Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet driver for Debian

m2v.jpegI 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.

04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Attansic Technology Corp. L1 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter [1969:1048] (rev b0)
        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 

$ objcopy -R .modinfo atl1.ko

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.
[tags]asus,m2v,attansic,debian,linux,driver,atl1,amd64[/tags]

20 thoughts on “Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet driver for Debian”

  1. Thanks for posting this. I have a P5L-VM 1394 and this saved me some time installing debian 4.

  3. 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

  4. 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

  6. Pingback: Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet driver for Debian Etch « Just [invaleed]

  7. 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.

  8. 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 ?

  9. 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.

  10. 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 :/

  11. 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! :'(

  12. 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 ?

  13. 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.

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  15. 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. :)

  16. 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.

  17. 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. :)

  19. 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?

  20. 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.

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