Arch Linux

igol

Member

Registered: 2010-03-16

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

Hi All,

After doing a system upgrade (see output from /var/log/pacman.log below) I am unable to use eth0 (it's a b44 which has previously been working fine). From the output of the commands below I suspect that the problem lies with the kernel driver rather than the networkmanager package. Also the problem remains without networkmanager started.

I'm wondering if anyone knows a fix. I'm thinking maybe parameters in /etc/modprobe.d/? or is it a bug in the kernel module?

It's an (oldish) Acer Travelmate 4200 which allows me to connect via wireless for now (iwl3945) so for me its not urgent (maybe the next system upgrade will fix it?). By the way - it's not hardware failure because it still works when booted from a usb drive.

Details:

~]# lspci | grep -i eth
06:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)

~]# grep MODULES= /etc/rc.conf
MODULES=(b44 iwl3945 vboxdrv vboxnetflt vboxnetadp)

~]# tail -f /var/log/everything.log &
~]# modprobe -r b44
Aug  4 17:38:08 acer-laptop kernel: b44 0000:06:01.0: PCI INT A disabled

~]# modprobe b44
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: b44 0000:06:01.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: ssb: Core 0 found: Fast Ethernet (cc 0x806, rev 0x07, vendor 0x4243)
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: ssb: Core 1 found: V90 (cc 0x807, rev 0x03, vendor 0x4243)
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: ssb: Core 2 found: PCI (cc 0x804, rev 0x0A, vendor 0x4243)
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: ssb: Sonics Silicon Backplane found on PCI device 0000:06:01.0
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: b44: b44.c:v2.0
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: b44: Invalid MAC address found in EEPROM
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: b44 ssb0:0: Problem fetching invariants of chip, aborting
Aug  4 17:47:09 acer-laptop kernel: b44: probe of ssb0:0 failed with error -22

from /var/log/pacman.log:
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded kernel26 (2.6.34.1-1 -> 2.6.34.2-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded kernel26-headers (2.6.34.1-1 -> 2.6.34.2-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded networkmanager (0.8-1 -> 0.8.1-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded network-manager-applet (0.8-3 -> 0.8.1-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded networkmanager-openconnect (0.8-1 -> 0.8.1-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded networkmanager-openvpn (0.8-1 -> 0.8.1-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded networkmanager-pptp (0.8-1 -> 0.8.1-1)
[2010-08-04 10:48] upgraded networkmanager-vpnc (0.8-1 -> 0.8.1-1)

Last edited by igol (2010-08-04 12:55:29)

gimpel

Member

From: Jena, Germany

Registered: 2008-02-08

Posts: 23

Re: [SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

this can be fixed by downgrading the kernel to 2.6.34.1, see: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=102256

---

god is real unless declared integer

wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: [SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

or update to 2.6.35 or use the patch from here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=102212

---

Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

igol

Member

Registered: 2010-03-16

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

Thank you both for your quick responses!

And now this, of course, is kind-of off topic but may help someone else who gets here via a search...

What's the best way of installing a specific package from "testing" without enabling it (for all packages) in /etc/pacman.conf?

(I searched, but "testing" comes up with a predictably large set of results!)

edit:
As far as I can see there are 2 options:

1. (simple)
download the file from a repository e.g: http://ftp.iinet.net.au/linux/archlinux … pkg.tar.xz
then run:
pacman -U kernel26-2.6.35-1-i686.pkg.tar.xz

2. (more complex)
uncomment the "testing" section in /etc/pacman.conf
run:
pacman -Sy
then:
pacman -S kernel26
then re-comment the uncommented lines in /etc/pacman.conf

Both of these methods update the package (and fix the b44/eth0 problem!) however when you next run pacman -Syu you get a warning:
"warning: kernel26: local (2.6.35-1) is newer than core (2.6.34.2-1)"
Which, I presume, will just go away when the version in "base" catches up with the installed version?

Is there an "official" or better way?

Last edited by igol (2010-08-04 12:49:51)

biginoz

Member

Registered: 2009-09-23

Posts: 5

Re: [SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

or take the kernel-lts
pacman -S kernel26-lts
I'ts work for me.

(I have the same card.)
The kernel26 2.6.35 don't work for me.

wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: [SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

The kernel26 2.6.35 don't work for me.

if it doesn't work, i suggest to report it on bugzilla.kernel.org

---

Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

dt

Member

Registered: 2009-11-06

Posts: 28

Re: [SOLVED] b44 eth0 not available after system upgrade

I don't understand how it can work for someone with one card and cannot for someone with the same.
Just updating to 2.6.35 didn't work for me either and when i tried to bring the link up manually I only got:
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
Someone getting it to work with the same network card implies for me, I must have overlooked something..
I also don't get, what is more complex about that "more complex" way btw.
e.. connecting directly through pppoe worked..
e2.. thats interesting, I thought i had something misconfigured, that i had to start dhcpcd manually, I just cant get my head around, what it should be.

Last edited by dt (2010-08-08 09:01:07)