# sk98lin drivers DO NOT WORK

## mglukhovsky

I have three network interfaces in a small home file server I built. One is a wireless card (Netgear WAG311) that connects the server to the internet on my wireless LAN. The second is a D-Link DGE-530T gigabit PCI card, for my gigabit network. The third is the onboard 10/100 lan interface (via-rhine).

There is one MASSIVE problem. Only the onboard Via 10/100 interface was detected and loaded successfully by the LiveCD. The gigabit card, which uses the sk98lin driver, kept reporting "cannot read VPD keys". I shrugged and decided to take care of that after installation, and used the via-rhine with onboard LAN for a stage 1 install.

I might add that is a 64-bit system (athlon 64 3000+) and that I am using the via k8t800/k8m800 chipset. As such I built a custom kernel using the "2.6.7-gentoo-r11" sources and building with sk98lin support as a module. I chose to auto-load the driver on boot, and there the problems started.

I really need the gigabit card to work- I don't care about the onboard LAN (and was using it only for installation). The wireless LAN drivers I plan on implementing with linuxant emulation, but gigabit ought to work with sk98lin!

Issuing the command 

```
modprobe sk98lin
```

 resulted in no complaints.

I then issued 

```
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.5
```

 as per directions from http://www.syskonnect.com/syskonnect/support/driver/d0102_driver.html. And yes, eth0 IS listed in /proc/net/sk98lin, so all ought to be good.

But no! PING doesn't work, and everything seems to be kaput. Upon investigation of dmesg, the following surfaces near the end:

```
sk98lin: Network Device Driver v6.23

(c)Copyright 1999-2004 Marvell(R).

CLASS: registereing class device: ID= 'eth0'

class_hotplug - name = eth0

eth0:

        PrefPort:A RlmtMode:Check Link State

eth0:

       -- ERROR--

      Class:  internal Software error

      Nr:  0x19e

      Msg:  Vpd:  Cannot read VPD keys

```

The above occurs two times, then:

```
eth0: no IPv6 routers present
```

Yes, I compiled with IPv6 support just in case. After this. the whole "Cannot read VPD keys" error occurs 3 more times, and at that point I took the interface down:

```
eth0: network connection down

class_hotplug - name = eth0

device class 'eth0': release.

Badness in remove_proc_entry at fs/proc/generic.c:692
```

Interestingly enough, an lsmod when the sk98lin module is loaded results in no devices being reported as using it....this is infuriating!

This is my VERY first foray into the Gentoo world, with some minor Mandrake experience in the past- I'm really loving what I see so far, and I have learned an awful lot in the past two days, but without this network support Gentoo has no value for me.

Could someone PLEASE help me! Positive or negative user experiences would also help, in particular relating to the D-Link DGE-530T or the sk98lin module.

Thanks a lot!

-MikeLast edited by mglukhovsky on Sun Jul 18, 2004 6:56 pm; edited 3 times in total

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## mglukhovsky

Nobody know anything about the sk98lin drivers? Any help at all would be appreciated!

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## GentooBox

Edit: I should try to read the whole post.

try compiling the driver as a part of the kernel instead of a module.

I have the same setup as you (but i have a Abit) and my sk98lin driver works as it should.

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## mglukhovsky

I'll try that soon and let u know how it works out.

Thanks so much for replying!

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## OOZafle

same problem, but i'm trying to get it to work at the very beginning of an install. 

inserted livecd

wasnt' auto detected

modprobe sk98lin

same problems.....

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## giant

This sounds really odd.

I got the same card - 

dmesg:

```

sk98lin: Network Device Driver v6.22

(C)Copyright 1999-2004 Marvell(R).

PCI: Found IRQ 12 for device 02:01.0

PCI: Sharing IRQ 12 with 00:1f.3

eth0: DGE-530T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

      PrefPort:A  RlmtMode:Check Link State

```

lsmod

```

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted

sk98lin               155144   1

```

And I use the Marvel Yukon / SK98 driver.

But this is on a 2.4 system.

However I got a Shuttle SN95G (hope this is the correct number, the one with AMD 939 Socket) at home running Kernel 2.6 also with a SK98Lin card.

I also get the vpd key errors but the card works fine. 

If you use the live cd - does your card get detected at all ? If I didn't build in the same card a couple weeks ago I'd say maybe its a different chip set.

What does dmesg say ??

----------

## depontius

I've got sk98lin working:

ASUS a7n8x Deluxe 2.0

Gentoo, reasonably up-to-date (last week)

gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.10-r6

still running the 2.4 linux-headers (gotta get a round tuit one of these days)

sk98lin built as a module

udev, lvm2

No problems, whatsoever.

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## OOZafle

also using a sn95g5 shuttle. I can get the driver working on the livecd but not off. hmm i think i'm gonna boot the livecd and try and fix it using that.

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## OOZafle

nope can't get it to work.

modprobe sk98lin responds with

```
FATAL: error inserting sk98lin invalid module format
```

 after compiling it as a module in the kernel. is there a way to change the format or somthing?

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## guni

Add PCI hotplugging to your kernel that will help...

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## uprooter

I had a similar problem when I intalled gento 2004.3 on my AMD64.

I didn't want to spend time on it, and Since I have 2 onboard lan card I just disabled the gigabit ethernet in the BIOS, finished my installation and only after I got the first lan card configured I re-enabled the sk98lin.

Now things work fine...

Maybe it can help someone out there...

 :Shocked: 

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