HOW TO: Install & Configure a Broadcom Driver for RHEL

During testing of a new workstation I found that the more recent Broadcom cards (5745+) are not compatible with <2.6.9-42.19 kernel versions. I had to download the source tarball and compile it locally. This is a HOW TO on downloading, compiling, installing, and adding the new driver to the kernel.

Download: Download the Broadcom drivers HERE

Install:

[1] copy the downloaded tarball, tg3-3.71b.tar.gz, to a local partition

[2] explode the tarball: tar -xzvf tg3-3.71b.tar.gz

[3] check that the module isn't loaded: lsmod | grep tg3

[4] if the above step[3] returns anything other than a prompt remove the module:
modprobe -r tg3

[5] configure the module:
cd tg3-3.71b
make && make install

[6] install the new module: depmod -ae {$uname -r}
where {$uname -r} is your kernel version number, e.g. 2.6.9-42.19ELsmp

[7] load the module: modprobe tg3

If all went well you should see a reference to IPTABLES having loaded, you can now restart the network and it should bring online your NIC. Remember that next time you reboot that KUDZU will detect a new device, tell it to DO NOTHING since you already configured it.