Linux client screws with TULIP module (WINDLIGHT)

Okay, here is what happens to me, I can get on Windlight just fine, no graphical problems, or anything of the sort. I begin to talk to friends, works, I move my camera, i lock up, I cant surf the internet anymore, my network dies. I go log into root, and check network configuration, eth0 is up and running it says. So, I try and restart eth0, stops just fine, but once I restart it, it comes up with a segmentation fault, computer beeps at me, and doesnt work. I try and start it or do anything that involves the tulip module, the whole computer locks up, after that segmentation fault, it sometimes doesnt even log off properly. this ONLY happens when I use SL. Luckily I dual boot windows and Linux, but, does anyone else have this problem? or a fix to it?

SYS SPECS:
AMD Athlon 64x2 6000+ dual core processor
2GB RAM
Fedora Core 8 X86 version, latest kernel
Nvidia GeForce 7800GS with proper nvidia drivers

Hmmh.. maybe harddisk errors ? I don't know how you organized your partitions. Check them with e2fsck or the appropriate fsck for your specific file-system.

If there is only one you might restart your system with an option to check your root partition at startup. Careful tho. This is an abrupt method ( shutsdown immediatly ) . The command to instantly shutdown your system, reboot and do the check is :

shutdown -r -F now

-r = reboot
-F = check for fragmention

Can you run 'lspci' as root and past the results here? I used to muck with the tulip module. I'm also wondering what north/southbridge chipset you're using on your motherboard.

I reformated my drives, installed the x86-64 version of Fedora, and i had the error come up when DOWNLOADING SL, not even ran it yet. Must be something up with my setup. I have a VIA Technologies VT6102 ethernet card, on a biostar motherboard. I dont know exactly what my motherboard uses, since it was a quickie buy after I fried my PSU once. I believe it uses VIA chipsets.

I checked my fragmentation, and the results were
0.9% of the / filesystem was fragmented
16.7% of the /boot filesystem was fragmented

Partitions are set up as:
100meg /boot ext3 filesystem
2000meg swap file
36000meg / ext3 filesystem

in that order, I am going to attempt SL some more times, and see if it explodes my ethernet some more, and continue checking out what is up.

PS: lspci was not found on my system, aparently fedora 8 doesnt have it.

EDIT: I was able to catch the whole error when trying to bring back up eth0:


/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-eth: line 297: 3799 Killed ip link set dev ${REALDEVICE} up
Failed to bring up eth0.

EEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

Say no more. You got a crap board with a terrible chipset. I've had nothing but trouble from BioStar's motherboards, and the service in getting them to fix the problems is non-existant. Add onto that VIA's rather broken IDE firmware (can't do bus-mastering PCI with the HD using DMA), and you're just on a highway to hell.

Seriously. Get a new motherboard. Avoid BioStar and VIA chipsets like the plague. Get a Gigabyte or Asus board, and make sure you get an Intel chipset for Intel CPU's, NVidia chipset for AMD CPU's. The only good VIA will have as a chipset is if you're getting an EPIA Mini/Nano/Pico-ITX motherboard (with the EPIA CPU, built all by VIA).