linuxlizard
Group: Members
Posts: 37
Joined: Mar. 2006 |
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Posted: Mar. 25 2006,03:38 |
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Hello all,
I got my new/old laptop yesterday. It's an IBM thinkpad a21m with p3 700, 192 MB Ram and 3Com Mini PCI Ethernet on it. Everything I want seems to be working fine on it (don't care about the winmodem or wireless because I have non-wireless cablemodem) except for the ethernet.
I knew I was getting this laptop and it is the reason I became interested in DSL a couple weeks ago, though I've got to say, DSL rocks on my more up to speed desktop where I've been learning how to use DSL before I got the laptop.
Anyway, I need to get my cable modem working on this thing.
Before I proceed with explanation and question, be advised that although I've been using linux for a few years now, before DSL I used distros that automagically configured all my stuff. So, when it comes to networking and the current problem, I really only have a foggy notion of how everything is supposed to work. I've tried to fix that, but haven't found anything that explains things from square one for ignoramouses like myself, so am very grateful for any and all help getting this laptop online.
Here's what I know-
When DSL is booting, it says it sees an ethernet device or some such and then it says (backgrounding). Once I'm in fluxbox, I none of the net applications like firefox can connect.
I saw previous poster issued some commands for info, so I did the same and this is the output-
lspci -v
0000.00.03.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c556B CardBus [Tornado] (rev 20)
Subsystem: 3Com Corporation: Unknown device 6356
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 80, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1800 [size=256]
Memory at f4101400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128]
Memory at f4101000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128k]
Capabilities: <available only to root>
***side note***
I just noticed that every item that came up from that command had an IRQ of 11. That's probably not right? In my bios I noticed earlier that 4 or 5 things were all set to IRQ 11 so I changed to autoconfigure... hmmm...
modprobe ath_pci
/lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o: create_module: Operation not permitted
/lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o: insmod lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.26/net/ath_hal.o: insmod ath_pci failed
*********
I have no idea what the first command does and only a vague idea about the second. That's the level I'm on. But I saw these in another post and hope the info might help someone help me.
Here's another probably big clue. I searched about this ethernet device on the net. I found a number of pages talking about how it is or isn't a problem.
This page is probably the most helpful:
http://www.geocities.jp/fred_b_maciel/3c556/ethernet.html
Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to follow the advice on the page because of the way dsl works. I'm working from a flash memory stick, but after I fix this I will install to the hard drive frugal so I can take advantage of the speed of everything being in RAM. I guess because of this, even as SU (beaver) I cannot write the line "alias eth0 3c59x" to my /etc/modules.conf , the easiest solution offered on that page. Because DSL won't let me (and warns against it anyway even if I could.
modules.conf told me to read the man page and look at some other files in the modules? I think, directory. I looked at the other files and couldn't write to any of those either, even if I knew which one to stick the command in, which I don't. And I couldn't get the man page to come up because I don't have a net connection and it isn't on there by default (which makes sense in DSL). I'm writing this from ubuntu on my other computer.
Will anyone give me a helping hand? I purchased the dsl book hoping for answers to stuff like the file permissions (some I see are read only and can't be changed even by su I guess?) and making my own mydsl packages and neither topic I bought the book for is covered inside! Ack! Bad luck. Still looks good though. have gone over the networking chapter trying to understand it a few times already, and has helped some.
Thank you.
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