# Toshiba Satellite AMD64 wired Ethernet won't work [SOLVED]

## guyr

I just bought this Toshiba Satellite A215-S7422 laptop with Vista pre-installed.  I shrunk that partition and installed from 2007.0 DVD, since I couldn't get wired Ethernet to work from the Live CD.  I've been struggling with getting wired Ethernet working for a couple days now and I'm out of ideas.  I'm running the AMD64 version.

From the Live DVD, lspci shows this 

08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01)

Running lspci from the installed system shows this:

08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

Unknown device 8136 (rev 01)

Left to its own devices, the system opts for the r8169 device driver.  I've tried forcing it to use r8168, r8139too, r8139cp as well as the r1000 driver I've seen mentioned around the net (one at a time, obviously.)  Only r8169 and r1000 produce an eth0 device.  Following some suggestions I found, I turned the laptop off and unplugged the power and let it sit for about 30 seconds.  Upon plugging power back in and restarting, I can see the power and activity lights on the Ethernet connector.  However, as soon as udev loads the r8169 driver, these lights go out, and nothing I do can get them to come back on.  I've tried running ethtool with "ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg on"; it runs without error but doesn't accomplish anything: settings don't change and lights don't come on.

Looking in /var/log/messages, I see it reporting RTL8101e at 0x...., mac-addr, IRW 17.  By comparing to what I see under Windows, the reported MAC address is correct.  However, immediately below that, I see "r8169: eth0: link down" and "ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready.

I tried compiling the r8169 into the kernel, and that made things worse; the eth0 device was not created.  So I pulled it back out.  And this is where I sit.  While doing the last kernel config change to pull r8169 back into a module, I noticed that no PHYs were selected.  Do I need any?  I selected the generic PHY support only, because none of the device-specific drivers matched my laptop.  Didn't make a difference.

All suggestions welcome.  Unfortunately, I can't easily post config output because I'm typing this from a different computer (with a working connection ;( ).  Thanks.

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## Kasumi_Ninja

It would help to know the exact type of networkcard. Try searching your manual or laptopbox for it. You can also run lshw.

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## guyr

Ok, figured out I could copy to USB drive and move that to connected computer.  Here is emerge --info:

```

Portage 2.1.2.2 (default-linux/amd64/2007.0, gcc-4.1.1, glibc-2.5-r0, 2.6.19-gentoo-r5 x86_64)

=================================================================

System uname: 2.6.19-gentoo-r5 x86_64 AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58

Gentoo Base System release 1.12.9

Timestamp of tree: Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:30:01 +0000

dev-lang/python:     2.4.3-r4

dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.17

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.61

sys-devel/automake:  1.10

sys-devel/binutils:  2.16.1-r3

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.14

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.22

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.17-r2

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

AUTOCLEAN="yes"

CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -pipe"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo"

CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="autoconfig distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo"

MAKEOPTS="-j3"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --filter=H_**/files/digest-*"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="3dnow 3dnowext X acl amd64 berkdb bitmap-fonts cli cracklib crypt cups dri fam fortran gdbm gnome gpm gtk gtk2 iconv ipv6 isdnlog ithreads libg++ midi mmx mmxext ncurses nls nptl nptlonly pam pcre perl pppd python readline reflection session spl sse sse2 ssl tcpd threads truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="apm ark ati chips cirrus cyrix dummy fbdev glint i128 i810 mga neomagic nv rendition s3 s3virge savage siliconmotion sis sisusb tdfx tga trident tseng v4l vesa vga via vmware voodoo"

Unset:  CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

