# fit-PC2 FreeBSD 8.2 Install Crashes on Network



## mit-physicist (Nov 15, 2011)

Hi!  I've installed FreeBSD 8.2 from CD-ROM onto a fit-pc2.  All goes well until I try to do the standard "sysinstall -> Configure -> Networking > Interfaces" step.  That results in:


```
"Fatal Error: Unable to create network device menu!  Argh!  PRESS ANY KEY TO QUIT
```

Am I missing a necessary driver?  If so, anyone know where one might find it?

       -Lyman


----------



## SirDice (Nov 15, 2011)

Don't use sysinstall for the configuration. Use it only for the initial install and forget it ever existed after that.

Find out what hardware is detected, have a look with dmesg(8) and, for the network, ifconfig(8).


----------



## tobe (Nov 15, 2011)

I'm running 8.2 on a Fit-PC2, it's working fine, but it wasn't installed via sysinstall.
The driver for the network card is 're', just in case.


----------



## mit-physicist (Dec 20, 2011)

SirDice said:
			
		

> Don't use sysinstall for the configuration. Use it only for the initial install and forget it ever existed after that.
> 
> Find out what hardware is detected, have a look with dmesg(8) and, for the network, ifconfig(8).


Hello, SirDice.  Sorry I didn't get back to you on my progress.  Got slowed down by a severe case of the flu.  Anyway, what I get on this from dmesg is:

```
re0: <RealTek 8168/8111 B/C/CP/D/DP/E PCIe Gigabit Ethernet> port 0x2000-0x20ff at device 0.0 on pci2
re0: 0x1000 bytes of rid 0x18 res 3 failed (0, 0xffffffff).
re0: Using 1 MSI messages
re0: reset never completed!
re0: Chip rev. 0x7c800000
re0: MAC rev. 0x00400000
re0: PHY write failed
re0: PHY write failed
re0: attaching PHYs failed
device_attach: re0 attach returned 6
```

Can you please point me to documentation on how to install the driver manually or tell me how to do so?  I may be able to take it from there.  I'd really like to get this little computer working with FreeBSD.

       -Lyman


----------



## wblock@ (Dec 21, 2011)

There have been updates to the re(4) driver since 8.2-RELEASE.  However, I don't know if there's a snapshot with them.  The only other way would be to update to 8-STABLE, which could be challenging without a working network driver.  Installing FreeBSD-9.0 is another option.


----------



## mit-physicist (Dec 21, 2011)

I have other machines running 8.2, so I could download the updated driver and put it on a stick to move it to the fit-PC2.  Do you think that would work?  Otherwise, I guess I better get 9.0.


----------



## wblock@ (Dec 21, 2011)

Rather than just the driver, I'd suggest getting the full source for 8-STABLE and just updating to that with a buildworld/kernel/installworld.  Still can't guarantee it will fix the problem, but it's a fair chance.


----------



## mit-physicist (Dec 21, 2011)

*Mark this one as SOLVED!*

I downloaded 9.0-RC, burned it to a CD and installed it.  It worked like a CHARM!  I like the new installer, too.  Can't thank you all enough for this.

       -Lyman


----------



## mit-physicist (Dec 22, 2011)

Well, maybe I spoke too soon.  The install worked perfectly, as far as I can tell, and the network appears to come up on re0.  I assigned the local address of 192.168.0.25 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 and the default router is 192.168.0.1.  All my other machines on this local net work just fine.  The interesting thing is that I can ping the local address (192.168.0.25) and it works.  However, pinging anything else results in 100% packet loss and a message that reads:

```
re0: watchdog timeout
```
Any idea what this is about and how to fix it?

       -Lyman


----------



## mit-physicist (Dec 22, 2011)

OK, so I did more "homework" and found that this timeout message means the network interface went down.  Question is, why?  The following is the result of ifconfig(8) on this interface:

```
re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
options=389b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_UCAST,WOL_MCAST,WOL_MAGIC>
	ether 00:01:c0:06:8f:a0
	inet 192.168.0.25 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
	inet6 fe80::201:c0ff:fe06:8fa0%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
	status: active
```

To my (extremely uneducated) eye, this looks perfectly healthy.  Any words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated!

       -Lyman


----------



## wblock@ (Dec 22, 2011)

The driver might not be quite right for that version of the hardware.  freebsd-net is the place to ask.


----------

