Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet driver for Debian
20070720 15:15 by javier
I just got a new ASUS M2V motherboard to replace a braindead server that would lock up on POST about 75% of the time. The new motherboard has a built-in Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter that is supported in Linux >= 2.6.21, but its driver is still missing from the daily Debian netinst CDs.
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Unknown device [1043:8226]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
Memory at fbcc0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
Expansion ROM at fbca0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [48] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [58] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
Capabilities: [6c] Vital Product Data
I tried David Johnson’s pre-compiled driver for AMD64 but it didn’t work right away, so I compiled AtL1Linux_v1.0.41.0 for the stock 2.6.18-4-486 kernel in the official Debian 4.0 netinst CD and tested it. Although it was supposed to work right out of the box I kept getting “invalid module format” messages. So I stripped out the version information with
and it worked immediately. I completed the installation and I will upgrade the server to 2.6.21-2-amd64 over the weekend. So here is a atl1.ko for 2.6.18-4-486 that should work just fine.
By the way, I stripped the version information off David’s atl1.ko but I didn’t get a chance to test it because I was in a hurry. Here it is anyway in case someone finds it useful: atl1.ko for 2.6.18-4-amd64.
Oh, by the way, the M2V has four PCI slots but no built-in VGA adapter, and most PCI-e video cards are so thick that the first slot becomes unusable. Since I bought this motherboard precisely to maximize the number of available PCI slots in the server… well, it just sucks.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:34
Thanks for posting this. I have a P5L-VM 1394 and this saved me some time installing debian 4.
July 25th, 2007 at 6:17
thanks a lot
September 18th, 2007 at 17:03
I’ve also got a P5L-VM 1394 and am using a Debian Etch netinst CD :)
Thanks Javier for your contribution, it is appreciated!
I used the following steps to get the required result:
1) ALT+F2 to start a console
2) type: tail -f /var/log/syslog
3) Insert the USB stick and determine the USB device
4) mount -t vfat /dev/ mnt
5) cp mnt/atlk1.ko /tmp
6) umount mnt
7) insmod /tmp/atlk1.ko
8) ALT+F2 back to the installation screen
9) Continue installation, DHCP require worked instantaneously
Willem A. Schreuder
September 18th, 2007 at 17:06
Addition:
Somehow something I placed between less-than and greater than markers has been stripped away, probably because the underlying code thinks it was html or xml :)
4) should read: mount -t vfat /dev/TheDevice mnt
TheDevice should be replaced with the actual device for .var/log/syslog
Willem A. Schreuder
October 2nd, 2007 at 16:31
thank you all. i was going crazy.
October 24th, 2007 at 22:24
[...] mengetikkan sedikit keyword di google akhirnya saya temukan juga solusinya disini, sebelum melanjutkan step-step cara menginstallnya, silahkan download dulu file “atl1.ko for [...]
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:03
Thanks Javier, i have a P5K SE and i installed your atl1.ko for 2.6.18-4-amd64 in my Debian Etch 2.6.18-5-amd64 kernel and it works fine, thank-you.
December 3rd, 2007 at 13:07
when i try to
mount -t vfat /dev/usb 2-1 /mnt
i get
mount: Can’t find /dev/usb in /etc/fstab
may you give me a hint ?
December 3rd, 2007 at 21:32
Hi Torsten, if you already have your Linux system install just put the atl1.ko driver on your desktop, open your command prompt, log in as su, cd /home/your-user-folder/Desktop, then use insmod atl1.ko to load the driver and then dmesg | tail to check any error messages, you can even use lsmod to see if it loaded, then make sure your ethernet cable is plugged in to whatever you use to connect to the internet and use dhclient on the prompt to configure and grab an IP address and away you go. If you don’t have your linux installed yet i suggest you install it first without an internet connection, say no to configuring the network, install the system, boot into the system, load the atl1.ko driver from the desktop and configure your network and then download your security updates next, i would install Firestarter first and then get the updates, good luck and take care Torsten.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:37
Hi there,
I’m having problems with the configuration of this one, just tried what you said here but even after using the objcopy -R .modinfo atl1.ko I still get the following message:
FATAL: Error inserting atl1 (/lib/modules/2.6.18-4-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/atl1.ko): Invalid module format
Can someone help me? Don’t know what to do anymore :/
December 21st, 2007 at 15:16
I’m sorry, but this command failed:
$ objcopy -R .modinfo atl1.ko
The command doesn’t exists. I installed only the basic system. What .deb I need to execute this command? Is that correct?
I don’t know what to do anymore to! :’(
February 27th, 2008 at 1:25
Many thanks Javier. I also bought an M2V mainboard and i was almost ready to install another network controller as the given driver source did not easily compiled. I used the version of David with studio64. It works but i still have many message on the console that says something like “disables raw interrupts”, any clue ?
March 27th, 2008 at 14:10
Thnx so much Javier! I’m moving from HP notebook to an ASUS one and ur hint saved me a overnight. Thnx also to Willem that explained step by step how to load the module during installation.
April 1st, 2008 at 17:31
[...] Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet driver for Debian » javier arturo rodríguez » Blog Archive (tags: debian network drivers) [...]
April 25th, 2008 at 19:59
Torsten, when you insert the usb cockroache, the syslog says that yours is usb 2-1 but actually your hardware will be directed to some scsi like device, for example in my case it directs me to the sdb device. So if I want to mount this I need to do a
mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 mnt
just read all the lines after you insert the usb. :)
June 11th, 2008 at 12:10
Does anybody have a binary for 2.6.18-6-486? Debian Etch has upgraded the kernel and changed a structure in an incompatible way.
June 22nd, 2008 at 14:10
mucho gracias…
I built a new computer yesterday with an ASUS P5KPL-VM MB, and ran into the same problem. Downloaded the driver from your link, ran insmod, and immediately got a connection. :)
January 17th, 2009 at 8:04
Gracias Javier
Desde Brasil, muchas gracias.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:06
Sorry, it doesn’t work for me. When I try during installation, it works perfectly, ifconfig shows the interface, connects to the DHCP server. lspci shows ‘unknown device’, but it works. After installation there is nothing just loopback. eth0 is a firewire and insmod doesn’t work. Same problem that Ivan said: “Invalid module format”. MB: P5K
Any idea?
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:07
It doesn’t work.
I’ve tried to run insmod /tmp/atl1.ko but I get the error: “Invalid module format”
MB: Asus P5L
Thank you.