BCM57780 Driver

English Network/Internet
1

I have installed 15.4 on a Dell Studio xps 8100. It has a BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe device which does not seem to connect. lspci lists it. I can find the mac with ip a. There are no lights when I connect the network cable (tested on other machines). I have a USB WiFi dongle which works fine. I can’t seem to find a driver in YAST or in other internet searches.
Can anyone advice on how to get the interface working?

Thanks.

2

Please share the output of

inxi -Na
  • You can save the output to a text file on a memory stick, and transfer here via an internet connected device.
3

Even with just the BIOS active (no distro booting), I would expect to see the ethernet port lights if connected to an active device.

You could also check the status as reported by ethtool command. Refer to ‘man ethtool’ for more info.

4

Studio:~ # inxi -Na

Network:
Device-1: Broadcom NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe vendor: Dell
driver: tg3 v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1692
class-ID: 0200

5

Ok, that confirms that the tg3 driver is loaded as expected. Did you also examine the link state with ethtool (with ethernet cable plugged in)?

BTW, when posting commands and output please use the preformatted text button </>.

6 
ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
	Supported ports: [ TP	 MII ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
	Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: Unknown!
	Duplex: Unknown! (255)
	Auto-negotiation: on
	master-slave cfg: preferred slave
	master-slave status: unknown
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 1
	Transceiver: external
	MDI-X: Unknown
	Supports Wake-on: g
	Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
                               drv probe link timer ifdown ifup rx_err tx_err
	Link detected: no
7

Faulty NIC hardware?

8

Or cable?
Defect? (just filling in to get to 20 characters)

9

Could be, I guess. When I see the guy that gave me the computer, I’ll ask if it was working. The cable has been tested with another computer on the same router and port.

10

The OP checked the cable already.

11

Just in case the advice in this post is of value here…

12

Deanno,
Thanks for that. I can’t find that text in the service manual. Might we have different versions of the manual?

13

I was really pointing you at the suggestion in the post, not the service manual they refer to. :wink:

14

I had seen that post. My PCI card just arrived. I guess I’ll test it out later tonight.
Thanks.

1 Like
15

PCI ethernet card arrived. It is happily DLing system updates.

Thanks all for the input.

1 Like