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Date:      Fri, 29 Aug 1997 08:39:02 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Eric J. Schwertfeger" <ejs@bfd.com>
To:        questions@freebsd.org
Cc:        matt@3am-software.com
Subject:   Can anyone detail SMC vs de driver issues?
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.95.970829081532.303A-100000@harlie.bfd.com>

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Basically, the company I work for has a "Buy from this vendor" policy, and
that vendor only offers two 100mbit ethernet cards, the 3Com 900, and the
SMC EtherPower (9332BDT).  No-brainer, the SMCs are a much better card due
to the 900's limited buffer.

Now for the problem, as we all know, the SMC cards seem to be evolving at
a rapid pace.  I've got two of them, both 21140-AC based, but the smaller
chips are different, and I can't get these to work with any of the
following if-de.c (under 2.2.2); from 2.2.2 (which didn't even recognize
the second card), from current, or from www.3am-software.com.

I've verified that the cable works fine, and I'm connecting to either an
SMC TigerHub TP12 (for 10mbit) or an EZ Switch Plus (for 100mbit).  With
one card, I get an almost instant partition at 10mbit, a blinking link
light at 100mbit, and a message saying that autosense failed. With the
other card, I get solid link lights, activity lights, but no packets make
it to the OS.  I suspect that if I lock the first card at 10 or 100mbit,
that all I'm going to do is make the first act like the second, though I
do plan on testing this when I can take my machine down (begin the only
sane person in the office, my FreeBSD workstation has proven to be the
best place to put the office DNS server and Intranet server, so I can't
experiment during office hours).





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