On 11/11/2007, Keith Schweikhard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello, > I am currently configuring two identical ACER Aspire 5520 laptops. The > processors are AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core, Nvidia nforce 610M providing > the > ethernet connection. Atheros AR5007EG for the wireless connection. > I am doing a netinstall using Debian Testing (Lenny). The kernel > configuration is: 2.6.22-2-amd64. The version of forcedeth is 0.60. The > first machine configured without problems. The second machine generates > the > following error during boot: > > ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LMAC] enabled at IRQ 23 > ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0a.0[A] -> Link [LMAC] -> GSI 23 (level, low) > -> > IRQ 23 > PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:0a.0 to 64 > forcedeth: using HIGHDMA > 0000:00:0a.0: Invalid Mac address detected: 1d:9b:2a:38:1b:00 > Please complain to your hardware vendor. Switching to a random MAC. > eth0: forcedeth.c: subsystem: 01025:0126 bound to 0000:00:0a.0 > . > . > . > udev: renamed network interface eth0 to eth39 > > This results in udev assigning a different ethernet interface each time > it > boots. (ie. eth1, eth2, ...... eth39). This seemingly has two effects. > 1. It is impossible to bring the network connection down and back up > again. > 2. It is impossible to tailor the network connection (dhcp or nothing) > 3. The IP address of the machine changes every time it reboots. (Result of > a > random MAC address assignment.) > 4. It seems to cause the ethernet configuration process to stop. As a > result, > the WAN card never initializes. > I have compared the boot messages generated by both machines and the only > differences are the invalid MAC address message, udev renaming the > ethernet > interface, and the machine failing to attempt to initialize the wlan > interface. I am guessing that the invalid MAC address and the failure to > initialize the wireless are somehow related. Because this is currently a > dual boot machine I checked the MAC address on the windows side and it > reports back the same MAC address that forcedeth is reporting as being > invalid. The wireless interface also works properly in windows. I have > done > some searching and have found that the forcedeth module may be incorrectly > identifying/ translating the MAC address. (Why it works on one machine > and > not on the other still confuses me.) Given the fact that a problem has > been > identified in forcedeth, is there a workaround that will prevent the > kernel > from giving up on the ethernet initialization so I can at least initialize > the wireless card and obtain a consistent network connection? > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Hello, I had a similar problem with the forcedeth device but with a desktop motherboard without wireless. The error was the same forcedeth device has bad MAC address, random MAC being assigned and the card not being configured when the MAC changed between boots. My problem started when I upgraded the BIOS from one version to another and went away again when I downgraded back to the original BIOS. Check for mail in the debian-user archive subject "Asrock K8NF6G-VSTA BIOS upgrade warning - forcedeth fails" on the 25th of July 2007. You could check if both laptops have the same BIOS versions as a start.
HTH Bill
