(Answer) (Category) Linux on PowerPC FAQ-O-Matic : (Category) System Configuration : (Category) Networking :
My DEC 21041 Ethernet card (Farallon, et al) won't work.
Try this patch to tulip.c:


diff -urN linux-pmac-old/drivers/net/tulip.c linux-pmac/drivers/net/tulip.c
--- linux-pmac-old/drivers/net/tulip.c  Tue Jun  3 15:14:29 1997
+++ linux-pmac/drivers/net/tulip.c      Mon Aug 11 15:43:59 1997
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@
 {0,0,0,0,  0xff,0xff,0,0,  0xff,0,0xff,0x01, 0,0,0xff,0 };
 /* 21041 transceiver register settings: 10-T, 10-2, AUI, 100-T, 10T-FD*/
 static u16 t21041_csr13[] = { 0xEF01, 0xEF09, 0xEF09, 0xEF01, 0xEF09, };
-static u16 t21041_csr14[] = { 0xFFFF, 0xF7FD, 0xF7FD, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, };
+static u16 t21041_csr14[] = { 0xFF7F, 0xF7FD, 0xF7FD, 0xFFFF, 0xFFFF, };
 static u16 t21041_csr15[] = { 0x0008, 0x0006, 0x000E, 0x0008, 0x0008, };
 
 static u16 t21142_csr13[] = { 0x0001, 0x0009, 0x0009, 0x0001, 0x0001, };


Make this one-character change in your tulip.c and recompile the kernel. This
has worked on the Performa 6400 and some other systems as well.

d.w. harks 12-16-97

Update: It seems that tulip.c's register settings have been updated in the
newer (post 3-98) 2.1.24 kernels. This patch will most likely not work,
but the new driver seems to work fine without it.

d.w. harks 7-22-98
psychedel@mindless.com, harksdw@uwec.edu
lkarrer, 15.9.98
This Patch did not work for me. I had luck with using the standart DEC-Chip Driver suplied with Kernel 2.1.115 on linuxppc / farallon ethernet-card
lkarrer@trash.net
I was able to get a Fallaron ethernet card using the Digital (DEC) 21041 chipset to work on a Motorola Starmax 4000 (604e 160mhz) using LinuxPPC 4.1.
Rich West supplied me the answer for my machine in particular. (Thanks again Rich!)
I happened to use the DEC driver and NOT the tulip code. Also, the position of where the ethernet card goes is important. I had to place the card in the slot closest to the CPU.
I do not know why the exact reason why this is true (I'm curious to know why). After I plugged the card in the slot closest to the CPU and rebooted the device was recognized by the LinuxPPC when I booted. I was then able to configure the interface using ifconfig.
Just for kicks, I tried using the LinuxPPC installer (using a LinuxPPC CD). The installer found the correct driver for my Fallaron card.
darren_shu@virtual-media.com
I had this problem. And this may or may not affect you, however I found that with the Q3 Linux/PPC 1999 release recompiling the kernel is the *last* thing you want to do with a 21041 card. After 2 months of pulling my hair out I finally switched to a kernel **with-out** the tulip support, and it worked fine. I'm assuming that there must be a loadable module set up in the default config or another. 5 minutes after figuring that out, I was happily surfing the web via RoadRunner.
robknapp@nc.rr.com
If you have a 6500, please see http://www.rapierbit.org/linux/de4x5.html . It states that there are problems with kernels < 2.2.17 combined with PowerMac 6500's because of a hardware issue in the 6500 series.

However, at least the old-pmac 2.4.18 kernel from the current Debian (Debian testing, sept 2002), shows exactly this problem. The Ethernet card will install through auto-detection, but the connection will fall out after a few kilobytes have transferred through, forcing you to "ifdown" and "ifup" the connection time and again, which also optionally confuses the kernel enough to get a freeze, or some other ugly thing (like being unable to "ifdown").

Please see the link for further information; I have just requested the author to keep his site up. My reccommendation for 2.4.18 users is just to shift back to 2.2.20 (or anything >= 2.2.17, but < 2.4.x). If you had just installed ext3, like me, don't worry; the Debian 2.2.20 kernel gracefully falls back to ext2 without change.

I would also like to especially name the "EtherMac" brand here, as I have been searching on this keyword in the beginning, without finding the right information. (Also, I first thought I had this problem because my 100Mb card didn't fall back to 10Mb, which my hub requires. But it turned out to be this.)

Thanks!
StefanRieken@SoftHome.net

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