Hello! I’ve encountered something annoying concerning how OpenSUSE 11.0 deals with a particular USB device (and possibly others as well)…
The Nutshell Version: 11.0 does not configure/recognize my ADM8511 Pegasus II Ethernet device properly when booting up.
The Long Version (please forgive me, I can be long-winded when trying to be thorough ^.^; ): A power surge recently fried the ethernet port on my motherboard, and attempts to install a new ethernet card and a wireless card (both PCI) failed. When this occurred a month ago, I was still using 10.1. This made it necessary to use USB ports for the purpose of internet connections, and SUSE recognized my ancient Motorla Surfboard Modem (via direct USB connection) with little effort, and I was connected again. (The same cannot be said for my brandspankin’new Linksys cable modem, but I’ll save that squawk for a different post.) But, it is impossible to use my router, which has only ethernet ports.
My solution was to buy a USB to ethernet converter, an ADM8511 Pegasus II Ethernet. 10.1 recognized it immediately, and in short order, I had it configured so that I could access my router and the internet. I could power my machine down, and reboot later, and I would have immediate access to the internet, as it should be.
I upgraded to 11.0 this weekend, formatting the entire drive for a clean installation. I didn’t even have to touch YaST, as the USB/ethernet device was configured automatically, and I had internet from the start. I rebooted a couple of times, and still had no problems. But when I shut the machine down cold, and rebooted a few hours later, there was no internet connection. After a few hours in and out of YaST and a few reboots, I finally found out what it was doing, and how to reconfigure my network card settings properly.
When my USB to ethernet card is functioning properly, its MAC address is logged in the network card configuration. When I shut down, and reboot even a minute later, 11.0 does not implement the MAC address, but instead assigns BUS ID. My router looks for the MAC address and isn’t finding it, so it’s blocking my net access.
The “solution” involves deleting the “faulty” configuration, shutting my machine down, unplugging the USB device, starting the machine, and reinstalling the USB converter when the system is up – apparently, when it’s “hotplugged”, 11.0 reads the MAC address properly. With YaST, I cofigure the device ("Activate device: At Boot Time) and exit, at which point it is necessary to reboot again. Once my system is up, I finally have internet access. However, when I shut down, and reboot later, I once again have to reconfigure.
I mentioned a similar problem with my cable modem – the network card configuration was also failing to connect with it as well. I haven’t attempted the same experiment as with the USB/ethernet converter, so I don’t know if I’d have the same results or not. But, I think they’re part of the same problem.
And that’s where I stand. Are there any suggestions as to what might be the cause?
If you got this far, thanks for your time!
W4E
