Weblog entry #4 for Cxms
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#4
Fighting me all the way
Posted by Cxms on Mon 7 Sep 2009 at 00:37
Thanks to a reply I did find out why, or possibly why my network drivers will not load. The bnx2 kernel module (for my network hardware) does not comply with Debians Free Software policy, so it has to live in the non-free section. My guess is it tries to pull it from the free library. I am not experienced enough to rebuild the installer nor find a way to add it in afterwards, so have been pestering friends and lurking on as many Debian forums as I can find as yet to no avail.
I did get tired of burning CD's and decided to go with a USB boot for my installs, but that in itself presents problems as again like anything in Linux it's not as simple as it should be. Perhaps someone will do a quick fix on the net install cd ISO and things will get easier. Until then I will keep fumbling until I hit on the right thing.
I did get tired of burning CD's and decided to go with a USB boot for my installs, but that in itself presents problems as again like anything in Linux it's not as simple as it should be. Perhaps someone will do a quick fix on the net install cd ISO and things will get easier. Until then I will keep fumbling until I hit on the right thing.
Comments on this Entry
Posted by Anonymous (80.101.xx.xx) on Mon 7 Sep 2009 at 15:20
To use the non-free library, make sure your /etc/apt/sources.list file says something like:
deb http://ftp.--yourlocalmirror--.debian.org/debian/ lenny main non-free
then 'aptitude update' and 'aptitude install firmware-bnx2' and 'update-initramfs -k all -u'
deb http://ftp.--yourlocalmirror--.debian.org/debian/ lenny main non-free
then 'aptitude update' and 'aptitude install firmware-bnx2' and 'update-initramfs -k all -u'
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I'm guessing this doesn't work if the network card isn't working.
I'd have thought when doing the install, stop before detecting network hardware, ctrl-alt-f(mumble) to a console and install the deb from a USB stick floppy or similar (install media if you added it to the CD before burning). Will fix the network card issue. He'll need some magic like yours if the initrd is still an issue but once you have a working network card it is all a lot easier to fix.
I thought the installer has a specific way of installing non-free drivers, but it isn't hard to bail out to a shell and install a deb if you can't find it.
I'd have thought when doing the install, stop before detecting network hardware, ctrl-alt-f(mumble) to a console and install the deb from a USB stick floppy or similar (install media if you added it to the CD before burning). Will fix the network card issue. He'll need some magic like yours if the initrd is still an issue but once you have a working network card it is all a lot easier to fix.
I thought the installer has a specific way of installing non-free drivers, but it isn't hard to bail out to a shell and install a deb if you can't find it.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I did try the install from a removal device formatted fat but it says it cannot read the drivers from the device. The drivers I am speaking about were downloaded directly from the Broadcom site Linux. Also tried with the drivers from Dell where I purchased the server.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I would use the drivers from Debian non-free, just because they usually have that better bit of integration.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I agree but do not know how to install the drivers if I cannont select them during the install.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (130.246.xx.xx) on Thu 12 Nov 2009 at 11:56
you need a 2.6.29 or above kernel to get bcm5716 to be detected by the bnx2 module. Stable is not this far on in kernels, so I doubt you'll get it to work easily. In a similar situation myself, and can't get even the testing (2.6.30 kernel) to work...
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I used the unbutu server install. It's exactly the same thing but works perfectly.
Write me at cxms @ yahoo . com and we can talk off line about our installs.
Write me at cxms @ yahoo . com and we can talk off line about our installs.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (24.156.xx.xx) on Sat 12 Sep 2009 at 03:51
If I read this right you’re talking about an upgrade not a new install. I am installing from a Netinstl cd I burned from the latest stable download on the Debian site. In the past this has worked perfectly, but in this case it will not recognize my network hardware even though I can choose the BNX2 drivers from the list.
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