3COM ISA CARD

[Mike Ballon]

my bad on the module name, force of habbit.

>
>I see as I'm writing this that calzonie responded with some Mandrake hints!

>I think he meant 3c509, not the (Vortex) 3c59x, which is for the 3c590 or
>3c905 (Etherlink XL). You have the Etherlink III, right?
>
>From /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Configure.help:
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>3c509/3c579 support
>CONFIG_EL3
>  If you have a network (Ethernet) card belonging to the 3Com
>  EtherLinkIII series, say Y and read the Ethernet-HOWTO, available
>  via FTP (user: anonymous) in
>  ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO.
>
>  If your card is not working you may need to use the DOS
>  setup disk to disable Plug & Play mode, and to select the default
>  media type.
>
>  If you want to compile this as a module ( = code which can be
>  inserted in and removed from the running kernel whenever you want),
>  say M here and read Documentation/modules.txt as well as
>  Documentation/networking/net-modules.txt. The module will be called
>  3c509.o.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Well, at least they have the metalab URL and not sunsite! But it changed
>again, right!
>
>You're not the only one w/3Com + Mandrake problems, why don't you check out

>http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/lists/slug/2000/July/msg00562.html
>and see if that situation pertains to you; I didn't follow it very far.
>
>I use and love 3c509 cards; I don't use the driver as a module anymore.
>Generally, the scheme for handling kernel modules, feeding them their
>options, auto-detecting and disabling them, etc. is one of the big things
>that differ between distributions. What I am saying is that your research
>should go first in the direction of "how the hell does Mandrake auto-detect

>hardware, remember the results, pass parameters to kernel modules, and (most

>important) what system log file reports the errors/problems that might
>occur during this process?" before proceeding in the direction of "why can't

>I use my 3Com card?"
>
>I don't use Mandrake, but I can offer some tips ("theory").
>All of this is done as root. -----------------
>
> # dmesg
>
>Should show hardware detected during kernel initialization; in my case, that's

>where the 3c509 is detected. I have lines like this:
>
>eth0: 3c509 at 0x300 tag 1, 10baseT port, address  00 60 de ad be ef, IRQ 10.

>3c509.c:1.16 (2.2) 2/3/98 becker at cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov.
>
> # lsmod
>
>Should show modules loaded right now, you might see something like this:
>
>Module                  Size  Used by
>3c509                   5804   0
>
>If you see this, there should be some tell-tale evidence in a log file 
>of the successful module load (perhaps /var/log/syslog, if that exists).
>Or you can try to find the relevant logfile yourelf by unloading and
>loading the module yourself:
>
> # rmmod 3c509
> # insmod 3c509
>
>and then
>
> # ls -alt /var/log | head
>
>to see which log file(s) changed most recently.
>
>If there's nothing in dmesg about a 3c509 (or there's ANOTHER ethernet
>card mentioned there as eth0), you might do this before you try the advice

>found above in the kernel help file fragment. Show free/used interrupts:
>
> # cat /proc/interrupts
>
>looks like this for me:
>           CPU0
>  0:     401139          XT-PIC  timer
>  1:      14754          XT-PIC  keyboard
>  2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade
>  8:          1          XT-PIC  rtc
> 10:      10660          XT-PIC  eth0
> 12:       2493          XT-PIC  PS/2 Mouse
> 13:          1          XT-PIC  fpu
> 14:        434          XT-PIC  ide0
> 15:      32186          XT-PIC  ide1
>NMI:          0
>
>So yes indeed, my eth0 is using IRQ 10 and my IRQ 3, 4, and 5 MIGHT be free

>(they're not, because my dmesg also says:
>
>Serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
>ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
>ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
>
>but the point is that /proc/interrupts is Your Friend when searching for
>free interrupts to use for manual config).
>
> # cat /proc/ioports
>
>Contains some lines like this:
>
>02f8-02ff : serial(set)
>0300-030f : 3c509
>0376-0376 : ide1
>
>Again, just make sure any port addresses you have in might are not already

>taken by some other device.
>
>#---------------------------------
>Summary: 3c509 cards may require configuration with their companion DOS
>utility (I have downloaded it from 3Com before). Distributions differ widely

>in their handling of module configuration/loading--read docs. Often files
>like "/etc/modules.conf" or "/etc/conf.modules" are involved. This exposition

>brought to you by the commands dmesg, lsmod, rmmod, and insmod, and the
>pseudo-files /proc/interrupts and /proc/ioports. Oh, and the -t switch of ls!

>#---------------------------------
>Chris Bopp
>
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