NIC won't DHCP or configure
Gary Smithe
gary.smithe at gmail.com
Mon Mar 21 21:19:24 PST 2005
On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:54:24 -0800, Andrew Robinson <andrewr at uidaho.edu> wrote:
> Hello FreeBSD community,
>
> I'm trying to get my network card working under 5.3 Release. It won't DHCP. Configuring it using ifconfig doesn't permit any connection.
>
> (I also tried the February Stable, with no change as far as I can tell).
>
> WinXP identifies the NIC as Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC. Knoppix and WinXP both provide drivers that seem to work. Knoppix autodetects it without any (seeming) problem.
>
> My FreeBSD kernel is generic, and both the following lines are uncommented:
>
> device miibus # MII bus support
> device re # RealTek 8139C+/8169/8169S/8110S
>
> The output from ifconfig is:
>
> fwe0: flags=108802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
> options=8<VLAN_MTU>
> ether 02:90:f5:40:24:d8
> ch 1 dma -1
> plip0: flags=108810<POINTOPOINT,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
> lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
> inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
> inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
> inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
>
> and what I think is the relevant part of dmesg is:
>
> firewire0: <IEEE1394(FireWire) bus> on fwohci0
> fwe0: <Ethernet over FireWire> on firewire0
> if_fwe0: Fake Ethernet address: 02:90:f5:40:24:d8
> fwe0: Ethernet address: 02:90:f5:40:24:d8
> fwe0: if_start running deferred for Giant
>
> It makes me wonder if FreeBSD is identifying the card as something different than it is. Is that possible? What next steps might be useful for me to take?
>
> Thanks much!
>
> Andrew
>
My advice, try a different network switch / hub. Read on to find out why.
Trying to do the poor man's "Norton Ghost" at a local school for a
WinXP lab (using dd over ssh), I had some stupid issues. The NIC in
question was an onboard SiS 900. Here's what I had using various
"live-cd" distros:
winxp (installed) - i got an IP address
knoppix and DSL (both debian) - I got an IP address
System Rescue CD (gentoo) - no address
g4u and obsd live cd (obsd) - no address
(never did try fbsd, but obsd is fairly close)
When I moved a sample PC closer to the DHCP server, every distro above
got an address.
The lab has an older d-link 24 port switch. There are 4 switches
total between the lab and the dhcp server.
When I moved the PC, it was then connected to a netgear 5-port 100mb
switch, still about 4 switches away from the dhcp server.
I tried setting an address with ifconfig for each of the failing
distros, with no success. I vaguely remember getting some weird
issues reagarding the PHY in obsd...
I have no idea what the cause is (just discovered this last week), but
am strongly suspicious of the d-link switch. I'm going to replace it
(assuming funds are available) soon.
Just thought I'd pass it on, in case it helps.
GS
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