nForce Ethernet controller ?

[Vincent Trouilliez]

> In looking at the kernel source, I see that nForce ethernet controllers 
> use the reverse-engineered forcedeth driver.  

Yep, that rings a bell ! The exact kernel/dmsg output at boot was :

*********
nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
...........
forcedeth.c: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.28.
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:04.0[A] -> GSI 15 (level, low) -> IRQ 15
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:04.0 to 64
eth0: forcedeth.c: subsystem: 01462:373c bound to 0000:00:04.0
********

> Look at /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/kernel/drivers and see if it contains 
> forcedeth.ko. 

Yep, I appear to have this file, albeit not /drivers, but in
drivers/net/ instead, hope that's ok ?

> If so, 'modprobe forcedeth' should load the driver.  If 

I rebooted the machine in 'recovery' mode to just get the command line.
I checked dmeg, which talke dabout forrcedeth as mentionned above. Then
I did a 'lspci', which showed that the Ethernet controller was detected.
Then I did 'lsmod', which showed that the 'forcedeth' module was indeed
loaded, one of the very first modules to be loaded (if lsmod shows them
in chronological order that is).

I did do a 'modprobe forcedeth' anyway, just in case. 

Then I tried pppoeconf again, and, again, it found the Ethernet
interface, but was unabel to find the cable modem.
Put the crap dirty cheap 8139 card, and again, pppoeworked like a charm
(hence I can write this mail...).

Looks like everything seems fine then, except if can't find the modem...
weird. I did notice this same problem on a friends machine (Ethernet
controller found but can't find the cable modem), although it was on a
completely difference machine, with an add-on 8139 card.

So, maybe my motherboard is defective then. I hope someone on this list
has the same motherboard and can tell me if it works or not for them.
I can't believe I am the only one with that board.... am I ?? :-/

I think we really should make a list of Ubuntu compatible hardware. Like
andrake has : "known to work", "reported as working", "fully tested and
certified", "NOT compatible". That would help me for my next motherboard
purchase...

Vince