There are some strange problems w/ tulip NICs and some hubs and/or
switches. I've noticed it on a PWS 500au -- when I connect it to the
network at work, it connects to a Cisco switch, but at home, I have an
off-brand switch. At work, it works great, but at home, I have the same
problems you're describing. Also, it doesn't seem to matter which
operating system I'm running, although I've only tried Linux, NetBSD, and
FreeBSD. Maybe it's not a NetBSD-only problem?

-- 
Wes Kurdziolek
Virginia Tech Computer Science Lab
UNIX System Administrator
E-mail: wkurdzio@cslab.vt.edu
Voice: +1 (540) 231-3457
Office: 116A McBryde

On Fri, 13 Apr 2001, Tom Haapanen wrote:

> About a month ago I emailed about a problem installing NetBSD onto a PWS
> 433a from floppy and/or CD.  Couldn't resolve those, despite help from
> several people.  and then spent most of the next month out of the office.
>
> But today I took the machine to the office, set up TFTP and NFS, and
> successfully netbooted using the built-in 21142 (I think).  Installed NetBSD
> 1.5 over FTP.  Did the basic configuration etc., and the shut it down and
> hauled it home.
>
> And that's where my trouble comes in.  At the office we have switched
> full-duplex 100baseT to the desktop, but at home I'm running just an old
> 3Com 10baseT hub.  And I can't get the de0 NIC to work any more!
>
> I use
>     ifconfig de0 inet 209.x.y.z netmask 0xffffffe0 media 10baseT/UTP
> and there are no apparent error messages, either on the console or on the
> syslog -- put I can't ping anything other than the card's own IP address.
> After 10 or so packets, I'll just start getting "host is down" responses.
>
> I tried configuring ewa0 in SRM to either "Auto-Detect" or "10baseT
> Twisted-Pair", but no difference.  The default route is configured
> correctly.  The link light is on, but I can't get any action, no matter how
> many times I try to fiddle with things, bring the interface down, or even
> reboot the system
>
> I have a feeling I am missing something very obvious here, but I fear I'll
> soon go bald if I keep pulling my hair out at this rate.
>
> Can anyone suggest what I might have missed?
>
> -----
> Tom Haapanen -- Software Metrics -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
> Advanced Printing Solutions -- http://www.metrics.com/
>