# SOLVED help with ethernet in ASRock N68-GS4 FX R2.0 box

## mikefot

Dear Folks,

I am running Gentoo stable amd64 on a box with an AMD FX 8300 cpu sat in  a  ASRock N68-GS4 FX R2.0 motherboard.

Cooling is working - povray benchmark runs to completion max temp 50C without a problem.

Although the ethernet cable light flashes happily away on the side of the box I am getting connection wired deactivation errors 

and wired interface IP configuation was unavailable errors and ping -c 3 www.gentoo.org gives temporary failure in name resolution etc.

I think that there could be a problem with the ethernet card driver here in some way.

I think I read somewhere that I may need to update the bios with a usb stick to the very latest version to help fix this but I am not exactly sure here.

Googling around to find the latest version is not so helpful it seems.

I could post a query to ASrock on this:

https://event.asrock.com/tsd.asp

The Asrock page on the board says it uses the following ethernet card:

Giga PHY Realtek RTL8211E

The page is here

https://www.asrock.com/MB/NVIDIA/N68-GS4%20FX%20R2.0/index.asp

The bios updating software mentioned on it probably only runs on Windows I guess.

The instant flash option would work for me I guess:

https://www.asrock.com/MB/NVIDIA/N68-GS4%20FX%20R2.0/index.asp#BIOS

There is a discussion on an Arch Linux user forum on modifying the mkinitcpio.conf file whatever this:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=200749

to fix the problem (I think it is the same problem anyway) in some way.

If it is relevant to my case would there be a gentoo equivalent of it?

I could run lspci and other commands (suggestions welcome) to see what the OS sees for an ethernet card and post it up.

laspci sees an NVIDIA MCP 61 ethernet rev a2 bridge 

No other ethernet listing under lspci 

Comments appreciated.

Regards

Michael FothergillLast edited by mikefot on Fri Jul 20, 2018 12:36 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## ali3nx

Greetings Michael Fothergill,

You can use the following command to view any Linux kernel drivers loaded by a hardware device. check this and see if the ethernet controller has a device driver loaded.

```
lspci -k
```

Also if you are willing please provide the output of 

```
emerge --info && lsmod && dmesg
```

Please paste them into https://bpaste.net as reading them from a pastebin website with no ads will be much easier for anyone willing or able to assist you.

All of the above would be very useful perspective on kernel version and Gentoo related system configuration variables.

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## mikefot

Many thanks.

I ran 

```
lspci -k
```

.

The same MCP 61 rev a2 listing is present for the ethernet bridge.

But it also says that the driver and module named 

```
forcedeth
```

 is being used here.

Suggestions welcome here.

Regards

MF

PS I will get a copy of the output on the other commands via a usb stick to the kaveri box I use and post it up tonorrow morning.

I can see several tx timeouts with irq status numbers for forcedeth in the dmesg output.Last edited by mikefot on Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:19 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## ali3nx

 *mikefot wrote:*   

> There is a discussion on an Arch Linux user forum on modifying the mkinitcpio.conf file whatever this:
> 
> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=200749
> 
> to fix the problem (I think it is the same problem anyway) in some way.
> ...

 

The post on arch forums appears to be related to customizing the initramfs image likely for the purpose of forcing the Ethernet driver to disable some pci express and memory access features that may be a benefit or necessary. 

```
options forcedeth msi=0 msix=0
```

Doing this may not be necessary for gentoo at all or for your system specifically as your able to compile your own kernel and often some device drivers permit disabling optional features in the kernel menuconfig before compilation.

Generally speaking using an initramfs image is not necessary with Linux unless there is a specific need to use one. None of my gentoo systems use an initramfs image.

You could check your kernel config for the forcedeth ethernet driver and see if you can disable both of those options. MSIX may also be an acpi feature but i've not used forcedeth or consumed enough coffee to recall exactly. you could also attempt to add both of those options to your bootloader kernel boot args to test if that makes an improvement.

also ensure you have the linux-firmware package installed. your eternet chipset may need a firmware file that is not available without the linux-firmware package.

Something else with inquiring about given the age of the hardware. I don't believe that motherboard is uefi capable but can you confirm this?

https://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/N68-GS4%20FX%20R2.0/

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## mikefot

Many thanks again.

This involves copying packages to the isolated box from the internet connected one I have here and then

compiling the linux firmware package on it.

