On Sun, Feb 02, 2003 at 11:42:58AM +1100, Sam Varghese wrote: > g'day all, > > i've just set up a debian box for use as a server, using woody. > everything has gone well apart from this message which keeps coming > through every now and then: > > netdev watchdog eth0 transmit timed out > > i used the 2.4 kernel which came with the disks - 2.4.18-bf2.4. the > network cards on the box both use the rtl8139 module.
I have the exact same issue - I have an onboard RTL8139 ethernet device on my desktop. It works just fine with FreeBSD 4.7, and also with RedHat 8.0. However, I wouldn't work with the Debian 2.4.18-bf2boot floppy, giving the same eth0 transmit timeout error. I discovered that RedHat made a patch for the 8139too module which drives this device, with that patch, it works. I built another boot floppy with kernel 2.4.18 and the patch, and I was able to do a network-based install of Debian, but the installation put in kernel 2.4.18-bf2.4, and so, after a reboot, it was again unable to see a network, and I was stuck. I rebooted with my custom boot floppy, downloaded a new kernel .deb package (2.4.20), and tried to install it with dpkg -i, but it failed with some errors, and since I am a complete newbie with Debian, I didn't know what to do then and gave up. I have wasted too much time with this now, and unless someone offers a bright idea, I am going to go back to RedHat 8.0, or FreeBSD 4.7 on my desktop. -- Anand Buddhdev http://anand.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]