RX and TX errors

[P. Thomas Schoenemann]

Appologies if this is the wrong place to ask this question...

What does it mean when if ifconfig reports a number of errors, but no other
problems?  Is this more likely a software or a hardware problem?  I suspect
that it is due to mistakes I've made configuring my network (e.g., I can't
seem to get masquerading to work).  But I want to be sure it isn't due to
some hardware (or driver) issue.  I'm using slackware 6.0, and have the
same problems on a Micron 500 mhz Pentium III and a e-Machines 400 mhz
celeron system.  (Slackware comes with the version 0.99H of the 3c59x
driver, if that makes a difference).

Here is the output from ifconfig:

ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:50:04:87:D2:5A
          inet addr:192.168.1.2  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:655 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:456 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0x1400

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:3924  Metric:1
          RX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

-Tom

___________________________________________________
P. Thomas Schoenemann
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398

Phone: (215) 573-7671
Fax: (215) 898-7462
E-mail: ptschoen@sas.upenn.edu
Homepage: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~ptschoen/