Does linux not like my onboard network interface?

[Xelaric]

I had a problem with the server version of Ubuntu and i appear to be having a similar issue with PCLinuxOS. The operating system seems to be not detecting the onboard NIC correctly. With Ubuntu, it defined the net interface as a bridge. PCLinuxOS appears to have detected the correct driver but can't configure it.

Do certain distributions of Linux require you to have an external network interface or is there something else wrong here?

[b2bwild]

Do certain distributions of Linux require you to have an external network interface or is there something else wrong here?

Yes, Ubuntu/PCLOS works well with most of the NICs
What is your on board NIC?

Have you used any other linux before this?

[Xelaric]

by onboard NIC i meant the ethernet port on the motherboard. The motherboard on that computer is an Asus M2N-MX SE plus.
What i meant to ask is do i need to get a PCI net card in order for it to work or will it work with the port on the motherboard?

I just realized that i probably should have posted this in the newbie forum since i have very little experience with linux and i hae yet to make a computer operate properly with it.

[jayd512]

What distro are you currently running? Is the card detected properly?

lspci

[Xelaric]

currently i'm running Ubuntu 8.04.1 Server which is detecting the network interface as a bridge.
I tried to run a live distribution of PCLinuxOS which is what someone who was trying to help me with this issue reccomended. The only thing that didn't give just a blank screen was the safe boot option. It showed a driver when it asked me to configure the internet then an error message showed up saying that it couldn't configure the driver. I just realized, i think the driver PCLinuxOS detected was for the video card. I don't remember the exact name, but i remember that it contained "Nvidia" and "PCI". The video card i have is a Nvidia PCIExpress card (I forget the number, i think 6400)

[jayd512]

Go ahead and get the output of

lspci -nn | grep Ethernet

while you're booted into Ubuntu. Post back with it.

[Xelaric]

00:07.0 Bridge[0680]: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet [10de:03ef] (rev a2)

I also noticed there's an orange indicator light next to the ethernet port, does that mean there's something wrong with it?

[jayd512]

I've read that quite a few folks have issues with nVidia NIC's, in multiple OS's.
It could be a firewall setting keeping the NIC from communicating with other devices.
Possible hardware issue, either the card, the cord or the port on the modem/router.

I like to try things in lazy order first. Different cat5 cable... maybe a different distro. Try a liveCD such as Knoppix (awesome hardware detection). Failing that, I would try going to nVidea's website to get the drivers, as well.

[MikeTbob]

ahhh these darn things should work right away, give us the output of this command please.

lsmod

I'm thinking it should use the forcedeth module. I agree with Jay though, lots of folks are having issues with it on multiple OS's.

EDIT: also post the output of

ifconfig

[Xelaric]

lsmod:

mbcache 18560 1 ext3
sd_mod 40448 3
sg 48920 0
sr_mod 27300 0
cdrom 48680 1 sr_mod
sata_nv 38920 2
pata_amd 23940 0
pata_acpi 17024 0
ata_generic 17156 0
ohci_hcd 34692 0
ehci_hcd 49164 0
forcedeth 62732 0
libata 183600 4 sata_nv,pata_amd,pata_acpi,ata_generic
scsi_mod 185528 4 sd_mod,sg,sr_mod,libata
usbcore 176816 3 ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd
thermal 26912 0
processor 49608 1 thermal
fan 13960 0
fbcon 53504 0
tileblit 11264 1 fbcon
font 17280 1 fbcon
bitblit 14592 1 fbcon
softcursor 10880 1 bitblit
fuse 63280 1

ifconfig:

lo Link encap:Local loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

i don't understand where the nVidia is coming from. the only thing on that computer that's nVidia is the video card. I'm just using the ethernet on the motherboard, and it's an Asus motherboard.