Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 5050
Not recognizing PCMCIA NIC on network install
Last modified: 2015-01-07 18:38:03 EST
I'm trying to install RH 6.0 on a Thinkpad 560 with a 3c589 NIC. So far, I haven't been able to get it to recognize the ethernet adapter. I have a completely different set of symptoms with the original boot disk and the updated ones (using the 19990909 update). With the original boot disk, the driver for the network card seems to be loaded, but apparently never configured. At no time am I able to ping the card. Here is the detailed sequence. 1. Boot from original RH 6.0 bootnet.img disk, selecting "expert". 2. Insert original RH 6.0 pcmcia.img disk upon request. 3. The card is enabled (the green link detected light comes on). However, this log message appears in the Alt-F4 log: <30>Sep 10 12:40:53 cardmgr[13]: + ./network: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup: not found 4. I select "NFS image". I select "Static IP address" 5. I enter the ip address, and enter the other computer's ip forboth gateway and nameserver (I will be using numeric ip throughout). 6. At the screen "Determining host name and domain..." the link light on the NIC goes dark. Running tcpdump on the other computer, at no time is there any network activity. I get "neighbor table overflow" and "device lo entered/left promiscuous mode" messages in the Alt-F4 log. 7. Continuing anyway with "Configure Network" and "NFS Setup", after entering NFS, the install simply hangs. With the 19990909 bootnet.img, I have the following symptoms: 1. Boot from 19990909 bootnet.img, using "expert". 2a. If I answer "yes" to pcmcia, it requests a pcmcia floppy. There is no pcmcia.img present in the errata, so I try the old one. It loads it, but I get the Alt-F4 message: cardmgr: no pcmcia driver in /proc/devices. The link light never comes on. If I proceed with "NFS install" (and "force supplemental disk") I am presented with a menu of net drivers that does not include 3c589 (it appears to be a non-pcmcia list). 2b. Answering "no" to pcmcia gives me the same set of nic drivers. Even though I selected "force supplemental disk", it does not prompt me for one. There is no (3), as I can't get pas the "load module" screen for selecting a NIC. Looking through this bugzilla, it seems likely that if I could load the modules from the supplemental disk, I'd be able to install. However, at no time before the "load module" stage am I prompted to insert the supplemental disk. This _feels_ like operator error, although I really can't see anything I'm doing wrong. At absolute best, the documentation that comes with the updated bootdisks is totally inadequate, as it fails to mention the lack of the pcmcia disk. Thanks in advance!
I tried putting the laptop on the Internet and doing an FTP install from ftp.redhat.com, using the original 6.0 boot images, and it's working. Thus, it's likely that the problems I was having with the original boot disks had more to do with my local Ethernet than with RH. Perhaps I simply needed to run a nameserver. In any case, the issues with the updated boot disk, particularly the documentation of the pcmcia changes, would seem to remain.
Actually, I think you have found a bug. When the new boot images were made, a different kernel version was used. However no new pcmcia package was prepared. Since the version of the kernel is closely tied to the modules it makes sense that the module is not loading. according to the web site for pcmcia an error of "cardmgr: no pcmcia driver in /proc/devices" means that there is a problem trying to load the pcmcia module. The only reason that you did not get that error is that you used the older disks with matching versions. Why your problems disappeared I don't understand, but I am stuck right now with the module loading problem. I think the right solution is to take a close look at the module and kernel versions and make sure that the new boot images have the correct modules on them. If not RH should put out an pcmcia image specifically for use with the new boot disks. Victor Moran.
We have implemented tighter standards on releasing update disks for errata. In addition, we now have a consolidated pcmcia boot disk, so there is no longer any need for a boot disk and the pcmcia disk in order to perform an installation.