3Com "mini"drivers & NIC settings

[tommyc]

I finally (after 2 mos.) found the time to set up my Zyxel P314.
I had to get help from a Zyxel tech. Over an hour on the phone and it
still wasn't working, and I even had all the info he needed at the ready. (I must say his patience amazed me) Poor guy must have just gotten tired and missed something. Ten minutes after we hung up I went
back in through the "Web Configurator" and came across a setting that was not as we had set (and saved to rom) in the telnet session. WTF?!
I changed it and then all was fine.

I have my Ameritech.net DSL working well through the external
Westell Wirespeed modem, to the router, to the Kingston NIC on PC# 1.
If I spend too much time reading stuff Ameritech times out my connection and I have to shut down modem and router then turn them on again in reverse order to reconnect. SBC/Ameritech/Prodigy three
F@<ing losers rolled into one ! 5 mos. left on contract then I'll go Earthlink DSL or ATT@Home cable.

The next thing I wanna do is install a 3COM 3C905B-TX NIC I have in
PC# 2 which doesn't have ANY network components installed yet, so I can plug it in router and get on to the &quot;share&quot; stuff which I think I can figure out easy enough.

Are the drivers in the following description sufficient for my needs
or should I install the whole shebang ??

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Minimum installation with EtherDisk 4.01b drivers supports the 3Com family of
EtherLink 10/100 PCI network interface cards (NICs).


About Minimum Installation EtherDisk Diskette 4.01b

This release is designed to provide the minimum installation required to
accomplish network connectivity and is specified for use on PC's running
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows NT 3.51. It installs the
EL90X.DOS (NDIS 2 driver), NDIS3, NDIS4, or NDIS5 drivers only. It only installs
the 3Com DOS NIC Diagnostic program. It does not install any other 3Com value-
added software (such as DynamicAccess software).

EtherDisk diskette 4.01b installs with the following default network
parameters:

Flow Control -- Yes (enabled)
NDIS Driver Version -- Auto Select
Network Media Connection -- Auto Select
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I also do not understand the following................................

Tech set properties for NIC card in PC#1 to get IP address automatically and installed &quot;gateway&quot; address of 192.168.1.1 (same as default IP address of router)

Do I set properties the same for NIC in PC#2 &quot;gateway&quot; and all ?

Both PCs run Win98se and another &quot;default&quot; router setting is.........
&quot;DHCP server enabled with IP pool Addresses starting from 192.168.1.33&quot;

Any help or suggestions humbly accepted and greatly appreciated. This
Networking stuff is so new to me that reading it makes my head feel like some drunk guy is talking to me in a foriegn language.

TommyBoy

 

[Dyngoe]

Hi,
I'll try to figure this all out.
3Com Drivers This is where you should download the drivers. I'm not sure which drivers you found, but these ones are the correct ones.
As for your concerns on your router/LAN/WAN setup, it's really simple actually. Your router is acting as your gateway, so your gateway on each computer should be 192.168.1.1 (or whatever the router is). Your NIC in PC#1 then recieves a random TCP/IP address each time it connects to the router. This is how DHCP works. Your router also connects to your WAN (internet) and recieves another TCP/IP adress from your ISP. In most cases your ISP will assign you a Dynamic IP. Dynamic means that it changes each time the connection is severed. My suggestion would be to assign Static IPs to each of your computers. By setting static IPs you will always know the correct address if you ever need to ping or troubleshoot. All you have to do is set one PC to 192.168.1.2 and the other to 192.168.1.3 make sure they have the same Subnet mask as the router. Also, don't forget the gateway as 192.168.1.1. With what I have read, this should get youe setup. If you need more, just ask.
As Always,
D

 

[tommyc]

Dyngoe,

Thanks for the info. In all the setup guides I have read, I never came across any mention of setting the &quot;gateway&quot; to the routers IP address. I'm gonna read them a 4th time just to see if I missed it.

The 3Com drivers I have were dowlnloaded from the very page you linked
me to. I just don't understand if if the difference between this minimum
install or the full install is of any conseqence to my setup.

TommyBoy

 

[Dyngoe]

Hello Again,

In all the setup guides I have read, I never came across any mention of setting the &quot;gateway&quot; to the routers IP address
I'm almost positive you must have the gateway set to the routers IP. This has always been the case for me. What kind of router are you using? Zyxel? Or is that another NIC?
I just don't understand if if the difference between this minimum
install or the full install is of any conseqence to my setup.
I'm not sure when, during the driver install, that you recieve this message. I know that I have a 3c905 and I used the first drivers on the page I linked and they work fine. It's a self extracting file. Once extracted I believe you can run an install.exe, or, like I did, you can simply right click on your NIC under Device Manager and manually set the location of the drivers to the unzip location.
Hope this helps,
As Always,
D

 

[tommyc]

Dyngoe,
You must be correct about the &quot;gateway&quot; as that was the first thing the tech had me do.

Yep, the router is a Zyxel Prestige 314 (essentially the same as the Netgear RT314)

I have the drivers you are reffering to. (ver 5.3 disk one and two) I also have an earlier version 4.10b disk one and two.

The drivers I am wondering about are also for the 3C905B-TX
3COM NIC, and are listed further down the page under &quot;unsupported
drivers&quot; as version &quot;4.01b MINIMUM INSTALL DISK&quot;.

I think I will give them a try as I remember reading somewhere that the 3COM NICS were OK but too pricey and everyone seemed to have no use for all the extra cr@p that gets installed along with the drivers. So I assume then that I don't need it either.
Thanks again

TommyBoy