[vortex] cannot activate eth0 (3c59x [duh]) in RH8.0 dual boo t system

[Ruben van der Leij]

On Mon, 2003-02-03 at 15:38, ZIGLIO Frediano wrote:

> > If you want to *force* your network to a certain speed you NEED to do
> > the same on BOTH sides. One side forced and the other on
> > auto-negotiation will cause ongoing grief. IT'S BAD. DON'T DO THAT. :)
> > 
> > Please read
> >    http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/473/46.html
> > for a detailed discussion of problems, failures and very 
> > little succes.
> > 
> 
> I know that this cause problems (our catalyst is setted 100/Full, my card
> should be 100/Full too instead of autonegotiate) but I think that problem is
> the driver.

Yes and no. The driver does what the EEPROM tells it to. The
windows-driver ignores the EEPROM-config, and forces his own
preferences. Which makes the EEPROM a worthless feature. 

The driver you're using looks in the EEPROM for it's config.

Using mii-tool doesn't change the config of the card. It modifies what
the hardware advertises to it's link-partner. 

do a rmmod 3c59x ; modprobe 3c59x options=[x] to force a preference.

http://www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html tells you about the options
available.



>  I experience many problems with cards not in autonegotiate
> (driver say no cable or other, it work ramdomly). The same card with eeprom
> setted correctly work perfectly under windows.

I used to have some 200+ machines with various 3c905*-cards and Cisco
catalyst switches. Lot's of trouble, until we removed all forced
connections, replaced the 'bad' cables and let auto-negotiation do it's
job. 

If a correctly configured link doesn't choose to use 100Mbit, most of
the times the cable is miswired. Many cables have their pairs laid out
as 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, and 7&8. That's not right. It should be 1&2, 3&6, 4&5,
7&8. EIA 568B is the right mapping, and 

http://www.ge.infn.it/calcolo/faq/rete/cat5cable.htm

gives you the right mapping. In Italian. :)

-- 
Ruben van der Leij <ruben@nutz.nl>