Fix for non-working wired ethernet on Dell Latitude E6520 with Intel 82579 based adapter running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid

23 Apr 2011 Dell, Ubuntu Trackback

Out of the box, wired Ethernet didn't work with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid) on Latitude E6520. Wireless worked fine. Sounds like support for Intel 82579 LAN on Motherboard devices (LOMs) is available in the mainline driver since Linux 2.6.36. Lucid's kernel is 2.6.32, so this explains why. Fortunately, it's easy enough to build own kernel module.

Firstly, a quick step back. First thing I would typically do in a situation like this where the adapter is not working, is identify the device version. To identify a PCI Ethernet adapter, do:

lspci -nn | grep Eth

00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1502] (rev 04)

Googling for device "8086:1502", led me to the Ubuntu certification page, where the said adapter was listed as supported for the latest Ubuntu 10.10, which wasn't terribly helpful since I'm trying to get the latest LTS release to work. Then I also found this helpful Debian factoid that mentioned which mainline kernel the support for this adapter was added in.

Ok, so now I knew that if I want this adapter to work with Lucid, I need to get the latest driver myself.

1. Went to http://downloadcenter.intel.com/
2. Searched for "82579"
3. Selected "Linux" in the "Operating System" section

This produced two results, clicked on the latest (version 1.3.10a), which downloaded e1000e-1.3.10a.tar.gz. To install (as per the "README"):

sudo -s
cd ~/Downloads/
tar xfz e1000e-1.3.10a.tar.gz
cd e1000e-1.3.10a/src
make install

make -C /lib/modules/2.6.32-31-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-31-generic'
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/netdev.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/ethtool.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/param.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/82571.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/ich8lan.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/80003es2lan.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/mac.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/nvm.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/phy.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/manage.o
  CC [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/kcompat.o
  LD [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/e1000e.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST 1 modules
  CC      /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/e1000e.mod.o
  LD [M]  /home/ak/Downloads/e1000e-1.3.10a/src/e1000e.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-31-generic'
gzip -c ../e1000e.7 > e1000e.7.gz
# remove all old versions of the driver
find /lib/modules/2.6.32-31-generic -name e1000e.ko -exec rm -f {} \; || true
find /lib/modules/2.6.32-31-generic -name e1000e.ko.gz -exec rm -f {} \; || true
install -D -m 644 e1000e.ko /lib/modules/2.6.32-31-generic/kernel/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000e.ko
/sbin/depmod -a || true
install -D -m 644 e1000e.7.gz /usr/share/man/man7/e1000e.7.gz
man -c -P'cat > /dev/null' e1000e || true
e1000e.

Plugged in an Ethernet cable and Network Manager reported that eth0 is alive, "ifconfig" confirmed that eth0 is there and has an IP. Sweet.

28 Comments

  • 1. Grant replies at 31st May 2011, 10:47 pm :

    Gday Alain,

    Quick question. When you say

    Out of the box, wired Ethernet didn’t work with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid) on Latitude E6520. Wireless worked fine

    is that using a 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04 install? I have the same machine and heard from a colleague that wireless didn’t work on the 64-bit (but does on the 32 bit install because of the driver), but wanted to confirm if that is really true after reading this. Thanks in advance.

  • 2. Alain Kelder replies at 1st June 2011, 12:58 am :

    Hi Grant,

    I’m pretty sure I had installed 64-bit Lucid, but now I’m not sure. It’s gone now — been replaced with Debian Testing — so I can’t confirm. I suppose it’s easy enough to test by booting to the 64-bit live CD without disturbing the existing OS..

    Regards,
    Alain

  • 3. Grant replies at 2nd June 2011, 5:02 pm :

    Thanks Alain – appreciate the response.

    Yep, I got a copy of the live disk (11.04 64-bit) and had no troubles whatsoever! Wireless worked as soon as I enabled the driver. So now I’m moving ahead with pushing Windows 7 aside 🙂

  • 4. Harry replies at 7th June 2011, 2:33 pm :

    Hi. I’m having a problem with the wireless on an e6520 installing biolinux 6 (10.04). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

  • 5. Xavi replies at 7th June 2011, 10:47 pm :

    As you said, one word: SWEET. Simply working. Thanks a lot!

  • 6. Alain Kelder replies at 7th June 2011, 10:54 pm :

    @Harry
    I’m not familiar with Biolinux, but since it’s based on Ubuntu 10.04, WiFi should just work. Check to make sure that WiFi not disabled at the hardware level — look in the BIOS, check the little switch above the DVD tray. If still doesn’t work, boot it to a Ubuntu 10.04 live cd and see if WiFi works. If it does, then problem may be with Biolinux. Search for restricted drivers, perhaps they provide it as a package (try “aptitude search firmware” and “aptitude search restricted”), also look for an applet under “System” called “additional” or “restricted” drivers. Since Biolinux is a derivative of Ubuntu, which in turn is a derivate of Debian, this wiki page probably won’t apply, but if nothing else works, might be worth a look.

