SuSE 11: How to enable 3c905 Boomerang GigaBit Ethernet Card

malemar · February 10, 2009, 11:47pm

Hello,

I upgraded from SuSE 10.2 to SuSE 11. My computer has a 3c905 Boomerang Gigabit Ethernet card from 3Com.
With SuSE 10.2 the network card works fine, using module 3c59x.

After the upgrade, I currently cannot use the network card. In the Yast2 network configuration section the card is displayed, but there is also a message displayed saying “Configuration of the network card is not possible since the kernel device (eth0, wlan0) is not available, …” (this may not be literal, since it is a translation of the original German message displayed on my system). With ifconfig -a the interface eth0 is not displayed (as it is on the SuSE 10.2 system)
Also the kernel module 3c59x seems no longer to be available on my SuSE 11 system (I tried to load it with insmod/modprobe).
Do I need to download/install the module separately? Is there now another device driver to be used for this type of network cards? Does anyone have an idea how I can get the network card working?

I’ll appreciate any help,
thank you in advance
with kind regards
Martin

ken_yap · February 11, 2009, 2:40am

The 3c905 is not a gigabit NIC. It’s just a 100Mb NIC.

The 3c59x driver is still in the Linux modules, not sure why you were not able to find it.

$ modinfo 3c59x
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27.10-2-default/kernel/drivers/net/3c59x.ko
license: GPL
description: 3Com 3c59x/3c9xx ethernet driver
author: Donald Becker <becker@scyld.com>
srcversion: 0FF7AEEEE91C7F08DAF6EF2
…

malemar · February 11, 2009, 10:43am

Hello,

Thank you for your help. Yes, I was wrong it is not a gigabit NIC but a 100Mb NIC. However, the problem remains the same.

Is the 3c59x module included ‘out of the box’ when installing SuSE 11, or do you have to specifically select it somewhere (and if so, where)?

ken_yap · February 11, 2009, 12:12pm

It comes as standard out of the box. I didn’t have to install any extra packages. Though I don’t have a boomerang NIC.

malemar · February 11, 2009, 10:59pm

Hello,

I am a bit confused. After starting the system today, I see the module 3c59x with lsmod (I might have overlooked it yesterday). However, now Yast2 does no longer display the message about eth0 which I mentioned in my initial posting, but seems to recognize the ethernet card correctly. Thus my problem is solved.

However there is one detail remaining. After system start I see two devices eth0 and br0 configured with the MAC of my NIC. So routing does not work after system startup and I first have to stop both devices (ifdown br0, ifdown eth0) and than to restart eth0 (ifup eth0) - see below. After that my Internet access works fine.

Now just for clarification:

Do you have an idea where br0 comes from?
Can I safely remove the br0 configuration in Yast2, in order to have network access right after system start (without having to do the ifdown / ifup thing)?

Details of how I get the network connection to work:

dhcppc2:/home/installator # route -n
Kernel IP Routentabelle
Ziel Router Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.248 U 0 0 0 eth0
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.248 U 0 0 0 br0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifconfig -a
br0 Link encap:Ethernet Hardware Adresse 00:60:97:0C:F2:87
inet Adresse:192.168.1.5 Bcast:192.168.1.7 Maske:255.255.255.248
inet6 Adresse: fe80::260:97ff:fe0c:f287/64 Gültigkeitsbereich:Verbindung
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:306 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:0
RX bytes:16599 (16.2 Kb) TX bytes:5229 (5.1 Kb)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet Hardware Adresse 00:60:97:0C:F2:87
inet Adresse:192.168.1.5 Bcast:192.168.1.7 Maske:255.255.255.248
inet6 Adresse: fe80::260:97ff:fe0c:f287/64 Gültigkeitsbereich:Verbindung
UP BROADCAST RUNNING PROMISC MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:312 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:320 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000
RX bytes:22095 (21.5 Kb) TX bytes:27076 (26.4 Kb)
Interrupt:10 Basisadresse:0xb000

lo Link encap:Lokale Schleife
inet Adresse:127.0.0.1 Maske:255.0.0.0
inet6 Adresse: ::1/128 Gültigkeitsbereich:Maschine
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:238 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:238 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:0
RX bytes:21422 (20.9 Kb) TX bytes:21422 (20.9 Kb)

dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifdown br0
br0
dhcppc2:/home/installator # route -n
Kernel IP Routentabelle
Ziel Router Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifdown eth0
eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifup eth0
eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
Starting DHCP4 client on eth0route -n

eth0      IP address: 192.168.1.5/29 (dhcppc2)

dhcppc2:/home/installator # route -n
Kernel IP Routentabelle
Ziel Router Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.248 U 0 0 0 eth0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
127.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ping 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=254 time=4.00 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=254 time=0.000 ms
^C
— 192.168.1.1 ping statistics —
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.000/2.000/4.000/2.000 ms
dhcppc2:/home/installator # nslookup Avaloq
Server: 195.186.1.110
Address: 195.186.1.110#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: Avaloq
Address: 212.71.111.36

ken_yap · February 11, 2009, 11:14pm

br0 is usually the name of the first network bridge device. You must have set it up somehow. Were you using some virtual machine software perhaps? If you don’t need it or know what it’s for, then delete it.

malemar · February 12, 2009, 9:36pm

Details

PAE-Kernel

installator@dhcppc2:~>lsmod
Module Size Used by
ip6t_LOG 6212 7
xt_tcpudp 2728 2
xt_pkttype 1560 3
ipt_LOG 5708 8
xt_limit 2056 15
xt_physdev 2220 2
vmsync 3852 0
vmmemctl 8024 0
vmblock 12852 3
binfmt_misc 7872 1
bridge 48012 1
stp 2248 1 bridge
af_packet 16596 0
ip6t_REJECT 4984 3
nf_conntrack_ipv6 20196 4
ip6table_raw 1792 1
xt_NOTRACK 1544 4
ipt_REJECT 2760 3
xt_state 1904 8
iptable_raw 2056 1
iptable_filter 2548 1
ip6table_mangle 2288 0
nf_conntrack_netbios_ns 2152 0
nf_conntrack_ipv4 10480 4
nf_conntrack 67400 5 nf_conntrack_ipv6,xt_NOTRACK,xt_state,nf_conntrack_netbios_ns,nf_conntrack_ipv4
ip_tables 11348 2 iptable_raw,iptable_filter
ip6table_filter 2408 1
ip6_tables 12580 4 ip6t_LOG,ip6table_raw,ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter
x_tables 14500 12 ip6t_LOG,xt_tcpudp,xt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,xt_physdev,ip6t_REJECT,xt_NOTRACK,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,ip_tables,ip6_tables
ipv6 242608 25 ip6t_REJECT,nf_conntrack_ipv6,ip6table_mangle
fuse 52488 1
loop 15028 0
dm_mod 62236 0
ppdev 6876 0
rtc_cmos 11488 0
rtc_core 18048 1 rtc_cmos
rtc_lib 2816 1 rtc_core
parport_pc 35032 0
parport 33832 2 ppdev,parport_pc
floppy 52980 0
i2c_piix4 10148 0
i2c_core 29972 1 i2c_piix4
sr_mod 13536 0
pcspkr 2344 0
isp1760 18128 0
shpchp 28280 0
intel_agp 24600 1
cdrom 32288 1 sr_mod
pci_hotplug 27392 1 shpchp
agpgart 32564 1 intel_agp
3c59x 37988 0
mii 4968 1 3c59x

installator@dhcppc2:~> su
Passwort:
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifconfig -a
br0 Link encap:Ethernet Hardware Adresse 00:60:97:0C:F2:87
inet Adresse:192.168.1.5 Bcast:192.168.1.7 Maske:255.255.255.248
inet6 Adresse: fe80::260:97ff:fe0c:f287/64 Gültigkeitsbereich:Verbindung
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:123 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:29 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:0
RX bytes:9602 (9.3 Kb) TX bytes:5359 (5.2 Kb)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet Hardware Adresse 00:60:97:0C:F2:87
inet Adresse:192.168.1.5 Bcast:192.168.1.7 Maske:255.255.255.248
inet6 Adresse: fe80::260:97ff:fe0c:f287/64 Gültigkeitsbereich:Verbindung
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:125 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:79 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000
RX bytes:12256 (11.9 Kb) TX bytes:12182 (11.8 Kb)
Interrupt:10 Basisadresse:0xb000

