[CentOS] Re: network config files in centos 5 changing

Thu Apr 26 19:29:53 UTC 2007
Scott Silva <ssilva at sgvwater.com>

Scott Silva spake the following on 4/26/2007 12:25 PM:
> Scott Silva spake the following on 4/26/2007 12:04 PM:
>> Jerry Geis spake the following on 4/26/2007 11:53 AM:
>>>> i believe i had mentioned this already on this list:
>>>> have had same problems with my asus m2npv-vm board  (onboard
>>>> forcedepth nic) the first days with the board under fedora 6 - would
>>>> say no big diff's to centos-
>>>> the fedora way goes:
>>>> 1. move or delete /etc/sysconfig/hwconf
>>>> 2. move or delete /etc/modprobe.conf
>>>> 3. run kudzu afterwards => this writes new hwconf, modprobe.conf
>>>> 4. bring your nic's down: ifdown ethx
>>>> 5. remove the driver via modprobe -rv <your-nic-driver> (forcedepth)
>>>> 5a. maybe to be sure: lsmod|grep -i <your-nic-driver>
>>>> 6. reload the driver via modprobe -sv ...
>>>> 7. fix your mac-addr-settings via system-config-network
>>>> 8. compare your mac's in hwconf _and_ via ifconfig
>>>> steps 4-6 are also performed via reboot (grrrrrrrrrr: m$ world tasks),
>>>> but your are able to exclude if this files were changed again after
>>>> step 3. (ls -l /etc/sysconfig/hwconf => date/time !)
>>>> a hint of another problem !
>>>> if there are still diff's, then it's another problem i don't know a
>>>> solution for, yet, but i remember ethx order changes and therefore mac
>>>> mismatches at late fedora 5/early fedora 6 kernels.
>>>> try and report !
>>>> okay ?
>>>> -- 
>>>>      ronald
>>> Ronald,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the above. However, sadly it did not work.
>>> Also I see no way in the system-config-network to set a MAC address.
>>> I was in the character mode here not X.
>>>
>>> This is SOOO bizzar. Again, when I started I had 2 Asus M2N-MX boards.
>>> One was giving the invalid MAC address and one seemed OK.
>>> Both had the forcedeth driver loaded for onboard network.
>>>
>>> I bought 2 gigabyte motherboards (DIFFERENT BIOS) and I have the same
>>> issue. One board is working and the other is giving the invalid MAC
>>> address.
>>> Both gigabytes have the forcedeth driver.
>>>
>>> I tried loading centos 4 but it does not even recognize the forcedeth
>>> device at all.
>>> even manually loading.
>>>
>>> I'm at a loss. I have a script file that runs and sets things up the way
>>> I want after boot up. Not pretty - but I guess it works.
>>>
>>> Jerry
>> This appears to be a bug in the forcedeth driver and the chipset. The driver
>> seems to pull the current MAC address from a register, and writes it back
>> differently. The systems with the trouble must allow this write to take place,
>> and it changes the MAC address for the next boot.
>> I think if you add a HWADDR: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  command to the ifcfg script,
>> it might stick. You will have to find your real MAC address on your own, but
>> it might be on a sticker somewhere on the board, or in a service tag on the
>> equipment.
>>
> Ignore the HWADDR line. I am pretty sure that is the wrong command, but I
> can't find the right one anywhere.
> 
> You could try the NVidia network driver, or manually compile the forcedeth
> 0.60 driver, which is reported to fix this. Maybe upstream will add this
> driver to their kernels so it can flow back to CentOS.
> 
I found the command just as I hit send.
Try MACADDR=<MAC-address> in the if-cfg file.
Look at this page for more details.
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/Deployment_Guide-en-US/s1-networkscripts-interfaces.html

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