Install new kernel or Atheros driver without network

[twocell]

This is a new install, although I basically installed it a month ago and just came back to it.

/etc/network/interfaces :

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
        address 192.168.2.3
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        gateway 192.168.2.1
        bridge_ports eth0
        bridge_stp off
        bridge_fd 0

I'm not too familiar with this vmbr stuff but I assume that it is creating a bridged virtual interface, and that eth0 doesn't need to be spelled out here because it is brought up automatically when vmbr0 is right?

Anyway eth0 isn't coming up. /etc/init.d/networking restart produces an error:

interface eth0 does not exist!

This is an onboard Atheros AR8121. I think the drivers are in the latest kernel, but how do I proceed without a network connection. Could I download the kernel to a USB drive and install it somehow?

In any case I'm looking forward to resolving this hardware issue and beginning my adventures in virtualization so any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[dietmar]

Is the card detected (see dmesg output)?

 

[twocell]

It looks like it's not detecting it at all. I see it under lspci of course, but not under dmesg and there is nothing under lsmod either. Atheros has released a linux driver here:

http://partner.atheros.com/Drivers.aspx

but I think upgrading the kernel should do the trick.

 

[twocell]

I installed another NIC (hopefully a temporary thing) and upgraded the kernel:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get install proxmox-ve-2.6.24

It still doesn't detect the onboard NIC. I found an Ubuntu bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24/+bug/341183

They have a patch, but I'm not sure how to implement it.

 

[dietmar]

will take a look at that tomorow.

 

[dietmar]

OK - we just uploaded a new 2.6.24 kernel to the pvetest repository, including the alt1e driver - please can you test?