Ne2k-pci problem, bridge problem.

[Rudy Zijlstra]

Hi all,

I have a machine playing bridge with 4 nic's in it.

Configuration:

486 with 32Mb RAM
kernel 2.2.1, bridging enabled.
no keyboard, no video.

The network is stretches over different buildings, which is the reason I
am going for this solution: earth potential differences.
Replacing a NIC is cheaper than replacing a repeater.....

Currently the NIC's are:
1 ISA NE2000 clone
1 3com etherlink II
2 PCI NE2000 compatibles

The problem is that the first NE2000 on the PCI bus functiones
correctly, while the second does not function.
Output from ifconfig:

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:20:18:55:DD:D3
          unspec addr:[NONE SET]  Bcast:[NONE SET]  Mask:[NONE SET]
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING PROMISC MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:26747 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:70181 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0x6000

eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:20:18:55:DE:44
          unspec addr:[NONE SET]  Bcast:[NONE SET]  Mask:[NONE SET]
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING PROMISC MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:7833 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          Interrupt:9 Base address:0x6100

eth1 and eth2 being the two PCI ne2000 compatibles. Exchanging the
cards, the problem stays with the slot, not with the card, so the
problem is not
related to the ne2000 hardware. At least not that I can determine.

Working around this problem I have for the moment directly connected the
two shortest segments. Now the second problem:

When I send a UDP burst from a machine to a machine located on a
different segment I lose packets.
Has anybody an idea why this occurs, and how to solve this?


Thanks for any input,

Rudy Zijlstra