kernel wants the wrong driver for my NIC

[Freddie Cash]

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 10:24 AM, Michael Gass <mgass at unix.csbsju.edu>wrote:

> I'm running 7.2-stable and I replaced an old ISA NIC with
> a D-Link DFE-530TX+  card.  According to the manual, the
> correct driver for this card is rl driver.  The kernel
> insists on using the vr driver which is for the DFE-530TX.
> >From what I can tell, the two cards have different chipsets
> and so the drivers are not compatable.
>
> I can configure the vr driver, but the card does not work
> with it - I cannot establish a connection even with ping.
>
> Is there a way for me to force the kernel to use the rl
> driver?  I am using a generic kernel, so all the needed
> drivers are built-in.
>

"Simplest" method would be to compile a custom kernel with the rl driver and
without the vr driver.

Or to build a kernel without any networking drivers, so that they are all
built as modules, and then use /boot/loader.conf to load just the if_rl
module.

One could probably also write a hints line in /boot/loader.conf to tell the
vr driver to ignore that specific PCI slot or whatnot, although I've never
actually done that.

-- 
Freddie Cash
fjwcash at gmail.com