Installing RealTek Ethernet Driver

[kgoosie]

I have installed Debian on a netbook, Toshiba NB205-312BL, and I am having to install the realtek ethernet adapter because I can not connect to the internet with a wire connection. I have downloaded Realtek's latest driver and followed their instructions in the readme file but I am having no success. I am attaching the readme file from the .tar.bz2 file that I have followed. I have searched the internet for solutions but have had no success. Debian is the third OS on my netbook. The other two are XP and UNR. Any and all help will be appreciated.

<Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers>

This is the Linux device driver released for RealTek RTL8101E, RTL8102E(L) and RTL8103E(L), the Fast Ethernet controller with PCI-Express interface.

<Requirements>

- kernel source tree (supported Linux kernel 2.6.x and 2.4.x)
- For linux kernel 2.4.x, this driver supports linux kernel 2.4.20 and latter.
- compiler/binutils for kernel compilation

<Quick install with proper kernel settings>
Check whether the built-in driver, r8169.ko (or r8169.o for kernel 2.4.x), is installed.
# lsmod | grep r8169

If it is installed, please remove it.
# rmmod r8169
note: If the built-in driver cannot removed by rmmod, please edit /etc/modprobe.conf and comment 'alias eth0 r8169'. Then, remmove it again or reboot your computer.

Unpack the tarball :
# tar vjxf r8101-1.aaa.bb.tar.bz2

Change to the directory:
# cd r8101-1.aaa.bb

If you are running the target kernel, then you should be able to do :

# make clean modules (as root or with sudo)
# make install
# depmod -a
# modprobe r8101

You can check whether the driver is loaded by using following commands.

# lsmod | grep r8101
# ifconfig -a

If there is a device name, ethX, shown on the monitor, the linux
driver is loaded. Then, you can use the following command to activate
the ethX.

# ifconfig ethX

,where X=0,1,2,...


<Set the network related information>
1. Set manually
a. Set the IP address of your machine.

# ifconfig ethX "the IP address of your machine"

b. Set the IP address of DNS.

Insert the following configuration in /etc/resolv.conf.

nameserver "the IP address of DNS"

c. Set the IP address of gateway.

# route add default gw "the IP address of gateway"

2. Set by doing configurations in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
/ifcfg-ethX for Redhat and Fedora, or /etc/sysconfig/network
/ifcfg-ethX for SuSE. There are two examples to set network
configurations.

a. Fixed IP address:
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=ethernet
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=192.168.1.1
GATEWAY=192.168.1.254
BROADCAST=192.168.1.255

b. DHCP:
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes

<Modify the MAC address>
There are two ways to modify the MAC address of the NIC.
1. Use ifconfig:

# ifconfig ethX hw ether YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY

,where X is the device number assigned by Linux kernel, and
YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY is the MAC address assigned by the user.

2. Use ip:

# ip link set ethX address YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY

,where X is the device number assigned by Linux kernel, and
YY:YY:YY:YY:YY:YY is the MAC address assigned by the user.

<Force Link Status>

1. Force the link status when insert the driver.

If the user is in the path ~/r8101, the link status can be forced
to one of the 4 modes as following command.

# insmod ./src/r8101.ko speed=SPEED_MODE duplex=DUPLEX_MODE autoneg=NWAY_OPTION

,where
SPEED_MODE = 100 for 100Mbps
= 10 for 10Mbps
DUPLEX_MODE = 0 for half-duplex
= 1 for full-duplex
NWAY_OPTION = 0 for auto-negotiation off (true force)
= 1 for auto-negotiation on (nway force)
For example:

# insmod ./src/r8101.ko speed=100 duplex=0 autoneg=1

will force PHY to operate in 100Mpbs Half-duplex(nway force).

2. Force the link status by using ethtool.
a. Insert the driver first.
b. Make sure that ethtool exists in /sbin.
c. Force the link status as the following command.

# ethtool -s ethX speed SPEED_MODE duplex DUPLEX_MODE autoneg NWAY_OPTION

,where
SPEED_MODE = 100 for 100Mbps
= 10 for 10Mbps
DUPLEX_MODE = half for half-duplex
= full for full-duplex
NWAY_OPTION = off for auto-negotiation off (true force)
= on for auto-negotiation on (nway force)

For example:

# ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg on

will force PHY to operate in 100Mpbs Full-duplex(nway force).

<Jumbo Frame>
RTL8101E, RTL8102E and RTL8103E do not support Jumbo Frame.

[milomak]

Can you post the output of uname -r and lspci

[julian67]

There is another thread on RealTek RTL8101 which concluded successfully. http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45128 It may be helpful to examine it. If you are using Lenny then your best approach may be to install the newer kernel from backports because the default Lenny kernel doesn't include the driver but a newer one should. No guarantee, because I'm not sure if the right driver is compiled into that one (it may still be a staging/experimental driver), but it will only take you 5 or 10 minutes to find out. Or you can compile your own kernel from recent/latest source and make sure the appropriate driver is built as a module, and any conflicting driver is not.

[kgoosie]

kgoosie@kevins-debian-nb:~$ uname -r
2.6.26-2-686
kgoosie@kevins-debian-nb:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 002b (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)

Just to give you more information. I wanted debian on my NB205 netbook and I also have UNR and XP on it as well.