Very Computer

1 laptop running RH 7.0 with 3com pcmcia card,3C589D, using 3c589_cs
module (found under lsmod).
1 laptop running RH 8.0 with RealTek NIC card, RTL8139, using 8139too.
1 crossover cable linking the 2 (with dongle at 1 end for pc card).
Addresses are RH8 192.168.1.1, RH7 192.168.1.2, Bcast 192.168.1.255
Mask 255.255.255.0
IP addresses, names and aliases are all in /etc/hosts (including
127.0.0.1 localhost)
netstat -rn and route on both machines confirm Destinations as
192.168.1.0 on eth0 and 127.0.0.0 on lo
On RH8 autonegotiation fails but mii-tool -F 10baseT-HD does the trick -
reports link OK
Ifconfig on both shows correct addresses and correct MAC addresses.
/etc/modules.conf shows for RH7 alias eth0 3c589_cs, options 3c589_cs
irq=10 io=0x300; for RH8 alias eth0 8139too, options 8139too irq=9
Same setup works on same machines running WinXP/98.
I can ping localhost on both machines.
I can ping selves on each machine.
Can anybody please tell me why the ... I can't ping each other?
I always get "Destination Host Unreachable"
Running tcpdump on both and pinging RH8 from RH7, it seems the problem
is with RH8.
Tcpdump on RH7 reports: arp who-has <RH8> tell <RH7> (0:60:8:94:83:f8)
Tcpdump on RH8 reports: nothing at all
Pinging RH7 from RH8 -
Tcpdump on RH7 reports: arp who-has <RH7> tell <RH8>
arp reply <RH7> (0:60:8:94:83:f8) is-at 0:60:8:94:83:f8 (0:40:ca:bc:f8:b5)
Tcpdump on RH8 merely reports: arp who-has <RH7> tell <RH8>.
The RX and TX packets shown by ifconfig on RH7 have entries after
pinging but on RH8 they are always 0 although the entries for the lo
interface do increase.
I have tried commenting out the options in modules.conf, I do not have
an option to disable automatic irq allocation in the BIOS, I've scoured
the Net and read every posting but can find nothing to help me.
Apologies for the length of this posting but I've tried to give as much
information as I can.
Many thanks for your time.
Mick

Make sure the networking is set up right on each machine by plugging
them into a hub and seeing if either/both can talk to a known good
machine.  I suspect one or the other isn't setup correctly, even though
ifconfig appears to return a good config.  Possibly they're not agreeing
on speed (10 vs 100) or duplex mode.

Pinging localhost uses the lo interface and pinging the "self" (as you
call them) addresses is routed through the lo interface, so neither way
you're testing the hardware or the modules.

Of course the obvious thing would be to make sure the network/netmask is
the same on both, but you probably have that covered if you got them
working in Win okay.

also make sure that no firewall is blocking
/usr/sbin/lokkit to check, put the eth0 to trusted device
(caution : this removes protection for eth0 )

hope that helps

ox