[realtek] RTL8101L/BL Support

[Markus Wössner]

Hi List,

I want to use a slim pc system (MSI  MS-6232) which has an onboard NIC
(RTL8101L/BL).
The system should boot in 3 steps from the network:

1. PXE Boot (loads a Etherboot 5.0.8 image for RTL8139 NIC)
2. Etherboot (loads linix 2.4.20 image)
3. Linux 2.4.20 boots

So far all went well, PXE works, Etherboot loads the Linux Image.

My proplem is, that any of the Realtek drivers I use under linux fails:

The 8139too which is included in the 2.4.20 Kernel fails to load at all.
The rtl8139 driver from www.scyld.com loads and successfully sends a
DHCP Discover package.
A network trace on the server shows, that the DHCP Discover goes to the
wire, the DHCP Server responds with a (as far i can see) correct offer
(other clients work also).
After that there are 2 more DISCOVER/OFFER conversations, then the
client gives up.

Hardware should be ok (because PXE/Etherboot work).
DHCP server should also be ok (because PXE/Etherboot and other clients
work).

So I have two questions I cant answer on my own (besides getting this
system to run):

Does the rtl8139 driver support this chipset (RTL8101L)?
Is the NIC maybe not reinitialized properly after the PXE/Etherboot
usage?

If someone had a solution for getting the system to work properly, it
would also be fine :-)

Because of this being a "thin" linux distribution, getting diagnostic
output is somewhat complicated, but if you tell me, which further
information you need, I can provide that.

Any help highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Markus