Embeded nic doesnt work with pfsense
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I have an old compaq presario 5240 that i want to use as a pfsense firewall, but when i try to install pfsense 1.2.2, it wont install the embeded nic. Only the PCI nic, which im not sure what kind it is but none the less it works…
so my question is...how can i use this board with pfsense...i know the nic works because i previously had windows xp installed on it...i'll try whatever you guys suggest...
thanks in advance =]
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Just because the NIC works under windows doesnt mean there are drivers for FreeBSD.
Is the NIC on the list of supported hardware?
http://www.cyberciti.biz/files/freebsd-hardware-compatibility-list.html -
well what im saying is, i dont see why it wouldnt be supported, this board is about 4 or more years old and that nothing is wrong, hardware wise, with the nic…is there any way i can load a driver for it.
according to this site...http://www.ciao.co.uk/Compaq_Presario_5240__5362379 The chipset is the VIA MVP3
When it was running windows i believe i remember seeing something about Rhine II for the ethernet adapter..
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Try a snapshot from here… http://snapshots.pfsense.org/FreeBSD_RELENG_7_2/pfSense_RELENG_1_2/livecd_installer/
Otherwise look into an another add on card.
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According to the support page at http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00190905&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=93149&lang=en this system was introduced in Jan 1999 (hence the design is more than 10 years old) and the onboard NIC is a 10Mbps unit (not 10/100!) of unspecified brand and model.
Some possibilities why the onboard NIC is not available:
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It is not recognised by any device driver. Unlikely since FreeBSD has long had support for a wide variety of wired NICs but FreeBSD does drop for devices that are deemed "no longer in use".
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It is recognised by a device driver but the driver encounters an error in attempting to initialise it. I think this is more likely than the first alternative. I wouldn't be surprised if the NIC is so old that none of the FreeBSD developers or testers has access to one. Consequently it would be quite possible for an error to have crept into the driver and not been discovered.
The previously mentioned specifications page says there are two PCI slots. Maybe you could borrow (or buy) another NIC, configure the system and capture the startup output to post here for review. That should give some more details of the nature of the problem.
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thank you both, to wallabybob…
I completely forgot that the card was only 10 mbps...since i get over that in wan bandwidth, around 16 mbps, this would be a bad idea =P
I did try one other board that was pretty new... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342
But i had the exact same problem…the embeded nic wouldnt install...if you arent sure how to get this board working then can you make a suggestion for hardware...all i want to do is 1 to 1 NAT (multiple wan ips), a few dozen firewall rules, limit the number of simultaneous connections, dhcp and vpn server, among some other things...
and i'd like this to fit into a 1u case such as this one...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152107
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My guess is that there isn't a driver in pfSense 1.2.2 that recognises the NIC on the Intel D945GCLF motherboard. You may get further with pfSense 1.2.3 RC3 (see http://blog.pfsense.org for links to download locations) since it is based on a much more recent version of FreeBSD with a more recent set of device drivers.
You don't give any detail of what "the embedded nic wouldn't install" means so I assume you had a NIC plugged into the PCI slot (two NICs in total) and the install failed due to a problem with the motherboard NIC rather than failed because you didn't have enough interfaces.
With regard to the case, I suspect it might not have enough clearance for the CPU fan and heatsink. Unless you are using VLANs on the motherboard NIC you will need an additional NIC in the PCI slot (at a minimum you need a LAN interface and a WAN interface). I suspect the additional NIC will be too high to go into a 1U case so you will also need a right angle "riser card" so the additional NIC can be mounted parallel to the motherboard rather than perpendicular to it. Does the case have the right cutouts?
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ok i realize that this is really old but i've been really busy and havent even had time to mess with this =, my apologies on my absence and late response…
ANYWAY, wallabybob, I think your right, it wasnt that it didnt detect it...because it did allow me to run through all the drivers, unfortunately none of them worked.
I may try it when i can get this board again lol i had to use it for a much needed upgrade to a server =P
I did plan on the riser card, so thats not new news to me. It doesnt have the right cutouts, but i cant find a 1u case with such a low depth, so i figured i would dremel out the "static" i/o shield so i can use the one that comes with the motherboard, and thus open me up for future upgrades without having to buy the special board for that case.