Re: [gentoo-user] eth0 does not exist - success

[Kenneth Hopping <mrhiker@speakeasy.org>]

Richard Fish wrote:

> Ok, when you go to configure your kernel, go under "Device
> Drivers->Network device support->Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)".  Select
> the option "3COM cards", and then the "3c590/3c900 series..." with an
> 'M'.
>
> Assuming that you already configured and installed a kernel, so that
> /usr/src/linux matches your running kernel, you should be able to just
> do "make && make modules_install" to get the new driver.  You can then
> try loading it with "modprobe 3c59x".  If you get no errors from that
> command, then you should get connected automatically within a few
> seconds.  If all goes well, it should work fine even after a reboot.
> If you get errors, well you may have some more work to do to configure
> and install a new kernel.
>
>> This is my first attempt with gentoo and kernel compilation so I'm not
>> very knowledgable about modules. I just followed the steps in the x86
>> installation handbook. Except for the network, everything else (cdrom,
>> floppy) seems to work.
>
>
> I've been somewhat terse about the steps required, assuming you have
> some basic knowledge of how to configure and install a new kernel.
> The gentoo handbook can help here, but if you still have questions or
> something doesn't make sense, feel free to ask for some more help.
>
> -Richard
>
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I finally got eth0 
working, but it was a struggle.

I selected the 3COM options like you suggested and recompiled the 
kernel. Unfortunately, during reboot I got "invalid compressed format 
(err=1)". I tried "make clean" to flush everything and compiled again 
but it still wouldn't boot. My drastic solution was to reinstall gentoo 
from scratch. Now the network initializes properly during startup. I 
also learned to always keep the last working kernel as a backup when you 
reconfigure.

K. Hopping
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