SCO 3Com Etherlink configuration problem

[Wonboodoo]

Hello,

I'm installing SCO on a Dell OPtiPlexGX1 with an integrated 3Com PCI 3C905B-TX NIC (Etherlink III). I have successfully installed the driver software on SCO.

I first floppy-booted into DOS and ran the 3Com config utility which said the NIC was on Bus 0, Dev/Slot 17.

My problem is that when I go to add a new 3Com LAN adapter the "Device" drop-down-list only scrolls between 0 & 15. But I need to set it to 17.

Any ideas?

 

[rramirezv]

Try changing the slot where the 3C905B -TX is actually install. Move it to the slot that the system defines as 15

 

[Wonboodoo]

It's an integrated NIC. It's part of the motherboard. Can't move it. :-(

 

[Wonboodoo]

I just found another command that confirms that it's device 17: "hw -r pci":

But when I go to add the LAN adapter it only allows me to choose 0-15. :-(

 

[Annihilannic]

Does the BIOS give you any options to change its device number? If not, you could try getting the Dell Resource Configuration Utility (RCU) from

http://support.dell.com

and see if that does it, though I'm not sure it's available for Optiplex. Annihilannic.

 

[stanhubble]

Leave the device number at 0 and see if it works.
I did the same thing with an Intel Pro100.
hw reported it as device 18.

 

[Wonboodoo]

Thanks to everyone for responding but still no luck.

Here's some updates:
1) Setting Device to 0 doesn't work
2) Couldn't find any Dell configuration software to change the Device number for the NIC.

I did find the file where the "netconfig" stores the device setting: /etc/conf/pack.d/e3G/space.h. I hacked it to set it to "17" and rebuilt the kernel. After a reboot it came up with the following message on booting SCO:
3Com 3C59x unit 0 not present at I/O Base Address 0x0000DC00
I never previously got any mention of the 3Com device so I thought I was moving in the right direction. But I'm stuck with the above error. The DOS 3Com config utility confirms that the I/O address is DC00 but SCO doesn't see it there.

I think the problem is nothing to do with the 3Com device but is a problem with how SCO is accessing the PCI bus. We have other SCO servers where the netconfig does show up to 30 devices on the bus to choose from. So it's a problem with this SCO installation and not a general SCO issue. I think I'll try reinstall SCO and see if it figures it out the 2nd time around. Otherwise I'll give up unless anyone has other ideas?

 

[Royt]

Maybe the easiest solution is to disable the on-board 3Com and add a PCI card.

Roy Thomas

 

[michaelwild]

I am having a similar problem with with a Dell OptiPlex GX1. My onboard NIC is non-functional (the network tech guy tested it) and I am not having any luck having the system recognize a 3COM 509C. The message I get on bootup is that 3COM Etherlink III Unit 0 is not present in PCMCIA slot. Isn't PCMCIA a card type device - not PCI. What exactly is that error telling me?

How do you "disable" the on-board NIC?

 

[Annihilannic]

If anywhere there should be an option in the BIOS configuration (usually F2 at startup I think) to enable/disable any built-in features. Annihilannic.

 

[Wonboodoo]

My problem is fixed. I did a reinstall and everything is OK. I think the problem was I was choosing the wrong network adapter from the drop down list. I was choosing "3Com 3C590 EtherLink III PCI" when I should have been choosing "3Com EtherLink PCI" which allows the devices to go up to 30.

Anyway thanks to all that helped.

michaelwild, you are right that PCMCIA is the small cards that plug into laptops. You may be having the same problem as I had. Make sure you choose the right network adapter. One of them says "3Com EtherLink III PCMCIA (3C589)" which is not the one you want to choose.