Hi

I have set my debian machine up with two 3com 3c905tx NICs using the 3c95x driver. It modprobe'd ok and I have the 3c95x load at boot in /etc/modules.

I am using an NTL cable broadband modem, using the ethernet connection.

I actualy had my machine working when I set it up the other day and I could use the internet using lynx. I could ping all addresses and DNS was obviously working due to the /etc/resolv.conf file.

I think my problem is that I haven't told the eth0 to start or that DHCP doesn't work? Or perhaps that I need to tell the eth0 to work with the 3c95x.

I am a bit of a noob with linux but very keen. I know I have most of it right here because i was working, I just can't remember the last thing that I did to get it to work!

Your help is greatly appreciated

Thanks

Please report the results of the following commands:
'ifconfig'
'cat /etc/network/interfaces'

That should tell what your network settins are and how it is setup to boot.

Hi Thanks for your reply

To start with when I ifconfig I get

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr: 127.0.0.1 Mask 255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:3924 Metric:1
RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:112 (112.0 b) TX bytes:112 (112.0 b)

cat /etc/network/interfaces

# The loopback interface
auto lo eth0
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp

If have also tried using the following (which I know to be correct)

iface etho inet static
address ###.###.###.###
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway ###.###.###.###

This then allows me to ping the address but nothing else.

If I use ifconfig eth0 i get

Link encap: Ethernet HWaddr 00:##:##:##:##:##
inet addr: 82.4.220.184 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255;255;255;0
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:12
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:112 (0.0 b) TX bytes:112 (3,1 KiB)
Interupt:4 Base Address:0xb000

I use ifup eth0 and it says interface eth0 already configured. So I assume that it must have grabbed an address via DHCP?

I am pretty sure that all my config files are correct as this set up worked the other day!

I also did /etc/init.d/networking restart and got

Reconfiguring netwtok interfaces: eth0 Initial media type MII.
eth0: MII #24 status 7894, link partner capability 0000, setting half-duplex

/* --- Comment - system waits for a while --- */

PING 82.4.220.254 (82.4.220.254): 56 bytes

--- 82.4.220.254 ping statistics ---
1 packets transmited, 0 packets received, 100% packet loss
done.

So it seems to get an IP via DHCP but doesn't set the network up properly? The IP address 82.4.220.254 is the gateway address I have been getting on the windows machine with DHCP.

I think the problem is to do with getting the 3c95x module (which loads at boot) to work with the network interface but I am not sure.

I greatly appreciate your help!

Any thoughts?