I’ve been using Suse on my 7 year old computer for years but now have a shiny new Dell Inspiron 570 MT with AMD Athlon™ II X4 630.
I thought that I should try the 64 bit version of Suse 11.2 on the new machine and it now dual boots, but I have an ethernet problem.
Yast tells me:
NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (Not connected)
BusID : 0000:02:00.0
Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device (eth0, wlan0) is not present. This is mostly caused by missing firmware (for wlan devices). See dmesg output for details.
I searched for ‘eth’ in dmesg output without success but found ‘net’ in this section:
Reading advice on these forums I also put lspci -v into a terminal with the end of the output giving:
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)
Subsystem: Dell Device 043b
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at febf0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [60] Vendor Specific Information <?>
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [cc] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [13c] Virtual Channel <?>
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-26-2d-ff-fe-1d-ee-90
Capabilities: [16c] Power Budgeting <?>
I hate to say it but Windows used the ethernet connection and found the router that runs my home network so I know the connection works. (There is no wifi on this machine.) I don’t have any experience of dealing with kernel modules so if I need to get one and install it then I will need basic instruction!
I have, at last, had some time to do some more research on this and think I probably need the latest version of a kernel module tg3. I have downloaded it from Broadcom.com - Home as a source package but the instructions given with it are for all distributions so I have some questions for the experts.
Firstly, do I need any development software to build and install this?
If I do, then would it be easier to use my old machine (running Suse 11.2 32 bit) or get the software onto my new machine (running Suse 11.2 64 bit) given that with no working network card on the new machine updating to anything other than the installation disc will be awkward!
The instructions start with:
The following are general guidelines for installing the driver.
Install the source RPM package:
rpm -ivh tg3-<version>.src.rpm
CD to the RPM path and build the binary driver for your kernel:
cd /usr/src/{redhat,OpenLinux,turbo,packages,rpm …}
rpm -bb SPECS/tg3.spec
or
rpmbuild -bb SPECS/tg3.spec (for RPM version 4.x.x)
Note that the RPM path is different for different Linux distributions.
Could someone please tell me the RPM path for Suse and whether we have RPM version 4.x.x or not?
I will try to get this far before any more questions!
I have now tried the beta distribution version openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 7 (64 bit) to see if the latest kernel worked. It didn’t - same result as before. I tried installing 11.2 (32 bit) also without success so I’m back to square 1 on 11.2 64 bit again but without a connecting network card.
I did a bit of Googling and it doesn’t look good at the moment.
Many hits on a certain type of Dell Inspiron with the same device - all with the same problem.
On 06/04/2010 04:16 PM, deano ferrari wrote:
>
> @Carl
> I see this entry in the tg3 kernel driver page I linked to with the
> same chipset as OP listed
>
>> vendor: 14e4 (“Broadcom Corporation”), device: 1691 (“NetLink BCM57788
>> Gigabit Ethernet PCIe”)
>
> So, is it the case that this chiset has ontly been supported by the tg3
> driver only recently?
>
> If so, I wonder if ndiswrapper might also be a viable option for the
> OP’s device as a stop gap…
That device was added on August 25, 2009, which means it is in 2.6.32,
but not in 2.6.31, i.e. openSUSE 11.1. The OP should get the rpm for a
later kernel using some other machine, sneakernet it to the target and
apply it with the appropriate rpm command.
I did try the beta distribution version openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 7 (64 bit) hoping to get a later version of the kernel but had the same problem!
I’m very happy to get an rpm for an up to date kernel using my old machine and transfer it on a memory stick. Please can you tell me where I can find the rpm and what the appropriate rpm command would be for a kernel alteration.
If you have 11.3 M7, you have the latest stable kernel. If your tg3
still has problems, there may be a bug.
If you have a Live CD for M7, please boot and try it for networking. If
it does not work, open a terminal, enter the commands below, and post
the result:
lsmod | grep tg3
/sbin/ifconfig
Without networking, it will be difficult to copy the results; however,
you should be able to highlight the data and copy it into the clipboard,
then get it into a file with kwrite or any text editor. By putting that
file on a USB stick, you can get the data to an Internet-connected
machine. Be aware that the copy and paste shortcuts are different in
terminal than for most programs.
I have reinstalled openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 7 (64 bit) from the DVD. Just to be clear, I have used all defaults except: language English UK, New Installation, entered full name & password, password to simple - use anyway. This is a new machine and I am dual booting with Windows which does use the network card successfully.
Yast’s Network Settings gives:
NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe Not configured
Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device (eth0, wlan0) is not present. This is mostly caused by missing firmware (for wlan devices). See dmesg output for details.
On 06/05/2010 12:56 PM, Schrod wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I have reinstalled openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 7 (64 bit) from the DVD.
> Just to be clear, I have used all defaults except: language English UK,
> New Installation, entered full name & password, password to simple - use
> anyway. This is a new machine and I am dual booting with Windows which
> does use the network card successfully.
>
> Yast’s Network Settings gives:
>
>> NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe Not configured
>>
>>
>> NetLink BCM57788 Gigabit Ethernet PCIeBusID : 0000:02:00.0
>>
>> Unable to configure the network card because the kernel device (eth0,
>> wlan0) is not present. This is mostly caused by missing firmware (for
>> wlan devices). See dmesg output for details.
The above may be your clue. This device needs to load firmware from
/lib/firmware/tigon. To see what file names it needs, run the command
dmesg | grep firmware
The firmware comes with the kernel and should be installed, but who knows?
On 06/05/2010 02:26 PM, Schrod wrote:
>
> I’m afraid that:
>
> dmesg | grep firmware
>
> does not give any response.
>
> In /lib/firmware/2.6.34-8-desktop/tigon there are 3 files: tg3.bin,
> tg3_tso.bin and tg3_tso5.bin.
Please post your entire dmesg output on pastebin and post the link to it.
