Pavilion + RTL8101e/8169 Problem

[streamkid]

Hello,
this is my first laptop, so I may be missing laptop-specific linux things

The thing is a Pavilion 6520ea with core 2 duo 7100, and I have hard time installing 2007.0 from minimal cd (amd64).

I googled and found a gentoo-wiki page, where's stated that windblows disables the eth0 on shutdown so it doesn't WoL. I fixed this.

When I boot the cd, by the time I am logged in as root, both the leds from the notebook are down and from the switch (ie link is down). eth0 seems to exist though, and i can configure it too.

Looking more closely, the net link is up till the time when autoconfig starts, and in my laptop says "Detected Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 7100 @ 1.80GHz CPUs @ 1795MHz". Then, it goes down.

If i don't allow autoconfig to start, the link will remain active, but i won't have any eth0, ie not configured.

System also reports these:

livecd root# dmesg | grep eth0
eth0: RTL8101e at 0xffffc20010094000, 00:1b:24:2a:8e:f8, IRC 17
eth0: RTL8101e at 0xffffc20010094000, 00:1b:24:2a:8e:f8, IRC 17
r8169: eth0: link down
r8169: eth0: link down

livecd root# lspci
06:00.0 Ethernet Controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101e PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01)

Help me which ever way you can

PS: I 'll try to configure the card myself, but i suppose autoconfig does more than configuring my eth0, and i 'm not willing to configure the whole livecd by hand

[gruven]

Crazy idea, but have you tried booting an ubuntu livecd? I do all my installs from ubuntu, because it supports my ipw3945 with wpa out of the box, and then I can install gentoo from there.

Just an idea. Other than that, I have no clue because my HP has the Intel IPW3945 wireless card.

[streamkid]

thanks for the reply..
no, i didn't have such an idea..
to be honest, i tried booting 7.04 amd64, but it crashed... i suppose it's supported, but it crashed.. i am going to try also the x86 version..


there is also an update on the issue..
you can take a look here:
Gentoo Forums :: View topic - Pavilion + RTL8101e/8169 Problem

my hp has also this wireless card, the problem is on the wired network...

[gruven]

Sorry man, mine has the Intel e100 wired network card. If I can't get something to work, I usually just try different livecd's until one work to get gentoo installed on the hard drive.

[streamkid]

ubuntu fails to start and drops me to a prompt..
i 'll give knoppix a try.. i don't really like a laptop with vista on it.. i _want_ linux


any idea why this may be happening?

[streamkid]

I finally did it
Used your idea.. But not with ubuntu.. I used a gentoo livecd where i compiled the ethernet module

[gruven]

I finally did it
Used your idea.. But not with ubuntu.. I used a gentoo livecd where i compiled the ethernet module

Glad to hear you got it working and that I could help. Livecd's are a great thing, and I love that you can use any one of them to install gentoo. Good luck on your install!