Re: [TCLUG:2546] Configuring for 2 Network Adapters

[Gordon Pedersen <gordo@pclink.com>]

Peter/Richard/Chris:

Got down to nub of it last night and found that though the (stock Redhat
5.1) driver would load both old and new NIC, it somehow couldn't really
use the new NIC.  I didn't try to figure out what did and didn't
work--enough fish to fry!  The driver was the first fix I tried and it
worked.  Thanks.  Cards load at irq 15 and 14 now; i'll test irq sharing
another day--probably better get it working on NT first :-).  Guess I
should check out the cards sheer bit-rattling performance after what
some have written here but that will have to wait.

What a drag to be so close yet miss.  At least you have a good
connection at work (I presume).

gp

Peter Lukas wrote:
> 
> You lucky dog, I'm about 5 feet over the limit for DSL.  :-).  IRQ sharing
> is a driver issue.  Linux drivers seem to handle this without a problem,
> as for NT, does it handle anything without a problem?  There's a few
> things you can do.  If they're both PCI adapters, you should "Reset
> Configuration Data" in your bios.  This will allow the BIOS to undo any
> conflicting IRQ settings and hopefully reassign them to a non-conflicting
> location.  Also, you might have better success loading each adapter driver
> as a module.  The problem with using 2 similar cards is that it might be
> tough to determine which one was loaded.  In any event, the DSL connection
> isn't connected to a switch that does either 10/100 FD, so it shouldn't be
> an issue.  To be safe, you can load the modules forcing the 905b to 10MB
> half-duplex simply by passing no options to the module as you load it.
> There are newer drivers usually making their way into kernels between
> point releases, so chances are, the driver with 2.0.35 is older than the
> one packaged with 2.0.36.  If all else fails, you can always pick up a
> nice netgear PCI 10/100 adapter for about $30.
> 
> Peter Lukas
> Math Systems Office
> University of Minnesota
> 
> On Mon, 7 Dec 1998, Gordon Pedersen wrote:
> 
> > Thanks, Peter.  I had no idea these cards were extra finicky.  I won't
> > be near the machine till tomorrow evening but here's a followup
> > question:
> >
> >       I'm connecting it to one of the netspeed routers supplied by US West
> > for their RADSL service.  Presumably if speeds stay below 768K as seems
> > almost certain--I'm only buying the basic 256K service--then will the
> > speed be an issue?  Can't quite tell from what you write.
> >
> > I'll check out the 905B driver.
> >
> >       Do you know what happened in the kernel between 2.0.34 and 2.0.36 that
> > makes it work better for these drivers?
> >
> > gp
> >
> > Peter Lukas wrote:
> > >
> > > The 905 and 905B are both really fussy cards (the 905B in particular).
> > > You'll need to upgrade to a more recent kernel that the stock RH5.1 (which
> > > really only supports plain-vanilla 905).  Use a 2.0.36 or a 2.1.13x kernel
> > > or download the 905B driver from the cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov site.  Also,
> > > some of these newer "autosensing" adapters get really confused depending
> > > upon what type of switch they're hooked up to.  If you're connecting the
> > > adapter to a 10/100 switch, you'll need to configure the port the 905B is
> > > connected to forced 10 or 100 full or half-duplex and do the same for the
> > > card as you load it.  Of the numerous 905's and 905B's I've worked with,
> > > the only ones with the problem have been the adapters with the white WOL
> > > connector on the card itself.  This problem has also exhibited itself on
> > > the dec tulip-based adapters as well.  If you're not using an autosensing
> > > switch, you'll probably just need to update the kernel 905B
> > > Vortex/Boomarang driver.
> > >
> > > Peter Lukas
> > > Math Systems Office
> > > University of Minnesota
> > >
...
> > > > --
> > > > Richard Seymour, Anarchy Software, Inc.
> > > > anarchy@anarchysoftware.com
> >
> > Gordon Pedersen         1412 Portland Ave

-- 
Gordon Pedersen         1412 Portland Ave
info systems design     Saint Paul, Minnesota
gordo@pclink.com        55104,  USA