Ethernet port not showing up in ifconfig

Question

I asked this question on ubuntuforums.org, but haven't gotten any responses.

I am new to Ubuntu, and am having trouble getting my onboard ethernet port working on a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 Server 32-bit. I have searched on Google, but was unable to find the answer to my problem. The motherboard is a Gigabyte G41MT-S2P. I'm not sure if it's a driver issue, but I don't know where to download a driver from. I looked on Gigabyte's website, but they say:

Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party website.

I found a few forum posts talking about getting the driver from http://partner.atheros.com/Download.aspx?id=125, but that URL doesn't work. If it's a driver I need, I would appreciate a link to download it, as I've searched and have been unable to find one.

Here is the output of a few commands:

ifconfig -a:

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:100 (100.0 B)  TX bytes:100 (100.0 B)

lshw -c NET:

  *-network UNCLAIMED
       description: Ethernet controller
       product: AR8151 v1.0 Gigabit Ethernet
       vendor: Atheros Communications
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       version: c0
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:fdec0000-fdefffff ioport:df00(size=128)

lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications AR8151 v1.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)

Solution

With help from the answer by @thane and a few other places, I was able to get it working. I wrote down exact the steps I followed in case I (inevitably) run into this problem again:

If the ethernet is not recognized and doesn't show up in ifconfig -a:

• Download this file (Google "compat-wireless") and save it on a flash drive.
• Plug the flash drive into the server and wait for it to be recognized, then perform the following commands:

     # sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
      # cp /mnt/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 ~
      # cd ~
      # tar xvjf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
      # cd compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
      # ./scripts/driver-select atl1c
      # make               NOTE: If you get an error like 'make: gcc: command not found' follow the steps in the next troubleshooting section, then repeat this step and continue.
      # sudo make install
      # sudo modprobe atl1c
      # sudo ifconfig eth0 up
      # sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces
      Add the following to the end of the file:
          auto eth0
          iface eth0 inet dhcp
      # sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

If you get an error like make: gcc: command not found:

• Insert the Ubuntu 10.04 Server 32-bit CD.
• Restart the computer
• Perform the following commands:

     # sudo apt-cdrom add
      sudo ln -s /media/apt/pool /cdrom/pool
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get install build-essential

Comments

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Please post your solution as a separate answer to this question to match the usual question/answer format. You can mark your own answer as accepted afterwards.

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From user thane: Have you tried solution proposed in this thread?