ISA network card under DSL?

Forum: Networking
Topic: ISA network card under DSL?
started by: Oostertoaster

Posted by Oostertoaster on June 03 2005,22:36

Hello, I am attempting to use DSL to run my legacy PC. I'm doing this for several reasons, mainly because the PC currently runs windows 95, and I would like to upgrade it to a more network friendly OS. DSL boots fine with the aid of a boot diskette, however I cannot get DSL to see my network card.

The network card itself is a 3COM Ethernet III 10 Mbps card that uses the ISA bus (The box has no PCI slots, so simply using a PCI NIC won't fix it.) My question is: How do I get DSL to see this network card? When I try to run the configuration utility under the control panel, it says "No ethernet cards found." If there is an obvious solution to this, I apologize, but I'm definitely a n00b with linux in general.

Posted by cbagger01 on June 04 2005,04:37

Try this. Open an xterminal window and type:

sudo su
modprobe 3c509
netcardconfig
exit
exit

and see if it works. If you are not sure what your network settings should be, give DHCP a try and see what happens.

Posted by Oostertoaster on June 04 2005,14:27

Thanks for the help! I'm posting this using DSL! I'm pretty
happy that I got this to work. Now, is there a way I can have
DSL load this automatically every time I boot into it? (I'm
using the liveCD, so I'm not sure if there is a way to save the configuration between boots or not.)

Posted by cbagger01 on June 04 2005,19:02

You can do the same thing that this guy did:

< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....47;st=0 >

Basically, he used the /opt/bootlocal.sh startup script and the dsl backup/restore process in order to automatically run his modprobe and netcardconfig command. He then edited the netcardconfig script to have it always choose "YES" for DHCP.

You will need some kind of storage area for your backup/restore file like a floppy disk, a USB drive, a ZIP drive, or a hard drive.

Posted by huti on June 09 2005,17:16

Similar problem as above: 3c509, modem LAN led on, TxRx led flashes, but no connection. Running DSL 0.9.3,
modem is VisionNet - ADSL 204.
Details below::
root@box:~# modprobe 3c509
root@box:~# netcardconfig - Use DHCP broadcast? <Yes>
Sending DHCP broadcast from device eth0Operation failed.
(LAN led lit and Tx/RX led flickered periodically)
Hit return to exit. (LAN led off)
root@box:~# ps ax
PID Uid VmSize Stat Command
1 root 76 S init [5]
..
278 root 1880 S /bin/bash
326 root 668 S pump -i eth0
329 dsl 3132 S beaver
341 root 708 R ps ax
root@box:~# pump -k
root@box:~# ps ax
PID Uid VmSize Stat Command
1 root 76 S init [5]
...
278 root 1880 S /bin/bash
329 dsl 3132 S beaver
343 root 708 R ps ax
root@box:~# netcardconfig -
Use DHCP broadcast? <No>
Please enter IP Address for eth0 192.168.1.4
Please enter Network Mask for eth0 255.255.255.0
Please enter Broadcast Address for eth0 192.168.1.254
Please enter Default Gateway 192.168.1.1
Please enter Nameserver(s) 216.150.100.1 216.150.100.2

ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.4 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.254 up
route add default gw 192.168.1.1
auto lo eth0
Setting Nameserver in /etc/resolv.conf to 216.150.100.1
Adding Nameserver to /etc/resolv.conf: 216.150.100.2
Done. <LAN led lite)
root@box:~# ps ax - no pump entry
root@box:~# man ps
blank box except for "looking up host" at bottom left,
modem Tx/Rx led flashes periodically,
after 3 (?) minutes text box appears...
HOST NOT FOUND
[CANCEL]
pressed Enter and this was displayed:
< http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/cgi-bin/man-cgi?ps >
root@box:~# pump -i eth0
Operation failed. (LAN led is off)
root@box:~#

rebooted, LAN led is off.
root@box:~# modprobe 3c509, LAN led is off.
DSL Control Panel - PPPoE
lqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqu ALL DEVICES FOUND? tqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqk
x I found 1 ethernet device(s):\neth0\n\nAre all your x
x ethernet interfaces listed above?\n(If No, modconf x
x will be started so you can load the card drivers x
x manually).\n\nOr press Ctrl-C to abort here. x
<Yes>
LAN led is on here OR
lqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqu SCANNING DEVICE tqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqk
x Looking for PPPoE Access Concentrator on eth0... x
LAN led is on here?
lqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqu NOT CONNECTED tqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqk
x Sorry, I scanned 1 interface(s), but the Access x
x Concentrator of your provider did not respond. Please x
x check your network and modem cables. Another reason x
x for the scan failure may also be another running pppoe x
x process which controls the modem. x

LAN led is still on
root@box:~# ps ax - no 'pump' entry
root@box:~# pump -i eth0 - (LAN led is on, Tx/Rx led flashes periodically
Operation failed. (LAN led is off)
root@box:~# ps ax
PID Uid VmSize Stat Command
1 root 76 S init [5]
...
398 root 1880 S /bin/bash
536 root 668 S pump -i eth0
562 root 708 R ps ax

root@box:~# pon (no visible effect, LAN led is still off)
root@box:~# ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:100 (100.0 B) TX bytes:100 (100.0 B)

ppp0 Link encap:Point-Point Protocol
inet addr:216.150.105.113 P-t-P:216.150.105.65 Mask:255.255.255.255
UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3718 errors:84 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4154 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
RX bytes:3747593 (3.5 MiB) TX bytes:378886 (370.0 KiB)

root@box:~#

Posted by Guest on June 09 2005,18:14

I'd say there is no problem with your card. You just need to know how to get an address from your service provider.

You can throw money on this problem

by buying a router with DHCP. Then you just get the router configured with the IP address from your service provider, and the router will assign some local address (say 192.168.XXX.XXX) to any machine you connect to it.

If you don't want to buy the router, you will somehow need to know how your machine gets an IP address assigned. The 192.168.XXX.XXX numbers you are using doesn't sound right.