NIC in SCO 3.2.4.2 can it be changed to full duplex? 1

[Slick629]

I think I know the answer to this but I have to ask. I have a PII 300mhz SCO 3.2.4.2 machine with a 3Com 3C509-B in it. I am getting hugh failures in netstat -m. Also I am getting a large amount of collisions. I believe 10 or 100 and half or full are based on the driver for the card, but is there anyway to change my card fro 10/half to 10/full in 3.2.4.2? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rgraf]

I havn't personally used this particular 3com controller. The first thing you should do is check your documentation to make sure it is capable of full duplex mode of operation nad that your hub is capable of full duplex operation.
I havn't used 3.2v4.2 for many years since Openserver came out but you might check this out to see if it applies to your 4.2 OS, and i'm not sure !!! It does apply to release 5. But check this out and see if this applies to your version.

cd /etc/conf/pack.d/"device driver name"
Under this directory "device driver name" there should be a
file called space.c or something similar. This is user configurable parameters for the device driver. Read the file using the more command and see if there are configurable parameters to enable full duplex mode. If there is vi the file and change the parameters and then relink your kernel. cd /etc/conf/cf.d
then type ./link_unix to relink. Reboot your system and It should run in full duplex mode.

As far as the collisons go if you have heavy network traffic i would suggest going to a switch and ditch the hub. The switches are pretty cheap now.

Hope this helps
Rob

 

[edfair]

The changes to the card are accomplished with a DOS based program and carry forward into 5.0.5 on the next boot. If 5.0.5 didn't see it on boot it wouldn't set it up. I suspect that 4.2 will have the same limitations except that it uses a different driver set.
5.0.5 had capability for plug and pray, but after fighting problems there I went back to fixed addresses.
Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Slick629]

Thanks for the help everyone. As rgraf said in the /etc/conf/pack.d/e3H0/space.c there is a statement commented out basically saying that the card is set to auto/auto. So thanks very much. As far as the network traffic is concerned, the customers LAN has tons of data on it. The 3.2.4.2 server is on a VLAN but this has not helped the problem. I am having the 3Com card put in because in my expierience the 3Com handles network traffic much better that an Intel Pro card does. Unfortunatly 3.2.4.2 does not have the patches that OS5 has for auto tuning the streams parameters. So if and when the card does not fix the problem I will have to put it back on the customer which I am guessing they will not like. I have already turned off all services not in use on the server including routed. Does anyone have any more suggestions other thamn giving them a free upgrade to OS5?