# network interface eth0 does not exist

## taimurh87

Hello 

I am new to Linux community and i now only the basics of Linux. Now i have installed Gentoo 2008 form the LiveCD. After installation, during the boot an error occurred saying 

network interface eth0 does not exist

Please verify hardware or kernel module(driver)

I searched for this error in this forum and figured it out that its a common error. 

Now the problem is i am unable to understand how to rebuild the kernel or make changes in kernel.

please guide me on this issue.

the result of lspci is :

 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 03)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 03)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 12)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801BA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 12)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801BA IDE U100 Controller (rev 12)

00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM SMBus Controller (rev 12)

00:1f.4 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM USB Controller #1 (rev 12)

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 12)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 Pro Ultra TF

02:08.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 64)

02:0c.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78 )

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## taimurh87

Please Dudes help me out in this matter.

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## Jaglover

Welcome to the forums!

 *Quote:*   

> I am new to Linux community and i now only the basics of Linux. Now i have installed Gentoo 2008 form the LiveCD. 

 

Sorry to break you the news, but this wasn't the luckiest choice. This installation method is old and unsupported, this media is old and deprecated.

If you try and carry on with this installation you'll find adding software is a nightmare because everything needs to be upgraded. Bringing 1.5 years old Gentoo up to date is not a piece of cake even for a somewhat experienced Gentoo user. Not to mention possible security problems which come with outdated software.

Installing Gentoo using Handbook will give you invaluable knowledge about maintaining your Gentoo and Linux in general.

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## taimurh87

ahan so you mean to say that i should go for 10.0 or 10.1 release of Gentoo ?

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## Jaglover

 *taimurh87 wrote:*   

> ahan so you mean to say that i should go for 10.0 or 10.1 release of Gentoo ?

 

taimurh87,

Gentoo is a metadistribution, not an ordinary Linux distro. There are no releases, Gentoo is always current. You can choose between stable and testing. Using stable means only thoroughly tested software gets pulled in. What you think are releases are actually profiles. Profiles are for setting some defaults to start with.

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## NeddySeagoon

taimurh87,

Your network cards are

```
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 64)

02:0c.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78 )
```

You need the 3c59x kernel module.  Try 

```
modprobe 3c59x
```

as it should be available.

I cannot tell which interface will be eth0 and which will be eth1

Your Gentoo is 21 months old. Updating to todays Gentoo is an interesting learning experience but its faster to do a stage3 install following the handbook.

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## taimurh87

okh thanks alot. Thats what i want to know that which installation should i use.

now i will try stage 3 installation.

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## taimurh87

WoW  NeddySeagoon the modprobe thing works fine...

the only problem is that i have to do it every time I boot gentoo. can i made a permenent entry in Kernel.?

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## d2_racing

Of course, when you will compile your kernel, you can enable the module inside the kernel.

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