Debian 5.0.8 won't detect my ethernet adapter

Question

I'm installing Debian 5.0.8 on a Dell Latitude E6410 using the network install x86 CD.

Unfortunately, it won't detect my Ethernet adapter. Specifically, I get the error: No Ethernet card was detected. If you know the name of the driver needed by your Ethernet card, you can select it from the list.

lspci shows: 00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Device 10ea (rev 05)

That should correspond to the e1000e driver. But, if I select it from the list, the install CD still fails to detect it.

Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows 7 are able to use this device with no problem.

Does anybody know what I can do to make Debian use/recognize my ethernet adapter?

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Edit: Additional Info:

• I think this is an Intel 82577LM Gigabit Ethernet chipset.
• If I switch from the graphical installer to the console and run lsmod, I see e1000e with a use count of 0.

Answer 1

82577LM support was added to the linux kernel in 2.6.31, so Debian 5.0.8 will not support it.

You can either use an unofficial unsupported installer image such as kmuto, that includes a newer kernel and firmware for certain hardware.

Or you can install Debian 6.0 Release Candidate 2 (or wait less than a week for the official release). I highly recommend going with Debian 6.0.

Answer 2

The answer (for anybody else in this mess) is to:

1. install from the regular install CD. (not the net installer).
2. install the linux-headers, make, and gcc development packages.
3. Go to intel.com and download the latest ethernet drivers. (from another PC that has working ethernet, obviously)
4. Copy those drivers via thumb-drive to the debian PC and install them following the instructions in the included readme.

Now, the ethernet is working.