lo Link encap:Lokale Schleife
inet Adresse:127.0.0.1 Maske:255.0.0.0
inet6 Adresse: ::1/128 Gültigkeitsbereich:Maschine
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:71 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:71 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:0
RX bytes:4949 (4.8 Kb) TX bytes:4949 (4.8 Kb)

dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifdown br0
br0
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifdown eth0
eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
dhcppc2:/home/installator # ifup eth0
eth0 device: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
Starting DHCP4 client on eth0
eth0 IP address: 192.168.1.5/29 (dhcppc2)
dhcppc2:/home/installator # uname -a
Linux dhcppc2 2.6.27.7-9-pae #1 SMP 2008-12-04 18:10:04 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
dhcppc2:/home/installator # modinfo 3c59x
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/drivers/net/3c59x.ko
license: GPL
description: 3Com 3c59x/3c9xx ethernet driver
author: Donald Becker <becker@scyld.com>
srcversion: 0FF7AEEEE91C7F08DAF6EF2
alias: pci:v000010B7d00009210svsdbcsci*

Non-PAE Kernel

installator@grom-oxxe:~> lsmod
Module Size Used by
vmsync 3852 0
vmmemctl 8068 0
vmblock 12856 3
ipv6 242864 22
loop 15076 0
dm_mod 62236 0
sr_mod 13536 0
cdrom 32288 1 sr_mod
sg 29360 0
sd_mod 31424 8
crc_t10dif 1704 1 sd_mod
uhci_hcd 23672 0
usbcore 167276 2 uhci_hcd
edd 8616 0
ext3 124684 4
mbcache 8132 1 ext3
jbd 56684 1 ext3
ata_piix 16292 6
libata 160884 1 ata_piix
scsi_mod 149720 4 sr_mod,sg,sd_mod,libata
dock 11988 1 libata
installator@grom-oxxe:~> su
Passwort:
grom-oxxe:/home/installator # ifconfig -a
lo Link encap:Lokale Schleife
inet Adresse:127.0.0.1 Maske:255.0.0.0
inet6 Adresse: ::1/128 Gültigkeitsbereich:Maschine
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:40 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:40 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:0
RX bytes:2232 (2.1 Kb) TX bytes:2232 (2.1 Kb)

grom-oxxe:/home/installator # ifup eth0
Interface eth0 is not available
grom-oxxe:/home/installator # uname -a
Linux grom-oxxe 2.6.27.7-9-default #1 SMP 2008-12-04 18:10:04 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
grom-oxxe:/home/installator # modinfo 3c59x
modinfo: could not find module 3c59x
grom-oxxe:/home/installator # ls /lib/modules/uname -r/kernel/drivers/net
8390.ko ne2k-pci.ko

malemar · February 12, 2009, 9:41pm

I now understand where my confusion about module 3c59x came from. Actually out of the box (i.e. without me making any particular choice), SuSE 11 installed two 2.6.27.7-9 kernel images, one with an ‘-default’, the other with a ‘-pae’ suffix in the name.

While there is 3c59x module for the -pae image, there isn’t for the -default image. So with the -default image I observe the behavior described in my initial posting, while with the -pae image I see the one described in the posting from February 11 (see my previous post for details with the 2 kernels).

Now my questions are:

Did I do something wrong, so that networking with the -default image is not possible?
(if no to 1)) What is the purpose that SuSE installs a kernel that does not include all necessary modules (or is that a bug)?
As my machine only has 1 GByte of memory, I think I don’t need PAE(?). Is there any (unnecessary) overhead involved with PAE and is it worth trying to get a non-PAE kernel running or can I use the PAE kernel without loosing any performance?

Thanks a lot for any help
kind regards
Martin

ken_yap · February 12, 2009, 11:27pm

As far as I can see, the module is in the default kernel:


$ rpm -qlp kernel-default-2.6.27.7-9.1.i586.rpm | grep 3c5
/lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-default/kernel/drivers/net/3c59x.ko

Maybe you have a faulty installation?

