3Com NIC Aggrevation

[Jin Vitas]

your Netgear.. is that set to 10 mbs.. or 100.. if I were u I would set the switch to Full Duplex.. and all NIC's to Full Duplex..

[MadMax]

It's a DS524 Dual Speed Stackable (Autosensing). It's working well at both speeds simultaneously. I've checked this with 100 mb/s and 10 mb/s only NICs at the same time.

This box is pretty automatic. It doesn't offer any external programming features.

Also, I have this same model NIC working fine in other boxes. All the boxes w/ Fast Ethernet NICs are identical(Same hardware, same software, same configuration).

[Jin Vitas]

I told u the solution.. if it all works in 10mbps and NOT 100 mbps.. that means.. it is either the switch/hub is not running in full duplex or the NICs are not Full duplex.

[MadMax]

Maybe I'm not making myself clear.

I only have probs with some of my 100 mbs cards. I have 23 machines with these cards and only 7 of them don't work at 100mbs. These same 7 machines work fine at 100 mbs with another model NIC installed in them for troubleshooting purposes. If it was a duplexing issue it would affect all of my pcs.

The Etherlink III series NIC autosenses duplexing and speed, as does the hub.

The hub works fine at 10 mbs, at 100mbs and at both speeds at the same time. Good xmit/rcv across the net to/from the 16 working 3com cards at 100 mbs and to/from 35 other machines that have 10 mbs NICs.

The problem is with the NICs (Only 7 of them, not all of them).

All 23 boxes are configured identically.

[This message has been edited by MadMax (edited 05-17-99).]

[This message has been edited by MadMax (edited 05-17-99).]

[BBA]

Well, Dont get MadMax, but it's possible that those particular Nic's have a problem. I see weird Nic prob's all the time, and my company only uses 3COM. About 2/3 of all the 3C905 Nic's we get, seperate from the pc's initial Nic, wont work. (We have 2500+ pc's).

I believe 3Com to have a quality control problem!

Also, what protocols are you using?
If you are running IPX then you need to be sure all Nic's are set to the same frame type, but not set to "auto sense". You might also have a connection problem at the RJ45 ends.

Thats my 2cents.

BBA

[MadMax]

Not mad, I've just been down that road already. I'm sorry if I gave that impression, Jin Vitas and anyone else.

My query was if anyone had experienced any correctable anomolies similar to mine with these particular NICs. If so, what was the fix? I'm not hung up with these cards, I've already got replacements.

NetBEUI and TCP/IP are the protocols currently used in the problematic boxes. I'm in the process of eliminating NetBEUI from this network....It's always fun cleaning up a mess....tee hee

BBA~Have you noticed a severe decrease in overall quality (both in product and support) for both 3com and US Robotics cards since the merger? I certainly have.

That's not to make a blanket statement that 3com is awful across the board, their ISDN and hub/router/switch departments are still first rate, but modems and NICs seem to have gone downhill fast, IMO.

[800XL]

Not going into the 3Com quality debate. Lets just say I use them, but I'm not a fan.

I've had all manner of problems with 3Com NICs, but mostly under NT. In 95/98 they have behaved for the most part. They seem to have trouble sometimes switching between 10 and 100 when set to autosense. I would try forcing 100 on a card. If it still doesn't work after a couple reboots, swap cards with one that does work at 100. The 3com drivers seem to like to get confused sometimes too. If the problem follows the cards, they could be bad. Seems odd to have so many bad ones, but not impossible. Usually I can get them to work with a good combo of card swaps, forcing 100Mbit, and driver uninstall/installs. It also never hurts to call the place of purchase and start up the old RMA process. Even if you don't end up sending them in, at least you get to tell your troubles to someone paid to listen to them... Hope some of this is useful to you. Sorry I could not be more help.

[MadMax]

Ahhh, at last, the voice of reason....hahaha.

Thank you for that healthy post, 800XL, you are truly a breath of fresh air to my thread, teehee

[MadMax]

3Com 3C905-TX Etherlink III 10/100-
I have several of these cards that work perfectly(after a nightmare of BIOS flashing, driver updates and aborted installations)in Ethernet but flake out in Fast Ethernet.

The prob occurs when a NetGear 10/100 Autosensing hub is installed to replace an old slowpoke hub. The workstations with the problematic NICs boot to Win98, sense/switch to Fast Ethernet, and refuse to xmit or recieve.

I've installed the absolutely latest software from 3Com and their techies tell me that the new drivers should be correcting this problem.

10 mb/s is ok but 100 mb/s is a no-no, any idea's?

BTW-These workstations go to Fast Ethernet with other types of NICs without any problem and I have several workstations with these same model 3Com cards that work fine in Fast Ethernet.

I'm down to "It must be bad hardware" for lack of a better diagnosis, and I HATE that.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

[Jin Vitas]

Thanx 800XL for getting that through to MADMAX.. after I been trying to explain this to him.. for a while here.

[MadMax]

Jin Vitas~ I just want you to know that I do appreciate your posts. My head is as hard as granite sometimes (My wife will tell that to anyone who listens) and I get frustrated with issues that don't have any rhyme or reason to them.

I hope that my conversation skills will improve with the passage of time. I never wish to offend but, alas, it seems that I do on a regular basis.....

[MadMax]

Jin Vitas~Just thought you might like to know... This prob drove me batty so I took it down to basics. Checked every cable in the lan and they all checked good(continuity,utp pairs,connectors,etc.)...
Too bad they weren't! I had a flaky link cable in the hub stack. It worked fine until 100 mbs was introduced to the system and then those few NICs failed. I would surmise that those cards would barely pass a quality control test and can't tolerate a junky cable in the system at 100 mbs.

Everyone~ Thanks for your thoughts on this matter. A dummy like me needs all the help he can get.

[Jin Vitas]

thanx for the input
MadMax off the BlackList