Linux installation: Second Ethernet interface ...

[mikebw at bilow.bilow.uu.ids.net (Mike Bilow)]

John Chambers wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:

 JC> | However, I can tell you right now that the most common
 JC> reason for a 3C509 card | to fail under Linux is that you
 JC> have it set in PnP mode.  One reason this is | common is
 JC> because that is how they leave the factory now.  To change
 JC> this, you | need to run the "3C5X9CFG" utility (under DOS)
 JC> that comes on the Etherdisk. 

 JC> Aha! A new clue.  I shut down linux, booted W95, told it to
 JC> go to DOS mode,  stuffed  the  diskette  in the slotte, went
 JC> to A:  and typed a 3C5X9CFG command.  It gave me a couple of
 JC> startup messages, and hung. 15  minutes  later it still
 JC> hadn't said a thing.  I suspect that this isn't how it's
 JC> supposed to work.   (But  what  do  I  know?)  I  also
 JC> rebooted to the same point, and typed "3C5X9CFG RUN" like
 JC> the booklet suggests. That gave the same startup messages,
 JC> and went silent. 

No, you run that utility under DOS, not "Windows 95 in DOS mode."  Don't shut
down Windows 95 to DOS mode.  In order to run the 3Com utility, you should hit
the F8 key as soon as you see the "Starting Windows 95..." message during the
boot, and then choose "Command prompt only."  Then you can run 3C5X9CFG.

 JC> I'd surmise that the card is dead, except that when I ask 
 JC> W95  about it,  it  tells  me  stuff.  It couldn't likely
 JC> know that stuff (brand name, model number, IRQ 10, IO
 JC> address 300) unless it had  talked  to the card, right?  So
 JC> the card must actually be alive.

The card is probably fine, but in PnP mode.

 JC> (I'm starting to suspect that a second NIC just  isn't 
 JC> doable  by  a dummy  like  me.

It's not that bad.
 
-- Mike