jonnyforest Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 I've got 10.4.8 installed and running well on my Dell Dimension 4500 (P4, 2GHz, 1GB ram), with one major exception -- OS X doesn't recognize my ethernet card. Well, actually I started with 10.4.6, but when I ran into this problem & realized an upgrade was available, I tried that first, but no luck. I haven't used a Mac regularly since OS 8, but even then things were kind of boring without net access. I started out with a SMC EZ 1208 nic, but I never saw SMC on any of the supported hardware lists, so I thought that it might just be an incompatible card. So I went out and sprung for a $15 D-Link DFE-530TX (the HCL says 538TX is supported, but D-Link doesn't list that model # on their site, so I assume it's a typo). So anyway, I pop it in and still nothing, even after loading the included OS X driver. Basically, when I run the network diagnostic, it tries to get me to use a dial-up modem, and when I specify that I'm using a cable modem connection, it says that it cannot detect the connection, check the physical connection. Of course, when I boot in the Windows or Ubuntu, it works fine. After installing that driver, when I reboot, it tells me that the D-Link extension in the system folder is invalid & I should try reinstalling (or something like that), which I have done. Oh, and I'm also plugged into Netgear router rather than directly into the cable modem. That just occurred to me, but obviously that shouldn't be a problem. I've search through the forum, but not really sure where to start with finding drivers or editing kext files or whatever it will take. Any advice for a newcomer would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbig Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 please report hardware id: vendor id: let me check if your cart is supported over some kets modifications... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyforest Posted October 29, 2006 Author Share Posted October 29, 2006 Ok, found the right thing, I think. I have these two cards right now, but I would prefer to use the SMC if possible. SMC 1208 Vendor: 10EC Device: 8029 D-Link DFE-530TX+ Vendor: 1106 Device: 3106 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyforest Posted October 29, 2006 Author Share Posted October 29, 2006 So can anyone tell me what to do with this info, now that I have found the vendor & devices ids? I haven't really been able to figure out how to determine whether something is supported, other than looking at the HCL lists on the wiki. mrbig up there seemed to indicate there is a way to tell whether something is supported, but I've been searching the forum & haven't been able to narrow it down. If anyone can tell me where to look, or point me to a thread on kext editing, I would very much appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyforest Posted October 30, 2006 Author Share Posted October 30, 2006 Ok, I'm replying to myself yet again here because I've kept working on this but have still not gotten anywhere. Anybody out there have any ideas to suggest? Here's what I've done: I found the wiki article on Hardware_.kext_Patching_List (wiki's down right now) and tried following those instructions. Then I found this post from Rammjet (http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=29851&view=findpost&p=206378) which addresses a very similar issue to mine, but with somewhat clearer instructions than the wiki. So I did chmod 644 & edited this system file: /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleRTL8139Ethernet.kext/Contents/Info.plist to include the vendor & device ids of my NIC, in my case 0x10ec8029. I deleted /System/Library/Extensions.mkext and /System/Library/Extensions.kextcache and then repaired permissions using Disk Utility. Nothing changed immediately, so for good measure I rebooted and I'm still right where I started. Am I missing a step or something? When I open Safari, it says I'm not connected to the Internet. Network Diagnostics comes up with all red lights saying Built-in Etherent, Network Settings, ISP, Internet, and Server all failed. When I try to do Network Setup Assistant, all the options are greyed out, except for using a dial-up modem. I saw another post somewhere that said check System Profiler to see if ethernet is enabled. I lok at Network and Built-in Ethernet is listed there, and doesnt say that anything is disabled, but doesn't really say it's enabled either -- not sure what I should be looking for. I'm getting pretty frustrated. Can anyone out there shed any light on this? Please!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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