Cant get 3com 3c595tx to work under newest Redhat distro

[CJ Paul]

Hi all, after having some trouble getting redhat to install due to some bad disks, I finally got it. Now though, I cant get my 3c595tx nic to work. I have this pc hooked up to my belken cabel modem router and I need to be able to get on the web. I have installed the 3com 3c595tx card in my Redhat box and am using the 3c590/3c595/3c90x/3cx980 driver that is listed in the network options. It is set as eth0 and IRQ as unknown. When I go to add an Ethernet connection, it gives me an error “cannot activate network device eth0” Also, if I reboot after this, I get an error about not being able to start eth0 when the text based stuff is running at startup. What am I doing wrong?

[retoon]

Under Red hat 8.0, use the internet configuration wizard. It sets it all up for you automatically. It should be under menu-System tools-Internet configuration. Go through it step by step. If you feel that there might be an issue with compatibility with the nic, go to http;//hardware.redhat.com/. Im pretty sure it will support it though. I hope that helps!

[DMR]

If retoon's suggestions don't work:

1. Turn off Plug-N-Play OS support in your BIOS! It often causes resource conflicts with PCI cards under Linux.

2. If that doesn't work, and you have a static IP address, try the troubleshooting steps outlined here (http://www.stevewolfonline.com/Downloads/DMR/Doc/Linux/Network/NICConfig.txt).

3. If you still have problems, post as much information about what you've done so far and what errors you've encountered.

:)

[CJ Paul]

The network config wizard basically does the same thing as what I was doing. The problem is, whenever I go into the network settings and the hardware tab, the network card says "inactive" and no matter what I do, it will not activate.

[retoon]

It is inactive because it has not yet made a "handshake" with anything. Do as DMR says, shut down PNP OS in the bios. It shouldn't be an issue of hardware, but an error where either the information you're plugging in is skewed or there is a compatibility issue with your cable modem.

[DMR]

Originally posted by CJ Paul
no matter what I do, it will not activate. Soooo... exactly what have you done?

PNP turned off in the BIOS?
Is the module actually loading?
Do you have a resource (IRQ or I/O address) conflict?

The graphical network setup utilities aren't going to help at all if you have a low-level problem; you'll have to get your hands dirty with doing some of things suggested in the article I linked to in my last post.

[CJ Paul]

OK, I have PNP turned off in the bios and have had it turned off for a while, I also have IRQ set to auto in the bios. If I set it to manual, then all of my IRQ addresses appear, but my only options in the bios is to change each IRQ to either PCI or ISA. I also have two other network cards, (Kingston card which according to my internet searches should run off the "tulip" drivers, whatever that means, I tried using the ones the websites suggeted with no luck) and one that Cox gave me with the cable modem, which is pretty generic. I think I could assign the card a static IP if I want (but havent tried). All my computers connect to the internet through a Cable modem gateway/router and are set to DHCP. As far as the module loading, whenever it gets to eth0 when the computer is booting up, it fails. I actually get both these errors "Bringing up interface eth0: FAILED" and "Determining IP
information for device eth0: FAILED"
My card is in Redhats supported hardware list. If I want to assign a static IP, do I just make one up like 10.0.0.1? Where do I enter in the IP of my gateway device? Maybe that's why I'm getting the DHCP error? I will try some more of that stuff off the article. I am working some extreme hours right now, so I may have to wait until this weekend. Thanks for the help and sticking with me. you wouldnt want me to just install windows would you? :p

[CJ Paul]

OK thanks for all the help. I am posting this from my redhat box! I had figured that despite all of your advice, that redhat just wasnt going to run on my box, so I tried installing mandrake, even though I really wanted to run RH. I had the same problem though. So when I got home from work tonight, I moved the NIC to a different PCI slot and re-installed redhat. The first thing I did when I the PC booted up is open mozilla and hit google. BOOM! there it was.


Thanks for all your patience. I really appreciate it.

Now to get SETI running.

[DMR]

Originally posted by CJ Paul
So when I got home from work tonight, I moved the NIC to a different PCI slotGood job. You had an IRQ conflict, and moving the card to another slot forced it to acquire a different IRQ.

:)