.
> >
> > You must be root to do the "rpm -Uvh" (I'd recommend "rpm -ivh").   
> > Also
> > note that the "kernel-devel" RPM is NOT the kernel source RPM.  It
> > is only the kernel headers..and is usually enough to build most 3rd
> > party drivers.
> 
> Thank Rick,
> 
> My apologies, I have installed the kernel-devel package, i get the  
> error when trying to install kernel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.src.rpm.  I am  
> also doing this as root.  So,
> 
> [root at wharfe]: rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.src.rpm
> error: cannot create %sourcedir /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES.
> 
> 
> >
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer
> > rstevens at vitalstream.com -
> > - VitalStream, Inc.
> > http://www.vitalstream.com -
> > -
>
> 
Ran into a problem setting up an ether net bridge in an old computer.
My guess in the end is the problem was actually a problem associated
with the mother board chipset or bios rather than any of the cards I
was using or the method.  I might have been able to beat the problem by
going into the kernel but decided it was simpler to just not do it.  My
main point is your challenge may be more an issue related to the age of
the computer rather than the kernel/bios or the cards being used.  If
you can try to find a "less old" computer to run things on
Norm