kernel doesn't "see" driver after I boot Linux from Windows

[Marc Remijn]

Eric Hanchrow wrote:
> 
> Forgive me if this question has already been asked and answered.  I
> searched this year's mailing-list archives, but nothing earlier.
> 
> First, some info:
> 
>     12:11:24 [/tmp]$ uname -a
>     Linux snowball 2.0.36 #2 Sun Feb 21 15:55:27 EST 1999 i686 unknown
> 
> Here's what the kernel says when it loads the driver:
> 
>     3c59x.c:v0.99E 5/12/98 Donald Becker
>     eth0: 3Com 3c900 at 0xb800, 00:50:04:1b:f6:df, IRQ 11
>       8K byte-wide RAM 5:3 Rx:Tx split, autoselect/NWay Autonegotiation interface.
>       Enabling bus-master transmits and whole-frame receives.
> 
> Now, here's the problem: when I boot Linux from Windows (I have my
> Linux kernel sitting in a file on my Windows file system, and I run
> `loadlin.exe' to load that kernel), the kernel does *not* print the
> three lines above that begin with `eth0:'.  Instead it prints
> 
>     A 3Com network adapter has been found, however it has not been
>     assigned an I/O address.  You may need to power-cycle the machine
>     for this device to work!
> 
> This problem never happens when I start Linux by doing Ctrl+Alt+Delete
> with the Linux boot floppy in the drive.
> 
> I assume that Windows has left the card, or my computer's bus, or
> something, in a weird state.  But Windows never has a problem "seeing"
> the card, regardless of what operating system I've run recently.
> 
> Is this behavior (failing to load the driver after I've booted from
> Windows) a bug?  In any case, is there a program that properly
> initializes whatever needs initializing (my card, or my bus, or
> whatever) from DOS?  That way I could run that program right before I
> run `loadlin.exe', and thus be able to boot Linux happily from
> Windows.
> 
> Please respond via email, as I am not on this mailing list.
> 
> Thanks!

Try switching off PNP-OS option in BIOS. This will prevent Windows from
fiddling round with I/O addresses and interrupts after they have been
assigned by the BIOS.

Marc

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