problem with install 3C905B Fast Etherlink XL 10/100
in an HP pavillion xt914, celeron 850 with a D-Link System NIC already installed and working.
**************************************************
lspci -v gives
01:0b.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905B 100BaseTX [Cyclone] (rev 24)
Subsystem: 3Com Corporation 3C905B Fast Etherlink XL 10/100
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 80
I/O ports at 3000 [disabled] [size=128]
Memory at f4100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=128]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1

01:0e.0 Ethernet controller: D-Link System Inc: Unknown device 1300 (rev 10)
Subsystem: D-Link System Inc: Unknown device 1301
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10
I/O ports at 3400 [size=256]
Memory at f4100400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
****************************************************
if config gives:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:BA:B5:3B:41
inet addr:64.192.56.181 Bcast:64.192.56.183 Mask:255.255.255.252
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:49 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:2940 (2.8 Kb)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0xc400

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:43 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3084 (3.0 Kb) TX bytes:3084 (3.0 Kb)
****************************************************
modprobe 3c509 (including passing IRQ's ) gives

/lib/modules/2.4.9-34/kernel/drivers/net/3c509.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters
/lib/modules/2.4.9-34/kernel/drivers/net/3c509.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.9-34/kernel/drivers/net/3c509.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.9-34/kernel/drivers/net/3c509.o: insmod 3c509 failed
***************************************************

any help would be appreciated

I just yped in an entire post for how to get an irq assignment to a 509, the old ISA card know as the etherlink III. You have a 905, the PCI card known as the etherlink IV. The proper module is 3c59x. The 3c590 card quickly turned into the 900 and the 905 series, so the 59x module covers the whole series, same revs of the same chipset.

modprobe 3c59x

Luck,

Finegan

Your solution was almost perfect but for two things: (1) I had to modprobe 3c59x irq=7 and (2) I can't make the module load on boot.

The module loaded with modprobe 3c59x without complaint. ifconfig assigned the correct address and netmask but the card still could not ping or be pinged. I noticed that the modprobe assigned irq 5 (which was available according to cat /proc/interrupts but is generally claimed by sound cards from my experience). On reboot, the module for the card did not load. So I took a shot at modprobe 3c59x irq=7 which seems to have done the trick because the card can ping and be pinged except that the module doesn't load on reboot. Any further advice?

Thanks for your consideration in posting your solution (is there a URL?). I did some research prior to posting here and saw many discussions of problems like mine but no solutions. Do you have any insight as to why this problem is otherwise poorly documented?

That's weird, I've never seen an irq conflict with a PCI card before, but the answer is a line in /etc/modules.conf like:

alias eth0 3c59x irq=7

I think... its been a while since I had to juggle with modules.conf.

Luck,

Finegan

i've tried everything I could think of in following up your suggestion to edit modules.conf but the card still will not load on boot (although it can be pinged after modprobe and assignment of IP address). dmesg seems to suggest that the card is recognized and being loaded but ifconfig -a doesn't show eth1 until after i modprobe, etc. Using the Redhat 7.3 network gui configuration tool gives the following error message
*******************************************************************
Device eth1 uses the same Hardware Device "eth0" like eth0! Please select another hardware device or activate only one of them.
*********************************************************************
here is the contents of /etc/modules.conf, dmesg, cat /proc/interrupts, and ifconfig -a
****************************************************************
/etc/modules.conf

alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias sound-slot-0 i810_audio
post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
alias usb-controller usb-uhci
alias eth0 8139too
alias eth1 3c59x
*******************************************************************
dmesg

