IBM 19K5544 Intel Pro/100 Ethernet Adapter

[Todd Denniston]

Tod Merley wrote, On 11/04/2008 03:47 PM:
> On Sun, Nov 2, 2008 at 7:08 AM, Tod Thomas <fr33zone at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I have two of these (PCI) network cards, they seem pretty nice.  I'm not
>> sure where I got them but I was wondering if they should work with Fedora?
>>  I plugged one in but lspci doesn't see it and trying to find it in dmesg
>> failed.  Just trying to avoid going out and buying new cards for an old
>> machine I'm trying to get up and running.  I have a feeling they are IBM OEM
>> and won't work with Linux but thought I'd check before tossing them.
>>
>>
>> Thanks - Tod
>>
> Hi Tod!
> 
> I think the important thing here is that you do not see it with lspci,
> which I believe implies a BIOS or Hardware problem.  If it were me I
> would:
> 
> 1. Make sure you are root when running lspci.  Try lspci -v -v -x and
> other variants.
> 
> 2. Refresh the CMOS.  Go to CMOS setup during boot (watch the screen -
> most likely it will tell you how) and select "factory defaults" or
> "default settings" - save and exit.  Often in an old computer the CMOS
> battery goes low and the CMOS settings go flakey.  By restoring
> defaults during boot you write a clean set of settings while power is
> held up by the computer being on.  If this clears the problem, replace
> the battery. Sometimes it works to remove the CMOS battery and do the
> above test.  See if lspci sees it now.
> 
> 3. Try another PCI slot on your machine.
> 
> 4. Confirm that the card works in another machine.
> 
> 5. Obtain service manual for card and motherboard and look for an
> issue related to PCI bus setup (run - update-pciids ? ).  Google is
> our friend with this kind of thing.
> 
> Good Hunting!
> 
> Tod
> 


Three other thing to consider...
What other cards/devices are in the box on the PCI bus?
How old a motherboard? (old enough to be a transitional ISA to PCI or first 
gen all PCI)??
I generally think of network cards as low power devices, but could it be that 
there is not enough power left in the power rails of the mobo (last PCI slot 
of the board)?

It has been a while, but with some older equipment I had to use I could have 
one of the two (different types of) network cards in the computer and have 
them assigned an interrupt, but putting the second card in would [depending on 
the physical bus order and bios settings] cause the machine to not boot up or 
only recognize one card was physically there.

as Tod implies, lspci is your friend... abuse that friendship :)

-- 
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter