After buying myself 1 of the most appealing MB's for me I stumbled into a problem that seems to be present for more people then only myself.. Hence the fact that I'm placing a reply here..
I solved the problem tho, and I can say... it wasn't even that hard.
First I have to say that the problem is partly created by the fact that the kernel isn't able to detect what VIA processor this mainboard is using and will be fixed in the 2.6.20 (at least, that's what Dave Jones from RH assured me)
Due to the fact that the current kernel doesn't recognize the processor it goes , weird enough, into SMP mode and from what I know it shouldn't.
So.. Before you start doing anything... Place an extra network card. (please use 1 that SME DOES recognize, RTL8139 for example) This will be obsolete later but you need it for updating and installing the proper updates & driver.
Install from the CD as a server-only (all can be changed later) and use the RTL8139.
After the reboot; start in the correct kernel and NOT the SMP, you can do that when the system boots, you have 3 seconds for it.
Once in the proper kernel it becomes easy.
You want your system up2date ofcourse so you run a "yum -y update" and let it take control for now.
After the updates you follow instructions and the system shoull reboot again. Make sure it starts in the correct kernel mode and NOT SMP.
Now you are ready to install the driver.. but you have to compile it. So you need extra libs to do so... easy too
type "yum -y install kernel-devel gcc gcc-c++"
That will install all things needed including the dependencies.
I did a reboot after all this.. but I don't think it's really needed (try for yourself)
now you have to download the driver for the RTL8169SC...there are 2 options.
1 - use the latest from realtek
2 - use a slightly older version that DOES work
because the driver 1.04 is not available anymore from realtek and I wasn't sure the link where I have found it will stay I decided to offer it from my own server.
http://www.vexins.com/r1000_v1.04.tgzThe 1.05 is there too.. if you wanne try.
download the driver like so:
"wget
http://www.vexins.com/r1000_v1.04.tgz"
unpack the driver
"tar -vzxf r1000_v1.04.tgz"
go into the map
"cd r1000_v1.04"
and start compiling from here with :
"make clean modules"
"make install"
and to make sure all is detected
"depmod -a"
You have a working driver now.
Shutdown your server & take the power off. Take the extra networkcard out. And start your server again.
There are 2 options now.
1 - use kudzu (and stumble into weird responses)
2 - edit manually
I did the 1st and decided the last is safest option
"mcedit /etc/modprobe.conf"
place at the end of the file the lines :
"alias eth0 r1000"
"alias eth1 r1000"
and remove the other line that is an alias to eth0 (the other nic you just took out).
Reboot the server again, wait patiently and see if all worked for you.
For me it did.
BTW: why not the 1.05 ?? Well.. it works.. but less then 5% coming thru is not good enough for me.
Regards,
Harro