Fedora Core 4 Stops Loading When Proliant 3000 Connected To Internet

[Sean Smith_7]

If I leave the modem connected to my FC4 machine during booting, right after the "Determining IP information for eth0" I get "interface 'devxxxxxx' not found". After about 40 of these (with different numbers for the xxxxxx bit), the computer crashes. When I unplug the ethernet cable, the machine will boot up normally (allowing my to plug in the ethernet after booting to use the internet). What could be causing this? It's been suggested to me that the computer could be set to boot from LAN but since the error occurs whilst half-way through loading Fedora Core, I don't think this could be the case.

[Vitaly Karasik_1]

What is your network settings(/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0) ?

Rgds,
Vitaly

[Sean Smith_7]

# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
IPV6INIT=no
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

[Vitaly Karasik_1]

I see two reason for this problem - it may be a problem with NIC driver and/or there is some problem with a network point or DHCP server.

Can you please send us output of "ifconfig -a" and /etc/modprobe.conf?

[Sean Smith_7]

Sure thing. Here they are;

[Sean@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/modprobe.conf
alias scsi_hostadapter cpqarray
alias scsi_hostadapter1 megaraid
alias scsi_hostadapter2 sym53c8xx
alias eth1 tulip

[Sean@localhost ~]$ ifconfig -a
bash: ifconfig: command not found
[Sean@localhost ~]$

I might not have understood the ifconfig request correcly. Was I supposed to type something else aswell?

Also, what is it you mean by a problem with a network point or DHCP server? The machine plugs straight into an NTL Cable modem at my house (as opposed to being part of a company network).
I never installed a driver for this card; it just seemed to recognise the card (and indeed it works if I plug in the cable AFTER booting up the computer). Are there special concerns and methods for installing drivers on linux?

[Vitaly Karasik_1]

> indeed it works if I plug in the cable >AFTER booting up the computer

In this case you have the right driver...
Can you please send us exactly message about "interface not found"?
Or just attach your /var/log/messsages?

[Sean Smith_7]

I've checked inside /var/log/messages and messages.1 but there's no mention of the error message in there. Possibly because the log info isn't saved if the computer hangs and has to be turned off? I can't give you a precise error message because what I get is

devxxxxxx
devxxxxxx
devxxxxxx
devxxxxxx
devxxxxxx

scrolling at a rate of about five a second (pause doesn't stop them) and it goes on to well over 40. The xxxxx represent numbers, mostly about 5 digits, but sometimes 4, I think. That's the best info I can give on the error message.

After all these have scrolled past, the screen goes back to its previous display with
the last two lines being;

Enabling local filesystem quotas: [OK]

Enabling swap space: [OK]

_ (flashing underscore)

I hear noises from inside the server (like I hear during normal operation, particularly when I move the mouse) and observe a single HD activity light flash every 4 or 5 seconds. No progress is made from this point, including if I unplug the ethernet cable. Pressing Ctrl Alt Delete works to make it reset.