  • 7. pavic replies at 4th July 2011, 9:23 am :

    Dear Mr. Alain Kelder,

    your system it work for my computer Leonovo Thinkpad X220.
    Thanks a lot.
    I have an additional question.
    I got the problem with my graphic card I guess. Ubuntu 10.10 32 bit can not recognize the screen, which means that the screen appear “unknown” and the resolution 1024×768 and not 1366×768. The image then is very deformed.
    How to fix the problem?
    actually my question is also: according with your paper you find the driver for the Ethernet card thanks of a number “8257” in the Intel Download Center. How did you get that number?
    It is any way to find the relative number for the graphic card of my computer?
    this is the result by lspci -nn | grep VGA

    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0116] (rev 09)

    thanks a lot for your attention.
    I hope to get your answer.

    Best regards
    Paolo

  • 8. Alain Kelder replies at 4th July 2011, 10:29 am :

    @Paolo

    It sounds like you’re using an Intel video card. If it’s based on a Poulsbo chipset (Intel GMA500 video), you might find this useful. You might also try the latest Ubuntu, since according to this, video should work out of the box with 11.04.

  • 9. Mistofeles replies at 6th July 2011, 5:58 am :

    OK in Dell Latitude E6320 with Ubuntu 10.04 / BioLinux 6.0

  • 10. perlhaqr replies at 8th July 2011, 11:11 am :

    Thanks! I found this really helpful for getting networking going under RHEL5.3 on a Dell E6520.

    My next plan is to read your article on making my video mode not suck. 😉

  • 11. Alain Kelder replies at 8th July 2011, 11:39 am :

    Wow, RHEL on a laptop!

  • 12. Bonk replies at 19th July 2011, 12:03 pm :

    Does installing the driver from intel survive a kernel update, or do you have to rebuild every kernel update? (is there a DKMS module?)

  • 13. Alain Kelder replies at 19th July 2011, 2:14 pm :

    @Bonk
    I’m pretty sure you’ll have to reinstall the driver after kernel updates which obviously is a hassle. I’m no longer running Lucid on this laptop, so didn’t pursue a better solution, but DKMS sounds like a good way to get around the hassle of a reinstall.
    After years of running Ubuntu on desktops/laptops, I’ve come to the conclusion that I like the latest stuff and can’t keep up with a 6 month release cycle. A rolling distro seemed like a good idea so I switched to Debian Testing (Wheezy) on this laptop and so far very happy with it, happy enough to plan switching the rest of my desktops/laptops as well.

  • 14. James replies at 21st September 2011, 10:03 am :

    wow. thanks…

  • 15. Arboreal replies at 3rd October 2011, 2:48 pm :

    Excellent thanks. This was linked off an Ubuntuforums post and works perfectly for a Dell Optiplex 790 running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64-bit.

  • 16. SavedMe replies at 2nd November 2011, 8:39 pm :

    Thanks — you saved me hours of work 🙂 Recently purchased a dell latitude 6520 and wanted to load ubunto 10.04.3 but the wired network was not working. This fixed my problem. Thanks again!!

  • 17. Eric replies at 21st November 2011, 11:53 am :

    Excellent help! I built a CAELinux 2011 system from scratch with an ASUS P8Z68-V motherboard that did not connect to my ethernet at all. No response with Ping to any IP address and ifconfig said LOOPBACK was active. (CAELinux 2011 ships with Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid). I followed the instructions exactly as above, but used the latest 1.6.3 driver from the Intel website mentioned above. Nothing changed after the make install, but it all worked after reboot of the system.

    Thanks!

  • 18. Lasse replies at 22nd December 2011, 4:37 am :

    Hi. Works fine. I followed steps above on a Dell OptiPlex 790 USFF.
    I used: Ubuntu 10.04-3 64-bit Alternate installation.

  • 19. Raul Laasner replies at 13th January 2012, 7:59 am :

    Thanks.
    Worked for my Lenovo x220.

  • 20. Nakedi replies at 25th January 2012, 9:27 am :

    I use Fedora, works fine, thanks hey, you have rescued me,

  • 21. Reiner replies at 2nd February 2012, 3:07 am :

    Thank you Alain! Worked for my 82579V NIC, even though only 82579 is supported according to Intel (a search for 82579V will only return Windows drivers).

  • 22. lokinou replies at 5th March 2012, 11:22 am :

    Works fine if you dont forget the following command command:
    >> sudo modprobe e1000e
    I recommend to save the script file because it has to be done again after kernel update
    thx

  • 23. Peter replies at 10th April 2012, 9:42 pm :

    Thanks, works perfectly on a ASUS P8Z68-V motherboard.

  • 24. Sugavanesh replies at 17th May 2012, 11:44 pm :

    Thanks man!! You saved my day!!

  • 25. madeeha replies at 3rd September 2012, 7:36 am :

    sweet!

  • 26. Rohith replies at 15th July 2013, 1:00 pm :

    Hi Man,

    Great work…..

    Worked on my HP Compaq 6200 Pro SFF

  • 27. Herman replies at 13th September 2013, 4:31 am :

    This is one of the reasons why Linux will never get it through to the ‘normal’ public.

    I downloaded the latest version of Ubuntu, on which, out of the box, everything should work on like a charm. Now it seems that I have to download a driver for my networkcard on a dell Optiplex gx620, before I can use it.

    Geeks might like this, but common users aren’t aquinted with ‘the work on’ the prompt.

    A petty.

  • 28. RUBEN replies at 16th April 2014, 2:35 pm :

    Thanks!, you really save my day at work!

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