2.13 can't connect to network, says 'no active interface'

[cacarr]

*thanks for the subject improvement *


Hello all...complete Linux-noob-dumb-arse here with a problem:

-Puppy 2.13-
-Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller-
-XP Home-
-2 Gigs of Ram-
-1.7 Pentium M on a Gateway MX6625-


I get 'no active interface' with the network wizard. What is the correct module for that?...because as far as I can tell, the correct module loaded. (Sky-something, '2' I think).

If not a driver issue, any other ideas why the Yukon is not being detected?

Sorry if there's already a solution on the boards somewhere... I've looked around and not been able to find it.

[tempestuous]

A forum search for "Yukon" reveals this
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=13014

[cacarr]

A forum search for "Yukon" reveals this
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=13014

I didn't find it helpful.

Sky2 is loaded and not working for me, neither do any of the other Yukon associated modules.


The integrated ethernet interface is not being detected.

Also, no sound and no USB mouse.... but one thing at a time.

[WhoDo]

The integrated ethernet interface is not being detected.

Also, no sound and no USB mouse.... but one thing at a time.

Well, no, they may all be related. Are you using the "fulldrivers" version of Puppy? If you are, is the file zdrv_2xx.sfs located in the / directory?

If that's not the case your problem is that the majority of drivers aren't there. OTOH, if you are using the "fulldrivers" version, and the zdrv_2xx.sfs file is in the / directory, then maybe you need to use a workaround to get the drivers out and available. Try this:

Code: Select all

mkdir /root/mount
mount -o loop /zdrv_212.sfs /root/mount/zdrv_212.sfs
cp -ax /root/mount/* /
umount /root/mount

That should unpack all the drivers. A reboot and then they should be detected by the appropriate wizards, etc.

Hope that helps.

[cacarr]

Before I reboot:

These are the ethernet driver modules that the wizard is showing loaded:

ipw2200 (wireless?)

sky2 (the correct nic driver for Marvell Yukon 88e8036)


Could these listed as loaded but in fact not be?

Are you using the "fulldrivers" version of Puppy? If you are, is the file zdrv_2xx.sfs located in the / directory?

Yes, and yes.

The drivers all appear to be available, and I've tried loading a large number of them via the auto probe (or whatever it's called) feature.

They all load successfully, but are all false hits...

"...no active ethernet interface..."

If you still think appropriate drivers are unavailable, I'll try that work around.

[WhoDo]

Yes, and yes.

The drivers all appear to be available, and I've tried loading a large number of them via the auto probe (or whatever it's called) feature.

They all load successfully, but are all false hits...

"...no active ethernet interface..."

If you still think appropriate drivers are unavailable, I'll try that work around.

Hmmm....might seem like a stupid question but do you have the ethernet cable plugged in and connected to a network via a hub or router?

It sounds like the interface is being detected and driver loaded but when it tries to detect an active network it finds nothing. Usually means either the cables not plugged in or the card is faulty. Just a thought. Any tell-tale lights on the NIC lit up?

[cacarr]

Hmmm....might seem like a stupid question but do you have the ethernet cable plugged in and connected to a network via a hub or router?

It sounds like the interface is being detected and driver loaded but when it tries to detect an active network it finds nothing. Usually means either the cables not plugged in or the card is faulty. Just a thought. Any tell-tale lights on the NIC lit up?

I'm online on the same laptop via XP -- so, no hardware problems obviously. No NIC lights in Puppy. Again, all is well in XP; everything is properly connected.

The message says something to the effect that the correct drivers were supposed to have loaded automatically but didn't, and I'll need to load them manually. Says no active ethernet interface detected, but it appears to have loaded the correct drivers for the hardware...

And once again, everything works fine in XP. So...yeah, no idea...

[cacarr]

Are there any know Puppy issues or common problems with integrated ethernet, Yukon in particular...or even any Gateway laptops in general?

I'm at a loss.

"Just works," it don't. Perhaps someone could encourage me with descriptions of your tight, lean and mean, fully functional systems ... That vision is getting increasingly cloudy for me.


Update:

*After a bit of googling, it seems there are all sorts of problems with this device in various Linux flavors. Seems these generic sk drivers are either broken or otherwise do not work for every system that requires them.

Unfortunately the solutions I've found are varied and largely over my head.

If I were to try to download some different drivers, how would I go about installing them?*

[bobn9lvu]

Have you tried loading Puppy with the command line arguments like;
acpi=off etc...

Bob

[cacarr]

Have you tried loading Puppy with the command line arguments like;
acpi=off etc...

Bob

I think I've seen 'noacpi' suggested ... is that also valid?

What would 'acpi=off' do exactly?

I'll give it a try.

[bobn9lvu]

acpi = ( options )
----------force---------Force ACPI to be enabled
----------off------------Disables ACPI
----------noirq---------Prevents ACPI from being used for irq routing
----------ht-------------Enables ACPI enough to run Hyper Threading on compatable processors
----------strict---------Makes ACPI layer less tolerant of platforms not fully ACPI compliant

There are a lot more, but these are the important ones...

