Member Avatar for prime23

I have a toshiba Satellite 4000cdt with 3com589 serial nic. Everytime I boot up the nic fail to initialize, It says that the card is not present. I know the card is there and when i look at the network setting (gui base) it shows up but I can't activate it. Please help this newbie!! Thanks. Also how come my ifconfig, isconfig, route, etc.... any network related command doesn't work.. I do switch to Superuser when I run the commands. Do I have to have an IP address for the command to work? Other info, it's getting IP from DHCP. >>Thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by John A

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Brief summary and focused troubleshooting for 's report (and follow-ups from and ):

A device that appears in a GUI but cannot be activated usually means the kernel or driver never fully bound to the hardware, or the user tools/environment are not seeing the interface. Network utilities do not require an IP to run; they will report interfaces even when no address is assigned. Common culprits: missing/incorrect kernel module, PCMCIA/Card Services not running on laptops, or a root PATH issue (for example using plain su instead of su - so /sbin is not in PATH).

Quick diagnostic commands (collect these outputs on the machine):

# kernel boot messages about network/pcmcia
dmesg | egrep -i '3com|3c|eth|pcmcia|card'

# PCI/USB device listing (desktop/PCI card)
lspci -nn

# loaded kernel modules that look network-related
lsmod | egrep -i '3c|eth|mii|pcmcia'

# show all interfaces (even those down)
ifconfig -a
# or, on newer systems
ip link show

# check if ifconfig exists and current PATH
which ifconfig
echo $PATH

How to interpret and act on the results:

  • If ifconfig -a or ip link shows the interface (e.g. eth0) but it is DOWN, bring it up and request DHCP:
    su -
ifconfig eth0 up
dhclient eth0
# or
ip link set eth0 up
dhclient eth0
  • If the interface is not listed but lspci/dmesg show the 3Com device, the kernel driver may not be loaded. Find the appropriate module name from dmesg or /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/ and use modprobe <module>.
  • If there is no kernel mention of the card, reseat the card, confirm PCMCIA/Card Services (cardmgr/pcmcia) is running on the laptop, and check /var/log/messages or /var/log/syslog for hardware/pcic errors.
  • If ifconfig reports "command not found", either install net-tools or use ip from iproute2; if ifconfig exists but cannot access devices, check that root has a full login PATH (su -).

Tie-ins: 's advice to post the exact model/PCI ID is useful — lspci -nn gives the vendor/device ID that points to the correct driver. 's reminder to reseat the card is also valid hardware troubleshooting.

Caution: avoid forcing a module that does not match the hardware. If the kernel sees the device but no module is available, obtain the correct driver for the kernel version or rebuild the kernel module rather than using trial-and-error.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for aeinstein

can u post a specific model # for the nic (ie, 3C589D-TP)? have u tried to re-install the drivers?

Member Avatar for imike24

I have a toshiba Satellite 4000cdt with 3com589 serial nic. Everytime I boot up the nic fail to initialize, It says that the card is not present. I know the card is there and when i look at the network setting (gui base) it shows up but I can't activate it. Please help this newbie!! Thanks. Also how come my ifconfig, isconfig, route, etc.... any network related command doesn't work.. I do switch to Superuser when I run the commands. Do I have to have an IP address for the command to work? Other info, it's getting IP from DHCP. >>Thanks

Check to see if you had install the network card securely on the PCI.
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Member Avatar for John A

Do you really think that the original poster really cares after 3 years? :cheesy:

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