Very Computer

I just upgraded my old 486dx2/66 vlb system to a Cyrix 5x86/120 vlb
system.  Everything is great - things are nice and fast again.
(Funny how the definition of 'fast' keeps changing, eh?)

Well, not exactly 'everything' is great.  I suspect my ethernet card
is feeling pretty good, but it seems to have decided to ignore
the rest of my system.  Linux (2.0.00) no longer finds it.  I mean
Linux (2.0.00) doesn't even know it's in my system - no
error messages, nothing.  Don't ask me whether DOS sees it or
not, I don't do DOS, and so don't know.

Yes, the kernel is configured for the (NE2000 clone)
card.  Yes, I've tried different slots (there are only three I
can put it in because of other needs).  Yes, I've tried different
io addresses (and /proc/ioports doesn't show another card as
conflicting with the addresses I'm trying).  Yes, I've tried
different interrupts (and /proc/interrupts doesn't show anything
else using the interrupts I'm trying).  Yes, I've tried a different
ethernet card. (To be fair, I've tried another NoName (Trendware)
card, but it also claims to be NE2000 compatible.  My current card
is an Addtron ElCheapo, I think.)  Yes, the card is getting power
(at least its little green eye glows contentedly). Yes, I've tried
a colorful variety of incantations and assorted curses (many of
them, often and loud).  No, there is no Boot PROM on either of
the cards I tried.

Does *anyone* have *any* idea how I can placate my ethernet
card and lure it back?  Here's what ne2k says when I try to
probe it:

->ne2k -p300
Checking the ethercard at 0x300.
  Register 0x0d (0x30d) is ff
  Failed initial NE2000 probe, value 33.
8390 registers: 3b ff ff ff 73 33 ff 33 33 33 ff ff 77 33 33 33
SA PROM  0: 33 33 73 73 37 37 33 33 77 77 bb bb 33 33 33 33
SA PROM 0x10: 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 77 77 77 77
 Invalid signature found, wordlength 2.

Now, that's slightly different than when I probe an address where
the card *isn't*, but I can't read the above to see if there's
anything significant there or not.

Here's /proc/ioports:

0000-001f : dma1
0020-003f : pic1
0040-005f : timer
0060-006f : keyboard
0080-009f : dma page reg
00a0-00bf : pic2
00c0-00df : dma2
00f0-00ff : npu
0100-0107 : serial(set)
0108-010f : serial(set)
0110-0117 : serial(auto)
0118-011f : serial(auto)
01f0-01f7 : ide0
0220-022f : SoundBlaster
0330-0333 : SB MIDI
0334-0337 : BusLogic BT-44xC
0378-037f : lp
0388-038b : OPL3/OPL2
03c0-03df : vga+
03f0-03f5 : floppy
03f6-03f6 : ide0
03f7-03f7 : floppy DIR
03f8-03ff : serial(auto)

What's new in my system, since the last time my ethernet
card was seen alive:

   New vlb MB (ElCheapo NoName) with Cyrix 5x86 chip and AMIPRO
       BIOS.
   New Promise EIDEPro (ISA EIDE, serial, parallel, game) controller
       card - game port, COM B, and 2nd IDE controller are all
       disabled, as is the 'external BIOS' on the card (apparently
       that BIOS wasn't happy with the 'external BIOS' on the
       BusLogic SCSI card - system would crash periodically when
       they were both enabled (at different base addresses).

--

AURA)]
The Gods that smiled upon your birth are laughing now. -- fortune cookie

[...]

Quote:>Does *anyone* have *any* idea how I can placate my ethernet
>card and lure it back?  Here's what ne2k says when I try to
>probe it:
>->ne2k -p300
>Checking the ethercard at 0x300.
>  Register 0x0d (0x30d) is ff
>  Failed initial NE2000 probe, value 33.
>8390 registers: 3b ff ff ff 73 33 ff 33 33 33 ff ff 77 33 33 33
>SA PROM  0: 33 33 73 73 37 37 33 33 77 77 bb bb 33 33 33 33
>SA PROM 0x10: 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 77 77 77 77
> Invalid signature found, wordlength 2.
>Now, that's slightly different than when I probe an address where
>the card *isn't*, but I can't read the above to see if there's
>anything significant there or not.

Here is output for a ne2k (softconfig) card directly after a cold
boot and when linux is told not to probe it at boot (reserve=0x300,0x20)

Checking the ethercard at 0x300.
  Register 0x0d (0x30d) is 00
  Passed initial NE2000 probe, value 00.
8390 registers: 0a 00 00 00 63 00 00 00 01 00 30 01 00 00 00 00
SA PROM  0: 00 00 00 00 c0 c0 b0 b0 05 05 65 65 05 05 20 20
SA PROM 0x10: 00 00 07 07 0d 0d 01 01 14 14 02 02 57 57 57 57
        NE2000 found at 0x300, using start page 0x40 and end page 0x80.

The second read of 0x0d should return zero - yours returns 0x33.
The 8390 registers will vary depending on the present state of the
card (i.e. running, vs. stopped/uninitialized) but in general will
probably have a large percentage of zeros.  The PROM values should be
doubled for a 16bit card (as yours are) The ethernet node address
appears in the first 1/2 (00:00:c0:b0:05:65) wheras your card reports
complete garbage. And finally, the PROM should end with 0x57, 0x57
which is the "ne2k signature", but some vendors have been known to
break this rule (see the bad-clone list).  With the card removed, or
when probing vacant i/o space you should see nothing but 0xff values.

As you have tried all the obvious things, here is what you can still do:

1) Go into the CMOS/BIOS setup and verify your ISA bus speed is set
   to 7.15MHz or CLKIN/5 for a 40MHz system bus.

2) Add ISA i/o wait states in the CMOS/BIOS setup if there is a provision
   to do so.

3) Test system after booting in "crippled" mode, usually called "Power On
   Defaults" or whatever in CMOS/BIOS setup.

4) Check ne2k card for "timing" or "compatiblity" jumper, sometimes found
   on older cards to add another ISA i/o cycle wait state. Enable it.

Paul.

My previous problems with this chip may have been solved by upgrading
the (AWARD) bios to the latest version.

SOYO board: 5TE2
Bios: 5TCU_A23.BIN

Linux 2.0.0 has ruun for almost 8 hr without problems (a record)

"DuQuesne shut his book of 9 place logarithms with a snap..."

--
                  C. Chan

       "Rocket science: it ain't brain surgery."