Discless MD

[remiv]

Hi everybody! i`m pritty much new to LinuxMCE. But I love it, and I`am REALLY trying to get it working.

In my house, I have installed one Core server that is running in my basement. The Core is running really nice, with 2 NIC and everything is working. NOW, I want to set up an "Thin client" in my living room. By booting it from LAN (DHCP). I have used my WHOLE day trying to figure this out. But everytime I try to boot from LAN I get this message at the end. "41.850137> r8169: eth0: link up" And then, after about 15 minuts the screen just go black.

It seems like the PC is getting a connection from the Core. Because there is no errors on the IP at the beginning.
Do anybody have a suggestion for me ? Do I have do "preconfigure" something in my Core to get this working ?

Thanks!

Ps: Sorry about my English.

[tschak909]

Ahh, we got bit by that at LinuxTag. The network card you have built into your motherboard is not properly recognised by Ubuntu 7.10. The best way to fix it is to replace it with another network card from a different brand. If both are the same, replace both. If both network ports are on the motherboard, then disable them in the bios before booting. Once you do this and replace the cards, you should be good to go.

Sorry about that bro, but hopefully this should help.
-Thom

[remiv]

Thanks tschak909! I will try this when I get home from work!

[remiv]

Well. I have now changed the Ethernet card, but it still won`t work. I have tried disabling the internal motherboard card. But when I do so. I can`t select the other ethernet card to boot from. Its just CDROM, HDD and DISABLE and can choose from. Hmm..
Do you kno what card is working fine ? Maby I can buy a new one.

[tschak909]

you can also try one more thing:

when booting, you'll see a countdown...press esc.

this will take you to the grub menu
select the linux entry with the arrow keys (not recovery mode)
press c to change it
go to the line that says kernel ....
select it to edit it
go to the end of the line
then type noapic acpi=off
hit enter
and then hit b to boot it.

see if that helps.

-Thom

[remiv]

Hmm. I think we talk about to different things now? Are you talking about the Core ? Because, the Core workes just fine. DHCP runs with no problem. I got a pc (with WinXP) connected to the Core also, and the pc is getting a IP from the DHCP from Core. No problems there.

The one im trying to install only MD on, is a thin client in my living room with no HDD connected.

Or is it me who got it wrong Forgive my questions.

I really appreciate you taking your time to help me!!

[tschak909]

whoa... okay..

let's back up, i'm sorry.

so you have two NICs in the core?

-Thom

[remiv]

Yes. Two NICs in the Core. One internal on the Motherboard, and one "external" PCI. And this workes

[tschak909]

you will need to edit a file in /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg that matches your card's mac address, the file looks similar to: 01-00-13-49-bb-2a-39 ....

inside this file, look for the line beginning with APPEND ... once you're there, go to the end of the line, and add noapic acpi=off

save, and try to reboot the md. See if this works.

-Thom

[remiv]

When i got to /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/ there is only one file named default there.
I tried adding the code you gave me. And now the MD says:

47.505599> NET: Registered protocol family 17
P-Config: eth1 hardware address 00:1f:c6:3b:be:80 mtu 1500 DHCP RARP
48.306957: r8169: eth1: link up
P-Config: eth0 hardware address 00:50:04:99:2b:05 mtu 1500 DHCP RARP
48.309782> eth0: Setting half-duplex.

This is the last 5 lines the MD displayes when i try to boot from LAN.
I can let the PC on for hour without anything happening. :/

[tschak909]

remove the other network card.

-Thom

[remiv]

This is what i have tried now:
1. Booting from LAN with internal (on the motherboard) ethernet card. Enabling PXE boot in BIOS.
2. Putting in another ethernet card. And disabling the onboard ethernet card.
   When i did this, i lost the option on boot choises that says LAN.
3. Adding the code you gave me.
4. Taking out the extra card again, leaving the internal ofcourse.
5. Tried to boot from LAN again. Now i`m back to start.
   error: 48.325394> r8169: eth0: link up (the last line in booting from LAN).

[tschak909]

well, damn.

the hanging that you're getting is because the rt8169 network card is not initializing properly. Please try another card, like an Intel e1000, or an skge/yukon based card..something OTHER than a realtek 8169....

-Thom

[Zaerc]

Have a look at: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Unrecognized_NIC that might help.

[remiv]

Okey. I`m really stuck now. I have tried changing the NIC to a 3Com based card, didnt work. And also purchased a new NIC with realtek rtl8169 gbit. This have according to the manual support for Kernel 2.2.x and 2.4.x.
But the problem now is that i can`t get the NIC to pop up as one of the boot options.. It is a Plug-And-Play card, so the BIOS should find it easy. I`m sorry if i sound a little stupid now. But i refuse to give up!

I hope somebody can help me!

Ps: The new NIC device supports Wake-On-LAN.
btw: I Found out that the card that is in my Motherboard. (Asus P5K18L) Is an realtek RTL8111B/C.