[realtek] problem with dual RTL8139 boards

[John A Ogren]

Hello, and Happy New Year!

I'm trying to get two RTL8139 boards running in my Linux box, so I can 
eventually connect a cable modem to my home network.  Both my cards work 
normally if they are the only network card installed (i.e., they can 
ping hosts on my home network). However, if both the cards are installed 
at the same time, only one of them works.  I can swap them on the PCI 
bus, and then the other card works.  The problem seems to be associated 
with the PCI bus -  when two cards are installed, only the one in a 
particular PCI slot will work with my network. If only one network card 
is installed, it works in any PCI slot.

I'm not sure if this is a problem with the 8139too driver, as I get the 
same behavior if I replace one of the RTL8139 cards with a tulip-based 
card.  So if this list isn't an appropriate place to post this question, 
I would appreciate suggestions for where else to ask.

Thanks!
John

-----------
configuration details:
RedHat 7.2 with all bugfix updates applied (kernel 2.4.9)
  - I've also installed kernel 2.4.17, with the same results
RTL8139 cards:
  SMC 1211TX
  DLink 530TX+
Tulip card:
  LinkSys LNE100TX ver. 5.1

/etc/modules.conf
   alias eth0 8139too
   alias eth1 8139too

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
   ifcfg-eth0  \____ both files are present and identical, except for
   ifcfg-eth1  /     IPADDR= and DEVICE= lines.
                     One has IPADDR=192.168.1.1
                     Other has IPADDR=192.168.0.1
                     My local network is at 192.168.1.x
The "good" PCI slot is always assigned to eth1 at bootup.  If I swap the 
IPADDR values in the two ifcfg-eth? files (and restart the network), I 
cannot ping machines on the local network.