Hello,

I’ve just installed CERN’s Scientific Linux 3.0.3 in a Pentium III
machine.
I’m having a problem with the Ethernet connection via dhcp.
The system recognizes my Ethernet board but has no auto negotiation.

Board: VT6105 Rhine III Fast Ehternet

Here some commands to try to clarify the problem:
> mii-tool –v eth1
eth1: no autonegotiation, 10baseT-HD, link ok
  product info: vendor 00:40:63, model 52 rev 4
  basic mode:   autonegotiation enabled
  basic status: autonegotiation complete, link ok
  capabilities: 100baseTx-FD 100baseTx-HD 10baseT-FD 10baseT-HD
  advertising:  100baseTx-FD 100baseTx-HD 10baseT-FD 10baseT-HD flow-
control
  link partner: 10baseT-HD

> cat /proc/pci
Bus  0, device   8, function  0:
    Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6105 [Rhine-III] (rev
134).
      IRQ 10.
      Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=3.Max Lat=8.
      I/O at 0xb400 [0xb4ff].
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xec000000 [0xec0000ff].

> /var/log/messages
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost kernel: via-rhine.c:v1.10-LK1.1.18  July-4-2003
Written by Donald Becker
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost kernel:   http://www.scyld.com/network/via-
rhine.html
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:08.0
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 01:00.0
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost kernel: eth1: VIA VT6105 Rhine-III at 0xb400,
00:08:54:06:f3:71, IRQ 10.
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost kernel: eth1: MII PHY found at address 1, status
0x786d advertising 01e1 Link 0021.
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost xinetd[2271]: pmap_set failed. service=sgi_fam
program=391002 version=2
Feb 18 08:57:43 localhost sendmail: sendmail startup succeeded
...
Feb 18 08:58:37 localhost kernel: ip_tables: (C) 2000-2002 Netfilter core
team
Feb 18 08:58:39 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to
255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
Feb 18 08:58:39 localhost dhclient: DHCPOFFER from 201.17.44.1
Feb 18 08:58:39 localhost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth1 to 255.255.255.255
port 67
...

I see an IRQ sharing between Ethernet and nVidia, but I don’t think this
is the problem. In my opinion the problem is in dhcp client, but I don’t
know how to fix it.

I installed the packages:
dhclient-3.0.1-10_EL3
dhcp-3.0.1-10_EL3
dhcp-devel-3.0.1-10_EL3

but nothing happened.

Does anyone knows how to solve this ethernet problem? I can't work without
a network connection.

Cheers.