On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 02:16:32PM -0600, Richard Rauch wrote:
> I tracked down a couple of $15 fxp-using ethernet cards but am having
 [...]
> When I try to use it, though, all I get are timeouts (no LED
> activity to even suggest network packets are trying to move):

Okay, that was incorrect.  Apparently by the time I checked the LEDs,
the kernel had given up on the card and stopped trying---but an
"ifconfig down && ifconfig up" reset the card enough to let the kernel
try again.  Packets are definitely going out.

From another machine, tcpdump shows ARP packets ("who-has") trying to
bind a hardware address for the IP (and all of the switch's LEDs
blinking).  If I manually bind it with arp(1), then I can make just
the sending and target LEDs blink.  In either case, the target machine
(NOT using the new fxp card) is trying to reply, but the fxp card
is not seeing the replies.  (I can watch the reply-packets on another
machine, of course, with tcpdump.)

I've tried swapping cables around, and can be pretty sure at this
point that the fxp card is not receiving network data (though there's
no physical reason that it shouldn't).

I'll try swapping the ethernet card later.  (I have what should be
an identical spare.  But since the card is brand new, and the
spare is supposedly from the same lot, I don't hold much hope for
swapping the card to fix the problem.)

FWIW, the card is a "CINPRO100PCI-A", manufactured in mid-July, if
the packing is to be believed.


-- 
  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about."  http://www.olib.org/~rkr/