2.15CE does not recognize 3com NIC

[json25]

I have a 3c905 card, it works fine in Knoppix, no drivers seem to want to load in Puppy though. I did the Autoprobe, it always wants to install the ipw2200 wireless which of course doesnt work.

System:
PIII 450
256MB Ram

[Sage]

NICs have always been like this. It's not restricted to Linux. Usually it's Realtek and their alter egos that cause problems and it's usually a question of selecting the correct drivers, if available - but hardened HW gurus will tell you that there are plenty that will only work with the 'wrong' drivers and many that will never sign on with any drivers. It's a question of keeping a box load and swapping them about. There are hundreds of tons of old servers junked every day - your task, should you accept it, is to track them down and strip out the goodies. As usual, money is not the answer....

[json25]

I did lsmod, the module for the card wasn't loaded so then I did modprobe 3c59x which is correct I think. It could'nt find the module though. I looked in Knoppix to see which IRQ and IO address it was on, so I have that and tried the custom module load also, no luck.

Is there a way to just duplicate what Knoppix found? I'm not sure where to look. I've also been trying Ubuntu on that machine but it's a lot worse on this old hardware it seems.

Thanks

[Sage]

Why not just head the voice of one who's been there and suffered?! Stop wasting valuable time - change the NIC or it'll drive you crazy.

[json25]

Well, this is my second NIC, the first was a Linksys, I thought it was bad but now that even the 3Com doesn't work, which I read some where is one of the best NIC's to use in Linux isn't working either. So, what's the best NIC to use with Puppy?

Plus I said the module just isn't loaded for the 3c59x, the only one that even attempts to load manually or otherwise is the ipw2200 and the tg3 that I found here on the boards. I like puppy a lot but I'll have to use something else if this won't work. Both of these NIC cards work fine in windows and Knoppix. It seems like the modules aren't loaded for the 3c59x, loaded as in not available. Since even the modprobe command isn't loading it.

Thanks

[Flash]

json25, which version of Puppy are you using? Puppy has found all kinds of Ethernet adapters for me without fail, both PCI card and onboard. Puppy even saw my Zoom 5001 PCI card cable modem as an Ethernet card.

[json25]

I've never used it before so I just got the latest one 2.15 CE. Are there any BIOS settings you can think of? Its an old Intel mother board, 440BX I think. The NIC is a PCI 3Com 905. I've moved it to a different PCI slot also, but not all of them. Should I just try a different version of Puppy? I even went through a tutorial I found to install Puppy to the hard drive, it's great! Except for this one problem.

I know it looks for the ethernet card at boot, could I find more details in the boot log file? I'm not sure where that is though.

[Sit Heel Speak]

json25, which version of Puppy are you using?

It seems to be specific to 2.15CE.

I have three different revisions of 3C905 NIC on three different computers, and every Puppy I've tried since 1.08r1 has found and used them without a hiccup...until 2.15CE. The Network Wizard finds it OK, and will happily use it if given a static IP (I haven't tried DHCP, which 2.15CE has other problems with, on another NIC), but Network Wizard will not allow me to change the static IP address on the 3Com NIC. If I click the "Static IP" button on the 3Com NIC, the Wizard simply aborts (vanishes). In order to change the 3Com's IP, I must manually edit eth1mode. I don't know whether this problem is specific to the 3Com NIC or affects the Network Wizard just under 2.15CE as a unique case. It might be a more-general libs-version-mismatch issue in 2.15CE, since other control dialog boxes, e.g. PetGet Manager, vanish abruptly as well. Puppies 2.14 both standard and Rudy Puppy edition do not suffer the vanishing-dialog-boxes problem and work just fine with the 3C905 NIC's on two of the machines (not tested on the third; 1.08r1 works fine on it). I will test 2.16-alpha against the 3C905's in about 8 hours.

[json25]

Is that network wizard the same as the Connect icon on the desktop? That's the only one I've used so far. Also, I only use DHCP, but I'll try a static if it finds the card.

Thanks, so I should go ahead and just try 2.14 then? I'll try that tonight, doesn't take long and I need more practice installing it to a hard drive anyway.

[Tui]

Hi all on this 3com posting,

Yes I have had the problems that have been reported here - V2.15CE
What versions are you all using? I have followed the development of
this version. I have D/L all versions i.e. V2.15CE-RC1; -RC2; -RC3; -RC4
and -FINAL I have 5x 10Gb H/Ds' which had two versions on each drive
and the only version that works with my motherboard onboard e-net
chipset is v2.15CE-RC1! all other versions reported as having a wireless
device - no I don't have on onboard, after selecting what I do have, the
report comes back as saying that I don't have an e-net device!

So if you want to have a play find the .15CE-RC1 version, or stick with
V2.14! it does do a good job!
Happy playtime!

Cheers
Tui

[Jesse]

Hi json25,

Try the NIC in another PCI slot.
Some motherboards share interupts for one PCI slot with another PCI slot.
Have a look in the computers BIOS, look under Plug&Play PCI IRQ interupt settings, look for which slots share IRQ's with other slots.
If possible, move the PCI cards so that each does not share an IRQ with another card.
Your NIC may be incompatible with another device using the same IRQ, try to match up the IRQ sharing to PCI slots to find out what it might be, and then move one of the cards so there is no sharing conflict.
Hope this helps,

Jesse

[json25]

well, it works fine in 2.14, I'm posting this from the Puppy box. I just have to get it reinstalled on the hard drive now. So basically something seems to have gotten broken in the NIC detection stuff in 2.15CE. It works great in 2.14, I was even able to use DHCP.

Now to get the UI from 2.15 which I liked a lot better.

[pmshah]

I use special low profile cabinet which requires special low profile addon cards. I have seen a number of manufacturers provide the additional mount plate for such situation, unfortunately I don't have any.

I am not about to do any surgery and add - unnecessarily - extra ethernet card when one is already there on board & working very well on a whole variety of OSes as also on earlier versions of Puppy. The issue is only with 2.15 CE. I will simply revert back to 2.14 which works flawlessly.

Secondly you will find a whole array of motherboards that include an on board 10/100 ethernet using either a via-rhine or realtek 8139 chips, both of which function very well & are extremely reliable.

BTW I did not find the default color scheme too exciting! It reminded me of a problem I had with an old time Viewsonic 14" crt where the yellow signal wire had developed corrosion on the solder joint & the screen would turn very bluish.

[DemertX]

I tried puppy 2.15ce and it had the same problem didnt recognize the network card,it failed loading the 8139too driver (the right one).
Puppy 2.14 recognizes the card correctly so i'm using it.

[json25]

I'll keep looking and see if they update 2.15ce to work as well as 2.14. I like the UI on 2.15 a lot better.

[WhoDo]

I'll keep looking and see if they update 2.15ce to work as well as 2.14. I like the UI on 2.15 a lot better.

There is a problem with the network wizard from 2.15CE-R2. If you go to Projects>Puppy 2.15CE Patches and Updates on this forum you will find an updated network wizard that should solve the problem.

To run the new wizard you need to go to Menu>Setup>Network Wizard and follow the prompts.

Hope that helps.