PS: lsmod shows modules loaded, not all modules available. You have to look in the modules directories to see what is available.

malemar · February 13, 2009, 8:37am

Hello,

The module is not there for the default kernel in my installation, see the last two lines in my posting from February 12, 20:36 containing the system details:

grom-oxxe:/home/installator # uname -a
Linux grom-oxxe 2.6.27.7-9-default #1 SMP 2008-12-04 18:10:04 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
grom-oxxe:/home/installator # modinfo 3c59x
modinfo: could not find module 3c59x
grom-oxxe:/home/installator # ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net
8390.ko ne2k-pci.ko

So probably I have a faulty installation as you call it. What may be the reason for such a thing and how can I correct it?

thank you,
with best regards
Martin

ken_yap · February 13, 2009, 9:07am

rpm -V kernel-default

will do a check to see if all files from a package are present and if any are missing or modified. Run that and you may find that some files are missing. You can fix it by reinstalling the package. You may have to force it, because it will say it’s already installed. I’ve never done that via YaST but I’m sure there is a way to enable force. Probably the check can also be done from YaST.

malemar · February 18, 2009, 11:04pm

Hello,

I assume that both kernels are based on the same source, i.e. the difference of the .config files should explain all differences between the two versions.

Is this understanding correct?

Using /proc/config.gz I did a comparison of the two files. However I could not find any difference that would help me understand why the driver is available in the -pae kernel only. You find the diff below, please let me know if you see any such difference.

thank you,
with best regards
Martin


installator@dhcppc0:/tmp> diff config-default config-pae
4c4                                                     
< # Fri Dec  5 01:49:48 2008                            
---                                                     
> # Fri Dec  5 01:49:56 2008                            
64c64                                                   
< CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-9-default"                      
---                                                     
> CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-9-pae"                          
213d212                                                 
< CONFIG_LGUEST_GUEST=y                                 
217a217                                                 
> CONFIG_X86_SUMMIT_NUMA=y                              
257a258                                                 
> CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG64=y                                
263c264                                                 
< CONFIG_NR_CPUS=32                                     
---                                                     
> CONFIG_NR_CPUS=128                                    
284,285c285,286                                         
< CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y                                    
< # CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set                        
---                                                     
> # CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set                         
> CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G=y                                   
288,291c289,299                                         
<                                                       
< #                                                     
< # NUMA (Summit) requires SMP, 64GB highmem support, ACPI
< #                                                       
---                                                       
> CONFIG_X86_PAE=y                                        
> CONFIG_NUMA=y                                           
> CONFIG_NODES_SHIFT=3                                    
> CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_BOOTMEM_NODE=y                         
> CONFIG_ARCH_HAVE_MEMORY_PRESENT=y                       
> CONFIG_NEED_NODE_MEMMAP_SIZE=y                          
> CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_ALLOC_REMAP=y                          
> CONFIG_ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_ENABLE=y                       
> CONFIG_ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_DEFAULT=y                      
> CONFIG_ARCH_SPARSEMEM_ENABLE=y                          
> CONFIG_ARCH_SELECT_MEMORY_MODEL=y                       
293,294c301,302
< CONFIG_FLATMEM_MANUAL=y
< # CONFIG_DISCONTIGMEM_MANUAL is not set
---
> # CONFIG_FLATMEM_MANUAL is not set
> CONFIG_DISCONTIGMEM_MANUAL=y
296c304
< CONFIG_FLATMEM=y
---
> CONFIG_DISCONTIGMEM=y
298c306,308
< # CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_STATIC is not set
---
> CONFIG_NEED_MULTIPLE_NODES=y
> CONFIG_HAVE_MEMORY_PRESENT=y
> CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_STATIC=y
302c312,313
< # CONFIG_RESOURCES_64BIT is not set
---
> CONFIG_MIGRATION=y
> CONFIG_RESOURCES_64BIT=y
331a343
> # CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_EARLY_PFN_TO_NID is not set
358a371
> # CONFIG_ACPI_NUMA is not set
1063c1076
< # CONFIG_NET_9P_VIRTIO is not set
---
> CONFIG_NET_9P_VIRTIO=m
1672a1686
> CONFIG_I2O_EXT_ADAPTEC_DMA64=y
2449c2463
< CONFIG_VIRTIO_CONSOLE=y
---
> CONFIG_VIRTIO_CONSOLE=m
3816,3829d3829
< CONFIG_DMADEVICES=y
<
< #
< # DMA Devices
< #
< CONFIG_INTEL_IOATDMA=m
< CONFIG_DMA_ENGINE=y
<
< #
< # DMA Clients
< #
< CONFIG_NET_DMA=y
< CONFIG_DMATEST=m
< CONFIG_DCA=m
4355,4357c4355,4356
< CONFIG_LGUEST=m
< CONFIG_VIRTIO=y
< CONFIG_VIRTIO_RING=y
---
> CONFIG_VIRTIO=m
> CONFIG_VIRTIO_RING=m

