[lug] 3Com 905c problem

[Wayde Allen]

On Wed, 12 Jan 2000, Doug Wendel wrote:

> Sorry for not being completely clear in my first email: The 3com 905c NIC
> never works. I do have the alias in my config file (alias eth0 3c59x)
> already, but it doesn't help. I can load the driver, and it assigns
> resources to the NIC, but I cannot get it on the network at all...

What is your connection media - 10base2, 10baseT, or AUI?  These cards are
supposed to automatically detect the active port, but I find that the
often don't.  In that case you have modify the EEPROM settings on the
ethernet card itself.

If you've got a bootable DOS floppy or a dualboot system you can fire up
DOS and use the disk that came with the card.  If you'd rather do
everything from Linux, there may be a configuration program that you can
download.  The last time I needed to do this I found a program called
3c5x9setup.c.  The documentation in the program's header reads:

   /* 3c5x9setup.c: Setup program for 3Com EtherLink III ethercards.

      Copyright 1994-1999 by Donald Becker.  This version released under
      the Gnu Public License, incorporated herein
      by reference.  Contact the author for use under other terms.
      This is a EEPROM setup and diagnostic program for the 3Com 3c5x9
      series ethercards. Instructions are at
      http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/diag/index.html

      This program must be compiled with "-O"!  See the bottom of this
      file for the suggested compile-command.

      The author may be reached as becker at cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
      C/O USRA-CESDIS, Code 930.5 Bldg. 28, Nimbus Rd., Greenbelt MD 20771

      References
      The 3Com EtherLink III manual, available from 3Com
      http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/diag/index.html
   */

I hope that this helps!


- Wayde
  (wallen at boulder.nist.gov)