On Sun, 25 Dec 2005, Nick Stone wrote:
From: John Purser <jmpurser@xxxxxxxxx>
To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 22:04:52 -0800
On 12/23/05, Nick Stone wrote:
(Extreme Newbie)
Need help accessing Internet on Inspiron 9300 & newly installed FC4.
Used another computer to download ethernet controller source files from
Broadcom, but when I follow Readme instructions to use rpmbuild I get error
messages:
[...]
RPM build errors:
Bad exit status from /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.86824 (%build)
Adding injury to injury, I can't reinstall Windows XP from recovery disk,
so I have no means to access Internet using this expensive laptop!
In futile attempts to resolve the issues above, I've been ! reading posts
for days, most of which are far too technical for me to grasp. Please
help!
PS, I intended to download i386 iso and driver files, so I'm not sure why
there is a reference in error messages to i686.
You are probably running an i686 kernel.
Nick,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. You might want to check out:
http://www.linux-laptop.net/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-dell-laptops/
For a new model, keep watching these sites/groups for your hardware to
show up. Often you will see posts by others with the same problem
followed by a solution.
For a quick fix how about downloading Knoppix and booting from the
cd/dvd drive? If nothing else you'll be able to see how they did it.
Be aware that Knoppix is a Debian based distribution and the
configuration won't be exactly the same as your FC install but it
should tell you enough to get going.
Good Luck.
John Purser
John:
Thanks for prompt reply. I explored the links you recommended, but
haven't resolved either issue . I also examined Knoppix, but didn't
find evidence that using Knoppix would help. Perhaps I didn't explain
my problem. Specifically, (Problem #1) I'm able to log in to FC4, but
unable to access the Internet using FC4. I've been unable to install
the Broadcom etho controller (b44).
The reason for booting knoppix is that knoppix is quite good about finding
the right driver for a broad range of hardware. Laptops, and Dell in
particular, often use hardware configurations that are slightly different
from retail packages with same basic chips, so unless the Broadcom version
you downloaded explicity mentions support for your Dell laptop, you may
need to look further.
In the unlikely event that knoppix fails, there are tools that sometimes
allow Windows drivers to be used under linux: Linuxant's driverloader
and ndiswrapper.
(Problem #2) I can no longer boot Windows XP, the default OS. I
reformatted the hard drive and unwittingly erased the XP recovery
partition, and I presume I also somehow erased the MBR.
Sometimes the sink or swim approach does help focus the mind. Many
people get by just fine without booting XP, so not everyone will agree
that your #2 is a problem.
--
George N. White III <aa056@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
