RTL8111C driver for FBSD7

[Manolis Kiagias]

Da Rock wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-04-18 at 11:08 +0300, Manolis Kiagias wrote:
>   
>> Da Rock wrote:
>>     
>>> On Fri, 2008-04-18 at 10:11 +0300, Manolis Kiagias wrote:
>>>   
>>>       
>>>> Da Rock wrote:
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>>>> Hey, hey... I made a boo boo and ordered a unit with this nic onboard
>>>>> (truthfully, I never thought I'd have any trouble since I had done this
>>>>> before). Loaded 7 and couldn't find the nic. A little investigation
>>>>> found that the nic was the above, and a little further found that there
>>>>> was no support for it in the hcl's.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now I do find it hard to believe there is no way around this- I found a
>>>>> driver for FBSD4.5-6, is there one for 6.2 or higher? Or will this one
>>>>> work? Anyone know how to install it?
>>>>>
>>>>> The driver is only a c and a h file- Makefile is an empty file, and the
>>>>> readme tells me to rebuild the kernel after removing rl and re in the
>>>>> conf. Then I build the driver, and kldload it. Any idea why I'd have to
>>>>> rebuild the kernel?
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers guys
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>   
>>>>>       
>>>>>           
>>>> I've seen this driver too (I've investigated for a friend who bought a 
>>>> similar motherboard that otherwise works with 7). The readme describes 
>>>> two "methods" of installation but the first one simply does not apply 
>>>> (there is no modules directory in the download). I have not tried the 
>>>> second method (looks reasonable though). Removing the rl and re from the 
>>>> kernel will remove the built-in support (it could conflict with the new 
>>>> driver) and create a module for the new driver. Note that you are also 
>>>> asked to replace the files in the FreeBSD src directories.  In fact it 
>>>> is better to build as a module - building it into the kernel may well 
>>>> leave you with an unbootable kernel if it is not compatible.
>>>>
>>>> As I said, I have not done this (my friend will be running Linux on this 
>>>> box) but as more and more recent mobos seem to use this NIC - and I may 
>>>> be buying one- if you are willing to give it a try, I will be interested 
>>>> in the results.
>>>>     
>>>>         
>>> Well I just tried it- I put this out there for some feedback mainly- the
>>> kernel rebuild is to remove the old rl and re drivers completely, and
>>> the build for the driver is for a module.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately the result is a failure: compatibility issues or some sort
>>> (argument warnings, not enough args, invalid variables and functions).
>>> My question is will I find something to work for 7? If not, will it work
>>> on 6.2 or 6.3 (it only says 6 in the readme's)?
>>>   
>>>       
>> I hope realtek releases a driver for 7. I would not want to go back to 
>> 6.X for this.
>> I have a 6.3 server, and can give it a try - as far as compiling the 
>> module, not actually using it, I don't have the NIC.
>> I will post the results later today.
>>
>>     
>
> Ok, I have good news and bad news.
>
> Good news: the driver compiles under 6.2.
>
> Bad news: it doesn't work.
>
> I tried a new cable, dhcp, manual config- could not get it to
> communicate. First sign was that it couldn't get an ip from dhcp. Then I
> tried pinging dns name, then local address- NG. When I tried the cable
> the NIC led didn't come back on, and the indication leds on the switch
> were slowly blinking. Something is seriously wrong...
>
> Any ideas about this guys?
>
>
>   
Maybe it gets stuck in the auto-negotiation phase, trying to determine 
link speed?

Give it a bit of manual help, something like:

ifconfig rl0 inet 192.168.0.25 netmask 255.255.255.0 media 100baseTX