tg3 network cards

[Michael Tautschnig]

> This may or may not be the proper list/outlet for this, so if it's not,  
> feel free to let me know and I'll pursue it elsewhere, but since it came  
> up during a FAI installation I'll start here.
>
> I've got a server with a Broadcom network card (a 5721) and I'm using  
> the tg3 driver, and the box with that NIC that just absolutely refuses  
> to get through the initrd.  The installation hangs in the initramfs in  
> /scripts/live on the function do_netmount(), and I'm pretty sure it's  
> because the 'ipconfig' binary included in the initrd is killing  
> networking.  I've spent a few days now hacking the initrd, the init  
> script, and it's functions to determine the path it takes to get there,  
> which appears to be:
>
[...]

What kind of access do you have for debugging this? Console access? Do you get
it to boot by some other means (e.g., GRML live CD)?

ipconfig is part of the klibc-utils package and most likely just tries to get an
answer from your DHCP server at that very moment. If you get your system to boot
by some other means, you could safely copy over ipconfig from your Debian
systems and just run it on the console manually to see what happens.
Furthermore, some tcpdump or the like may be useful to find out what ipconfig is
trying to achieve.

Other than that, there is also the frequently discussed issue of systems with
more than one NIC -- your ipconfig may simply be trying to get a response from
the DHCP server over some interface that doesn't have any cable plugged in.

Best,
Michael



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