malemar · February 18, 2009, 11:21pm

Sorry,

I only now saw your last post from February 13. I issued the command

rpm -V kernel-default
you suggest, and it tells me that the package kernel-default is not installed. I also checked for the package kernel-pae, which seems to be installed (see below).

What is the reason for this and why is the -default kernel image available and suggested at boot time despite the fact that the package is not installed?
Is there a possibility to install the package kernel-default after I have done the installation? And is there any good in doing so (i.e. does the -pae kernel induce any overhead, which would be unnecessary in my case, since I run a system with 1 GByte only)?

thanks a lot
with best regards
Martin


installator@dhcppc0:~> rpm -V kernel-defaul                                                    
package kernel-defaul is not installed                                                         
installator@dhcppc0:~> rpm -V kernel-pae                                                    
installator@dhcppc0:~> rpm -Vv kernel-pae | more                                          
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto/aes-i586.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto/salsa20-i586.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto/twofish-i586.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/apm.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/cpufreq
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/acpi-cpufreq.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/powernow-k8.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/speedstep-centrino.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/speedstep-lib.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/cpuid.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/microcode.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/msr.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel/scx200.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/oprofile
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/oprofile/oprofile.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/crypto

malemar · April 4, 2009, 1:42pm

Hello,

I just noticed that in my last post I mistyped kernel-default. However, the kernel is not installed (as shown by the query below). Does anyone have an idea, why this is the case (see questions 1 and 2 in my previous post).


installator@dhcppc1:~> rpm -V kernel-default
package kernel-default is not installed     
installator@dhcppc1:~> rpm -Vv kernel-pae | more
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto/aes-i586.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto/salsa20-i586.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/crypto/twofish-i586.ko
........    /lib/modules/2.6.27.7-9-pae/kernel/arch/x86/kernel
........

ken_yap · April 4, 2009, 1:59pm

Probably when you first installed, -pae was selected for you automatically. I’ve seen the installer do that even though there no way the motherboard and CPU combo can support a large amount of memory. The PAE feature in the CPU goes back a long way, even early Celerons have it.

You can install -default in parallel with -pae, and have a separate GRUB entry for that. Seeing as you don’t have > 2GB memory, you would not benefit from PAE anyway.

malemar · April 5, 2009, 3:15pm

Hello,

Thank you for your answer. I have some additional questions:

Is there a way (for a next installation) to override the installer’s choice and have -default installed right away (and not -pae)?
What about the -default kernel on my current system - why is the kernel image and the GRUB entry there, if rpm shows that the package has actually not been installed? Won’t this incomplete installation of the -default kernel cause any problems if I will install the -default package now?

Thanks a lot
with kind regards
Martin

ken_yap · April 5, 2009, 3:50pm

Yes, I’m sure you can override any package selection before install

What about the -default kernel on my current system - why is the kernel image and the GRUB entry there, if rpm shows that the package has actually not been installed? Won’t this incomplete installation of the -default kernel cause any problems if I will install the -default package now?

That I have no idea. Is the kernel image really in /boot? Perhaps it was an incomplete install of the -default package. If you succeed in reinstalling the -default package it should register in menu.lst. At worst you have some orphan files from a previous version of the package in /boot.