hey guys just wondering if any of you guys would be able to help me with a little problem i am having in linux.
166MHz Pentium
16MB RAM
3Com 3c905-TX NIC
Maxtor 2GB HDD
ISA Adaptor Card with an ISA to PCI bridge
something is wrong with network setup i think because when it boots up it initializes the 3c59x module (NIC driver) which is correct then runs dhcpcd to get an ip from my router. when dhcpcd executes i can see the activity light on the nic light up as well as the '100' light being permanently lit up. dhcpcd just times out and after it finishes booting the only thing ifconfig reports is lo. ifconfig eth0 gives legit stats and no errors, but there is no line for 'inet addr:' like there is for lo which just says '127.0.0.1'. i am thoroughly confused.

open a terminal and type 'ifconfig eth0'. Does it show anything? Make sure everything is the way it's supposed to look.

And moved to *nix forum

what does the network setup look like? do you have a dhcp server? a router hooked up? is it on a cable connection? are you using just a hub for a small lan? if yes to the last one try this:
ifconfig eth0 [ip address] up
the ip can be any arbitrary ip, as long as you set the subnet mask correctly for the rest of the network (and for the linux box)
that probably woudln't work for some of the other setups though. let us know.//

no. it is on a router running a dhcp server. the router is hooked to a cable modem for internet. there is no hub. the computer i am using to type this is hooked up directly to the router, and the old machine is in the same room so i just switch the ethernet cable to the old machine for testing (i know this does not cause problems with the router cuz it works with my xbox) ifconfig eth0 gives lots of info:

Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:60:08:8E:FD:0F
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:2
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:1100 (1.1 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1000

the only thing is that there is no ip address listed, i assume because dhcpcd fails at bootup where it says "broadcasting DHCP_DISCOVER" (thats where it times out, which is like the first step dhcpcd echoes to me). oh and when it says broadcasting DHCP_DISCOVER the "act" light on the nic does flash. the only thing i can think of is that i bought a bogus nic(?). i could try takin the nic out of the machine i am typing this on and putting it in the old computer if you guys think it would be worthwhile to try. and i am too lazy to try static ip unless you guys absolutely insist that i try it, cuz dhcp is so much simpler cuz i dont have to think about all the ip crap.

anything you think could work would always be worthwhile to try. if it is the nic, you could always just go out and buy a new one for like $20. i'm out of ideas though. dhcp does make thigns easier. but, if worst comes to worst, it wouldn't be so hard to stick in a few ifconfig lines into your startup scripts to set up your ip and stuff.//

this is not good lol. im not even sure the computer is worth $20.

Oddly enough I have something of the same problem going on at home right now too. My router's DHCP server and my laptop's client don't see to want to talk anymore. I just set a static IP in the right subnet and forgot about the issue. What kind of router do you have out of curiosity?

When I was using an ISA nic I had to use a few different modules before i could get the card to work. One for the pcibridge, one for isa pnp, and one for the card. You might have to recompile your kernel for this support. A lot of isa cards have really crappy support in linux becuase frankly they arent that widely used. What is the exact manufactuer and model of your network card?
Try to investigate the problem using dmesg. Commands like dmesg | grep isa or dmesg | grep eth should show you if your card is detected and if it's finding a corresponding module.

funny thing is its not an isa card. its a pci card but i think ibm's damn proprietary parts route the pci through the isa bus with some kind of adapter (daughterboard?). the router is a...hmm. i think gigafast? its in the closet. yes thats right its a gigafast. the dhcp on the machine has never worked. ive been fighting with it for god knows how long. see i don't really understand how to set up static ip. maybe if one of you guys could point me somewhere to learn how i could try it. also would the "-TX" on the end of the card signify anything that would cause a problem like this? just wondering. well maybe i will try static ip. just point me where to go and set me off. oh and
manufacturer: 3Com
and on the card itself by where it says 3com it says
3c905-TX (which is what i payed for, so at least i didn't get screwed there)

heh. i feel like an idiot. i got static ip working for the machine im on now. last time i forgot to specify a dns server. so im just using the one my router reports as its "wan dns server" or something like that. so now how do i do it in linux?

echo "nameserver ip.adress.goes.here" > /etc/resolve.conf

hmm that works? that seems too simple. don't i have to set the gateway,subnet,and ip? and what is nameserver? (sorry for my ignorance)

dood for real netconfig

do a netconfig

setup your router's ip address should be 192.168.1.100 or 192.168.1.1

an open ip to use, and your dns, on static. don't choose dhcp under netconfig.

Then, if that doesn't work, choose dhcp, and enter the settings you need to. I believe just gateway, and ip. If that. yes echoing the nameserver into /etc/resolv.conf will work. resolv.conf

but so will emacs /etc/resolv.conf and entering it manually. or whatever you wanna use as a editor. I'd suggest startx, and get under xfree. Go gui till you get your box online. Also after your on, log fully out, and log into a new user that's not root. Like adduser whateverusername
Bla bla bla

Deluser or userdel deletes I forget which they changed it a bit back. Um, do this as to not be under super user access online, it's safer, don't ask. Also su to root via. su root then enter the password for root. Do not list info such as passwords online at all. Obvious stuff, But I'm being bluntly obvious.

If this does not work, post again. But all of this should, as this whole thread has gone on to long, I decided to post, and um...I'm guessing by the whole ordeal of the post that you don't know what I'm saying is a good thing to do. All of it. So...try it out, whatever, have fun.

tried setting up(netconfig):
gateway = 192.168.8.1(router ip)
nameserver = 68.11.16.25 (cox dns)
ip = 192.168.8.17 (what this computer uses)
subnet mask = 255.255.255.0
hostname = "ibm"
domain = "mynet"
(the last two it forced me to enter something so i just put in something).
still no go! if i type "ping 192.168.8.1" it starts pinging but gets 100% packet loss like my router is saying fuck you or something. and if i try to ping the nameserver it gives "ret=-1" "Network is unreachable".
Edit: And the router is a Gigafast EE400R

for your name server, enter in your router ip; i have to have that with mysetup.