Bob

[slvrldy17]

Pardon a maybe dumb question - is the Marvell Yukon ethernet controller built in on the motherboard or an add on? I've had a similar problem in the past with a Dynex 10/100 ethernet card add on in the past. On mine the ethernet wizard shows the built on the board Nvidia and the Dynex card as both being active - it gives a choice between Eth0 and Eth1 with only the latter being truly active. Windows had/has no problem finding the right board but with Puppy you have to choose Eth1 in the wizard or no net connection. Hope this helps.

[cacarr]

Pardon a maybe dumb question - is the Marvell Yukon ethernet controller built in on the motherboard or an add on? I've had a similar problem in the past with a Dynex 10/100 ethernet card add on in the past. On mine the ethernet wizard shows the built on the board Nvidia and the Dynex card as both being active - it gives a choice between Eth0 and Eth1 with only the latter being truly active. Windows had/has no problem finding the right board but with Puppy you have to choose Eth1 in the wizard or no net connection. Hope this helps.

The Yukon is built in.

No active interface detected at all, so no Eth0 or 1 to choose from...

As far as I can tell (and take that for what it's worth: not much), the driver modules that ought to work (there are two of them available that I've seen used for this Yukon) are just not working.

Anyone else have a Marvell Yukon 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller? Did sky2 or sk98lin work for you?

Let's say that sk98lin might work for me... would I need to remove sky2, which loads when I boot from the disc... would both of them being loaded conflict in some way? How do I unload a module manually that was loaded at boot?

Still haven't tried any of those commands yet... will report back when I do.

[cacarr]

Have you tried loading Puppy with the command line arguments like;
acpi=off etc...

Bob

I have now; didn't work.


I know it's a little quick to give up, but I'm not seeing much in the way of prospects for success.

Anyone have any specific knowledge about Yukon ethernet controllers and sky2?

[cacarr]

I used Nero 6 to burn the .iso. Think I should try using some other software?

Think the boot disc might be corrupted?

[cacarr]

I used Nero 6 to burn the .iso. Think I should try using some other software?

Think the boot disc might be corrupted?

Nope. Tried with another burner. Same problem.


Tried 2.12 ... same problem.

[cacarr]

Bah... might have to try another distro.


Or give up on linux for this machine.

[cacarr]

Hmmm....might seem like a stupid question but do you have the ethernet cable plugged in and connected to a network via a hub or router?

It sounds like the interface is being detected and driver loaded but when it tries to detect an active network it finds nothing. Usually means either the cables not plugged in or the card is faulty. Just a thought. Any tell-tale lights on the NIC lit up?

I'm online on the same laptop via XP -- so, no hardware problems obviously. No NIC lights in Puppy. Again, all is well in XP; everything is properly connected.

The message says something to the effect that the correct drivers were supposed to have loaded automatically but didn't, and I'll need to load them manually. Says no active ethernet interface detected, but it appears to have loaded the correct drivers for the hardware...

And once again, everything works fine in XP. So...yeah, no idea...

Do you have any other suggestions, WhoDo?

[stlchuck]

From the sound of things you may be having a problem similar to what we had with an on the motherboard NIC by Nvidia. Namely the available drivers for it may not be compiled for the version of the kernel that Puppy is currently using. For awhile we were able to use a driver compiled for the 1.xx series by another user on this board but when the 2.xx series came out the driver no longer worked. What we finally ended up doing was putting in a generic 10/100 NIC card in a PCI slot and using it instead of the Nvidia NIC. For your laptop the only thing I can suggest might be to try a borrowed PCMCIA network card and see if it is recognized. If so then it is a driver issue and maybe someone here can help you identify and compile a driver that will work for your machine. Hope this helps.

[cacarr]

From the sound of things you may be having a problem similar to what we had with an on the motherboard NIC by Nvidia. Namely the available drivers for it may not be compiled for the version of the kernel that Puppy is currently using. For awhile we were able to use a driver compiled for the 1.xx series by another user on this board but when the 2.xx series came out the driver no longer worked. What we finally ended up doing was putting in a generic 10/100 NIC card in a PCI slot and using it instead of the Nvidia NIC. For your laptop the only thing I can suggest might be to try a borrowed PCMCIA network card and see if it is recognized. If so then it is a driver issue and maybe someone here can help you identify and compile a driver that will work for your machine. Hope this helps.

Having done considerable googling around about the matter now, I'm certain that's exactly the problem. Unfortunately I don't have access to a PCMCIA card at the moment in order to absolutely rule out other issues.

That's just a pretty common onboard NIC, so I'm surprised there isn't a functioning driver for it.

Yukon driver: 8.10.4.3

Marvell's site does not offer the above driver version for linux 2.4.20 and higher...

If that's likely to be compiled for the next version of Puppy, I can wait 'till then.

Thank you for your help.