PCI: Enabling device 01:0e.0 (0104 -> 0107)
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 01:0e.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:01.0
eth0: D-Link DFE-538TX (RealTek RTL8139) at 0xd08ac400, 00:50:ba:b5:3b:41, IRQ 10
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8139C'
eth0: Setting half-duplex based on auto-negotiated partner ability 0000.
task `ip' exit_signal 17 in reparent_to_init
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
parport0: cpp_daisy: aa5500ff(98)
parport0: assign_addrs: aa5500ff(98)
parport0: Printer, Xerox Xerox WorkCentre 470cx
lp0: using parport0 (polling).
lp0: console ready
Linux agpgart interface v0.99 (c) Jeff Hartmann
agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 202M
agpgart: Detected an Intel i810 Chipset.
agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xf8000000
[drm] AGP 0.99 on Intel i810 @ 0xf8000000 64MB
[drm] Initialized i810 1.1.0 20010616 on minor 0
mtrr: base(0xf8000000) is not aligned on a size(0x180000) boundary
Intel 810 + AC97 Audio, version 0.21, 06:29:46 Jun 1 2002
PCI: Found IRQ 9 for device 00:1f.5
PCI: Sharing IRQ 9 with 00:1f.3
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:1f.5 to 64
i810: Intel ICH 82801AA found at IO 0x1300 and 0x1200, IRQ 9
i810_audio: Audio Controller supports 2 channels.
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: 0x4352:0x5934 (Cirrus Logic CS4299 rev D)
i810_audio: AC'97 codec 0 supports AMAP, total channels = 2
hdc: ATAPI 48X CD-ROM drive, 120kB Cache, UDMA(33)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
hdd: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache, DMA
cdrom: This disc doesn't have any tracks I recognize!
cdrom: This disc doesn't have any tracks I recognize!
PCI: Enabling device 01:0b.0 (0114 -> 0117)
PCI: Assigned IRQ 5 for device 01:0b.0
3c59x: Donald Becker and others. www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
01:0b.0: 3Com PCI 3c905B Cyclone 100baseTx at 0x3000. Vers LK1.1.16
*******************************************************************
cat /proc/interrupts

CPU0
0: 58592 XT-PIC timer
1: 931 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
5: 0 XT-PIC eth1
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
9: 0 XT-PIC Intel ICH 82801AA
10: 4624 XT-PIC eth0, i810@PCI:0:1:0
11: 71 XT-PIC usb-uhci
12: 17632 XT-PIC PS/2 Mouse
14: 9358 XT-PIC ide0
15: 9026 XT-PIC ide1
NMI: 0
ERR: 0
********************************************************************
ifconfig -a

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:50:BA:B5:3B:41
inet addr:64.192.56.181 Bcast:64.192.56.183 Mask:255.255.255.252
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:157 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:164 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:146156 (142.7 Kb) TX bytes:36270 (35.4 Kb)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0xc400

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:10:4B:98:74:59
inet addr:192.168.0.1 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0x3000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:46 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:46 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3366 (3.2 Kb) TX bytes:3366 (3.2 Kb)
*************************************************************************

Oh, I thought you were trying to just change its default IRQ assignment, with RH copy the script in /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 or somesuch and make one that's ifcfg-eth1 and fill in its pertinent information.

Or, put the modprobe information in there in /etc/rc.d/rc.local, the last file to run on init.

Cheers,

Finegan

thanks. copying the script in etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 seems to have done the trick. i have just one further question. what should be the default gateway for a card intended to talk to my local network (while my other card connects to the internet)? my local network addresses follow the standard 192.168.0.x / 255.255.255.0

BTW you other possible solution looks like it would work except that it seemed more complicated than i expected. the /etc/rc.d/rc.local refers to six rc.X.d files (where x is equal to the runlevel 1-6?). i wasn't quite sure at which level the module should load (i would guess level 3 or 5?) so i used the networking-scripts solution.

rc.local runs last at any of the multi-user runlevels, with your distro that should be... er, 3-4-5. The script is prebuilt for you to stick in machine specific start-ups. Yeah putting networking in there is sorta hackish, especially since it could let you bring up an ethernet device to world AFTER the firewall rules have been applied. Its great for starting little stuff like dhcpd and the like.

The machine connected to the net should be the gateway, but you're going to have to configure that machine for NAT and forwarding. What's it running? If its Linux, just poke around some iptables how-tos.

Cheers,

Finegan

thanks for the explanation of: (1) /etc/modules.conf, (2) /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts/ifcfg-eth0, and (3) rc.local runs. I have already reused this information many times. I am getting ready to set up the pentium box running a stripped down redhat7.2 for the network now (i wanted to get some decent security in place before i put it on the net, i'm running Bastille tonight and it looks like a winner). I'll be settingh up NAT and forwarding tonight. I've been reading the O'Rielly Book on Linux Administration so I hope I can get the iptables and routing done, too.