I am running a kernel created on an amd 8350 cpu installed on an ASUS sabertooth motherboard.

I think I shoukld recompile it on the AMD 8300 cpu I am using here although it seems to identify the new motherboard correctly and the OS runs reasonably enough

apart from the problem with the ethernet connection.

Regards

MF

PS I have to get some sleep now.  But I will return with more output tomorrow morning.

Cheers

final update

I reinstalled gentoo on this machine and the new kernel made by genkernel has allowed the external ethernet adapter to be recognised.

I now have an internet connection under gentoo.

Thanks to everyone for the assistance on this.

MF

PPS

The output from dmesg is here:

https://paste.debian.net/1033214/

and the output from emerge --info is here:

https://paste.debian.net/1033216/

and the output from lsmod is here.

https://paste.debian.net/1033217/

BTW, I tried booting from a debian netinstall dvd and 

found that it could not establish an internet connection which it

very commonly does all by itself on lots of pcs and laptops I use......

This is a sign to me that the motherboard has a not too cool ethernet card or board component in it.......

Just saying.

If you want to recommend that I recompile my existing kernel I can.

PPPS

I have apparently already compiled 

```
sys-linux firmware
```

 and 

```
sys-kernel/linux-firmware
```

 on this install orginally

made on the other asus motherboard......

Should I recompile them and thus run 

```
emerge sys-linux firmware
```

 and

```
 sys-kernel/linux firmware 
```

again here on the new asrock motherboard?

PPPPS

Is it possible in theory to buy a second ethernet card or board even as an external device that I could attach to the PC and use it

instead of the box ethernet card and then using instructions from the gentoo community get a driver to see that device and run it

and then I would have a useable internet connection for the new PC I have put together with the Asrock board?

Comments

Cheers

MF

PPPPPS  Do you think I should go ahead and recompile the existing kernel on the new box?

Many thanks.

PPPPPPS  I will get more output if needed and post it up.

the comments on the post here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3626833/nvme-support-asrock-n68c-gs4-pcie-adapter.html

say it doesn't have uefi support but maybe you could use a bios type software called clover with it or something...

Regds

MF

Can't I just buy a different ethernet card and replace it?

e.g. this one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0000TO0BQ/ref=s9_acsd_top_hd_bw_bT8O6Z_c_x_7_w?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=KYGAJM6TBBEE5JSRVETQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=15e26651-22a0-5739-98b2-1db8f4316852&pf_rd_i=430513031

or anything else you could suggest?

Cheers

I hope the debian pastebin site doesn't use adverts.

I am going to look at the kernel compilation guide web pages and recompile the existing kernel specifying both the asus engt 430 video card I am using (to be fair I used the same card in the existing kernel on the old motherboard and also see if I can find the correct flag in the kernel make menuconfig file beofre I recompile it.

Then even though it somehow has seen the new motherboard and tried to run the forcedeth driver on it by default I will turn on the correct (or as correct) ethernet driver (and sound cards etc and anything else I can see that needs changing to the new motherboard spec relative to the asus sabertooth board and see how I get on.

It would be great to hear of a linux user anywhere who has got the Asrock N68 FX R2.0 motherboard internet connection working correctly........

*update*

I ran the Ubuntu live distro on the box.  It tells me that there is no wifi adapter present in it and it confirms that the ethernet card is unconfigurable or unusuable to the OS.

I am going to buy a UGREEN external ethernet adapter and a wifi adapter that works with linux OS well.  Penguin and Panda wifi adapters are recommended (comments appreciated).  

What about Foktech and Mogrop wifi adapters common on e.g. Amazon?

Suggestions welcome.

Regards

MF

*new update*

I tried out the UGREEN adapter and the debian install I have on the machine saw it and I have an internet connection running on it.  I upgraded the packages in debian and the OS works normally.  With the gentoo install, it doesn't see the UGREEN adapter ethernet BUT when I ran a gentoo live install DVD I have that did see the external ethernet usb connection.

I am going to mount the gentoo install on debian on the new box using chroot.......

Then I am going to run the world updates on it using the internet connection that debian has got running.

Then I will recompile the kernel etc and see if that helps the gentoo install to see the ethernet.

I also got a WIFI adapter as well.  If I can't gentoo to see the ugreen adapter I will see if ti can see the WIFI adapter  instead.

Comments appreciated.

Regards

MF

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