LinkSys 10/100 PNIC-II Transciever trouble

Jim Morris jim@morris.net
Thu Aug 19 12:46:50 1999


Hi all.

Using a recent version of the LinkSys Etherfast 10/100 card, based on the
PNIC-II, I have found that the 0.91 and 0.91g versions of the stock Tulip
driver do not appear to work properly when the card is connected to a
10/100 switching hub.  At boot time, prior to loading the tulip driver,
both the card and hub show a proper link indicator.  As soon as the tulip
module is loaded, the link LED's and 10/100 indicator LED's on the hub
begins to switch on and off rapidly - about 1 or 2 times per second. At
the same time, you can hear a relay or something in the transciever on the
card clicking on and off.   With a straight 10BaseT hub, the 0.91 versions
of the Tulip driver work fine.   Note that I *did* try forcing the media
selection to 10BaseT when connected to the 100BaseTX hub, and it had no
effect.

If I used the Linksys-modified version of the 0.90f driver that is
included on the Linksys floppies with this card, the card works fine with
the 100BaseTX switching hub.

For what its worth, and older LinkSys 10/100 Etherfast based on the *PNIC*
(not PNIC-II) chipset works fine with the same hub, and the 0.91 or 0.91g
driver.

/-------------------------------\
| Jim Morris  |  jim@morris.net |
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