Ladies and Gents,

I wonder if someone can give me advice on a problem I
have with the new 2.6 kernel: it does not recognize my
two ethernet network adaptors!

I have recently upgraded to SuSE 9.0, which per default runs
a 2.4.2x kernel (not sure if .21 or .22; I am not writing
this posting form home).

Out of play instinct I wanted to test kernel 2.6.

This is what I did:
- Got new kernel sources from kernel.org; unpacked it.
- Copied .config from running 2.4.x kernel to source
directory. (SuSE provides this config in ita /boot
directory as well as in /proc (/proc/config.gz)
- Ran "make xconfig" as a check (let pretty much every
network adapter to be compiled (as it was preset), just
getting rid of the ones I know I do not have on my system
(e.g. token ring...)
- Wrote config
- Compiled (make bzImage modules modules_install)
- Copied newly generated bzImage to boot directory
- Created new initrd
- Told grub about additional kernel
- Rebooted.

New kernel came up with everything working besides sound
(never mind about that at the moment) and the network
adaptors. Boot messages would not give me any hints about
what went wrong.

Alternatively, tried the precompiled kernel 2.6 from SuSE,
which comes as an RPM package, but same effect: no network
adaptors.

Can anyone give me some advice on where to start? Pointers
to FAQ/RT(F)M are highly appreciated as well!


Thanks,
Chri

Perhabs you compiled the ethernet drivers as modules. Have you tried to load
them using modprobe/ insmod?

Robert

Robert Brendel wrote:
More to the point: kernel 2.6 using different versions of those
utilities than the 2.4.x kernels. The OP will need the
'module-init-tools' package in order to successfully use kernel modules
under 2.6.x kernels. The older 'modutils' package is not sufficient.

See the file Documentation/Changes in the 2.6 kernel source tree for
information on other packages which may need to be upgraded to work with
the new kernel.

nospam@kernhuber.de wrote:
Oh yes it does. You don't. Now what makes you think so, and what do you
mean by "recognize"? DO they work when you load the drivers for them or
not?

Silly. This is absolutely guaranteed not to work.

This is going to repair soe of the damage - about 30% of it.

DOn't. Load them as modules. How else can you test?

Well, apparently you don't know so very much!

Why? You said you compiled them in, so why "modules"?

And what about all the other upgrades you need to do, like
modutils, and friends, as detailed in the Changes file?

Oww. Never will work. You don't load modules so why would you
ever want an initrd anyway? In fact, why would anyone?

That's another you didn't load a driver for!

Oh yes they would. But then, how can you test properly if you don't
load the drivers as modules?

Is that surprising, given the other huge failings in
your methodology, such as NOT READING THE INSTRUCTIONS?

Try with number 1. Read The Fine Instructions. The kernel Changes file.
And the kernel readme might be a good followup.

After that move on to number 2. tell us what your NIC is, what you
THINK it's driver is, and what happens (dmesg) when you load it into the
kernel, by hand, as a module.

Peter