New to Linux - Please Help

jmsa007

Hello everyone. OK so this is what brings me here:

I'm currently pursuing a CCNA certification. I need to use a so called "Eagle Server" to do my lab exercises. I have the Linux Live CD (FEDORA CORE 3 KERNEL 2.6.12) and I have installed it on a laptop that I have (TOSHIBA EQUIUM M50-164, PSM57E). This laptop had Windows XP installed, so I created a 4GB FAT partition and booted with the Live CD. I chose the option installonFAT, then after rebooting (with CD in the tray) I chose runondisk.

Ok, here is my 1st problem: I need the CD in the tray every time I want to run Linux. Without the CD, it boots to Windows XP. Also, according to Eagle Server documentation, any modification to the server is available even after reboot. Well, that is not happening to me. Does someone have a clue why the server doesn't save the modifications? Is it because I need the Live CD to boot, even after I have installed on a FAT partition?

Another problem I have:

I need to connect the Eagle Server to a router using the Fast Ethernet LAN port:

Eagle server supports only 1 network interface card, eth0. When I first run the server it showed me that the hardware mapped to eth0 was my wireless adapter. There is no option to disable it in my BIOS, so I just removed the hardware myself. After rebooting it show eth1394 on eth0. I presume that is the FireWire Adapter.

What can I do so that eth0 is mapped to my LAN adapter (Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet)?

Is there a way do disable FireWire?

Please remember that due to 1st problem above, any changes to the server are not available after reboot

So the main problem is that I can't ping from Eagle Server to the router and vice-versa

If I could get any help on this, I would be greatly appreciated. Please note I'm a beginner in using Linux.

Thank you for your time.

atreyu

Wow, FC3 is old! Are you sure your Marvell NIC is supported by that kernel? That might be a problem, too. Assuming it isn't a problem, you can try removing the firewire modules. What is the driver used by the firewire eth0 device? If you have the ethtool utility, you can use:

ethtool -i eth0

it should be listed under "driver: ". Then unload it with the rmmod tool, e.g.:

rmmod 1394driver

Then get a list of all your firewire drivers loaded:

lsmod|grep 1394

Then try and rmmod all those as well.

If that helps, i'd tell you to add the firewire modules to a modprobe blacklist (I know Fedora currently uses /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist but not sure if that applies to FC3), but it sounds like your changes would not be persistent.

Also, look in /sys/class/net/ for ethernet devices. If that doesn't exist (don't remember if FC3 has /sys) look in /proc/net/dev, it should have one line for every network device detected.

-bill

Goineasy9

Hi Jorge

A live CD will not retain any information after a session. For that you would need your CD of FC3 to be installed on a USB stick with "persistence" or installed on the hard disk (which I wouldn't recommend since it's so old). I don't know if the CD is set up for installation, and I also can't tell you if the utilities are contained on the disk to install to a USB stick. I've heard of technical schools using old setups before, so hearing that your using a disk so old is not surprising. I'm a Fedora user, and, I'm just about to update to F15. Since Fedora releases every 6 months, FC3 is about 6 years old. But, it is still usable. If you want to see if you Marvell ethernet card is being recognized, try:

lspci

in a terminal. One of the lines from the output should show your Marvell card. If your card doesn't show, it may mean that the kernel does not contain the driver to recognize it. If you could show us the output of:

lspci | grep -i mar

we might be able to help you further.

BTW - If lspci | grep -i mar doesn't return anything, give us the output of lspci.

jmsa007

Hello atreyu,

I have unloaded all the modules successfully:

eth1394
ohci1394
ieee1394

I found a blacklist file at /etc/hotplug but unfortunately I can't modify it because it is a read-only file. Seems like I don't have permissions to write on it.

In /sys/class/net there are 2 folders with subfolders and files in it: Io and sit0

I did a service network restart and now I have no hardware listed under Network configuration.

After rebooting, the changes are not saved and I go back to the beginning

jmsa007

Hello Goineasy9,

Thx for your reply. This is what in Eagle Server Documentation:

4. Q: How do I install and use Eagle Server on a Windows computer?
A: To install Eagle Server on a Windows computer, there must be 4 GB hard disk space free, or a blank, formatted, second hard disk. In either case, the free space must be formatted for the FAT filesystem. NTFS filesystems have not been tested and probably will not work.

Record the partition where the server will be installed, and boot the Eagle Server CD. When the opening screen appears, press <ENTER>. This will load the Linux kernel. Type menu option installonFAT. Follow the instructions that are displayed. The installation will take approximately 15 minutes, depending on the speed of the CD.

Changes made to the server will be saved on the hard disk. Leave the CD in the tray, as it will be needed to access the server partition when the computer is rebooted.

When the server is rebooted, press <ENTER> and type menu option runondisk.

I followed the instructions but still the server doesnt save any changes after rebboting.

The output of

lspci | grep -i mar

02:00.0 Ethernet Controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.: Unknown device 4351 (rev10)

Goineasy9

The driver for that ethernet card is called "sk98lin"

modprobe sk98lin

This may or may not work. I found some threads that as old as the version of fc3 you are using, and it seems I can't find one that has had success. I've also tried the link to the Marvel site that had the driver available for download and it is no loner there. This may be a show stopper for you. Multiple threads from back in the days of the 2.6.12 kernel, show that this is not a NIC that was successfully used with Linux. To this day, I still haven't got my rtl8187b wifi controller to work with anything but Windows, so, sometimes we have to bit the bullet and create a workaround. Buying an ethernet controller that plugs into an available slot might be one workaround you can try.

Edit: One workaround I found that seemed to be successful for one person was to use NDISWRAPPER with the WNT511 Xp driver. I haven't searched for that driver yet, but, if you have windows on your machine, or the install disk that came with it, you can try looking for it there. Or see if Google can find it for you.

BTW - Doing:

fdisk -l

in a terminal can tell you what your partition setup looks like. If you want to see if the 4GB partition was set up during your install, it should show it. If it's not there, then, that could be the reason for your modifications not being saved.

atreyu

Yeah, doesn't sound like that card is supported under that kernel version. How about a USB-to-Ethernet adapter? They are relatively cheap, but of course you run the risk of a new one not being supported by that kernel. If you go that route, then find the chipset of the adapter (e.g. ASIX AX88772) then check these websites for driver support:

http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/
http://www.linux-usb.org/devices.html

Your hope is that the support is already in the kernel. Building one from source can be a pain.

jmsa007

Hello everybody,

I managed to get connectivity by removing eth1394 with rmmod command and then installing linux driver from toshiba website. It is the sk98lin

Still, the server can't save changes after reboot. Anyway I'm happy because I can get connectivity although I have to go through the same steps every time I reboot the server....

Really appreciate your help. Take care.

Goineasy9

Hey Jorge
I'm glad you found the driver. You're Google Foo must be better than mine. Did you check your partitions with fdisk -l yet? That 4gb partition could be the key to your not saving modifications.