```

And here are the hopefully relevant sections of .config:

```

#

# IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support

#

CONFIG_IEEE1394=y

#

# Subsystem Options

#

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_VERBOSEDEBUG is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_OUI_DB is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_EXTRA_CONFIG_ROMS is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_EXPORT_FULL_API is not set

#

# Device Drivers

#

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_PCILYNX is not set

CONFIG_IEEE1394_OHCI1394=y

#

# Protocol Drivers

#

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_VIDEO1394 is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_SBP2 is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_ETH1394 is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE1394_DV1394 is not set

CONFIG_IEEE1394_RAWIO=y

#

# I2O device support

#

# CONFIG_I2O is not set

#

# Network device support

#

CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y

# CONFIG_DUMMY is not set

# CONFIG_BONDING is not set

# CONFIG_EQUALIZER is not set

CONFIG_TUN=y

# CONFIG_NET_SB1000 is not set

#

# ARCnet devices

#

# CONFIG_ARCNET is not set

#

# PHY device support

#

CONFIG_PHYLIB=m

#

# MII PHY device drivers

#

# CONFIG_MARVELL_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_DAVICOM_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_QSEMI_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_LXT_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_CICADA_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_VITESSE_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_SMSC_PHY is not set

# CONFIG_FIXED_PHY is not set

#

# Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)

#

CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y

CONFIG_MII=y

# CONFIG_HAPPYMEAL is not set

# CONFIG_SUNGEM is not set

# CONFIG_CASSINI is not set

# CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_3COM is not set

#

# Tulip family network device support

#

# CONFIG_NET_TULIP is not set

# CONFIG_HP100 is not set

# CONFIG_NET_PCI is not set

#

# Ethernet (1000 Mbit)

#

# CONFIG_ACENIC is not set

# CONFIG_DL2K is not set

# CONFIG_E1000 is not set

# CONFIG_NS83820 is not set

# CONFIG_HAMACHI is not set

# CONFIG_YELLOWFIN is not set

CONFIG_R8169=m

# CONFIG_R8169_NAPI is not set

# CONFIG_SIS190 is not set

# CONFIG_SKGE is not set

# CONFIG_SKY2 is not set

# CONFIG_SK98LIN is not set

# CONFIG_TIGON3 is not set

# CONFIG_BNX2 is not set

# CONFIG_QLA3XXX is not set

#

# Ethernet (10000 Mbit)

#

# CONFIG_CHELSIO_T1 is not set

# CONFIG_IXGB is not set

# CONFIG_S2IO is not set

# CONFIG_MYRI10GE is not set

```

----------

## guyr

 *Aniruddha wrote:*   

> It would help to know the exact type of networkcard. Try searching your manual or laptopbox for it. You can also run lshw.

 

No mention of it in the User's Guide, which is probably to be expected.  Also no mention of it in the "Technical Details."  Windows say it is a Realtek RTL8101E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0).  This is consistent with what lspci reported under the the LiveDVD environment.

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## Kasumi_Ninja

There been lot's of issues with the Linux kernel breaking realtek compatibility. I've gotten my realtek to work with the Window drivers through Ndiswrapper. Alternatively you can contact Realtek:

 *guyr wrote:*   

>  *streamkid wrote:*   IIRC, some methods, etc. were deprecated on > 2.6.22, that's why it won't compile.
> 
> I encountered this while trying to compile the module for an rtl8101.
> 
> What I did was requesting reporting the driver to realtek and they sent me back a newer version, which wasn't available at their site, that worked. 
> ...

 

P.S.

And please 'code' the output in your second reply, this makes the thread more readable.

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## guyr

Courtesy of this thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-618710-highlight-.html I learned of an alternative install called TING.  Since I wasn't making headway, I started over and used a TING based install.  In short, my Ethernet port is working now, so it looks to be a kernel version problem: 2.6.19 doesn't work, 2.6.22 does with the standard r8169 driver.  Thanks all for helping.  Now I'm unable to poweroff, as documented here: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4538666.html#4538666

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## Kasumi_Ninja

 *guyr wrote:*   

> Courtesy of this thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-618710-highlight-.html I learned of an alternative install called TING.  Since I wasn't making headway, I started over and used a TING based install.  In short, my Ethernet port is working now, so it looks to be a kernel version problem: 2.6.19 doesn't work, 2.6.22 does with the standard r8169 driver.  Thanks all for helping.  Now I'm unable to poweroff, as documented here: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4538666.html#4538666

 

Good to hear you you found a solution! Oh an while your at it please add [solved] to this thread's title   :Wink: . I'll bet these other problems will get fixed, Gentoo might take some effort in  the beginning but after that it should work flawless   :Smile: 

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