Networking problems

[villerk]

I have two computers, an old Mikromikko 486 (SX/25, 8MB, 850 MB) and a newer AMD K6-2/500 (256 MB, 25 GB). The 486 has two 3Com Etherlink III's (ISA, Combo) and the K6-2 has a NE2000 compatible (yes, it really is!) Winbond 89C940 (PCI, Combo). They are connected together with a BNC cable. I installed Slackware 8.0 to both.

What I am trying to do is to make the 486 my firewall. There's this odd problem: I can't ping the 486 from the K6-2 and vice versa. Those two 3Coms have been recently used in a large RJ45 network (I got them for free), so they are bound to work. I used last my Winbond three weeks ago, but it was an RJ45 net. I'm sure the software works, both 3Coms are recognized, so is the 89C940. I've disabled P'n'P with the DOS program. This would be an easy problem to solve, if my BNC cable was broken, but it isn't (I've tested it with my friend). Where's the problem? Is one of my ethernet cards broken?

[rugger]

Tips

Is your ethernet layed out correctly (do you have T-peices on the ethernet cards and terminators on the ends of the network, where the T-peices are). Is your BNC coaxal network cable in good condition.

Have you tried swapping the cable between the cards on the 486. Linux may have assigned the ip addresses the wrong way around.

Are you using the correct drivers for the 3-com cards. Also, are the irq, dma and iobase parameters set correctly (and they are NOT sharing any interrupts with each other or other devices). They may appear to be correct, but if they are not, then you may get silent failure of the devices.

is your K6 system using the ne2k-pci driver for the network card. (I have one of these cards too, of the realtek 8029 type. They are cheap and work well, and are compatible with everything)

Have you assigned the IP of both the network cards correctly, and the netmask.

Suggested IP's and netmasks

486 = 192.168.0.1
K6 = 192.160.0.2
Netmask for both = 255.255.255.0
Set default route gateway on the K6 to 192.168.0.1
Set default route gateway on the
486 to whatever gateway
your ISP uses.

[villerk]

Have you tried swapping the cable between the cards on the 486. Linux may have assigned the ip addresses the wrong way around.

Yes, I have and I have also swapped the cards a few times (I have ISA in both computers).

Are you using the correct drivers for the 3-com cards. Also, are the irq, dma and iobase parameters set correctly (and they are NOT sharing any interrupts with each other or other devices). They may appear to be correct, but if they are not, then you may get silent failure of the devices.

Drivers are correct ones and I think they aren't sharing anything. There's not much in the 486 to share (it's nearly empty inside ).

is your K6 system using the ne2k-pci driver for the network card.

Yes, it is and it too isn't sharing anything.

Have you assigned the IP of both the network cards correctly, and the netmask.

Yes, and the figures you gave were almost exactly alike mine (I have 192.168.1.x).

Is your ethernet layed out correctly (do you have T-peices on the ethernet cards and terminators on the ends of the network, where the T-peices are).

Of course, I'm not doing this first time you know

Is your BNC coaxal network cable in good condition.

Yes, well, I'm not sure about that. As I told I've last used my K6 in an RJ45 net, and so have the 3Coms been used too. I'll probably have to buy a small (5-port) hub. Sigh. Thanks anyway.

[rugger]

sorry, just checking the common stuff

99.5% of the time it is the common stuff people get snagged on. And I wasn't trying to imply that you didn't know what you were doing, just reminding you in case you missed something (as we all do from time to time)

Try a Cat-5 crossover cable to test from the 486 to K6 before you bother buying a 5 port hub

[villerk]

And I wasn't trying to imply that you didn't know what you were doing, just reminding you in case you missed something (as we all do from time to time)

No offense taken.