NAME¶
ep —
Ethernet driver for 3Com Etherlink
III (3c5x9) interfaces
SYNOPSIS¶
To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following line in your kernel
configuration file:
device ep
Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following
line in
loader.conf(5):
DESCRIPTION¶
The
ep device driver supports network adapters based on the
3Com 3C5x9 Etherlink III Parallel Tasking chipset.
Various models of these cards come with a different assortment of connectors:
- AUI/DIX
- Standard 15 pin connector, also known as 10base5
(thick-net)
- 10Base2
- BNC, also known as thin-net
- 10BaseT
- UTP, also known as twisted pair
The default port to use is the port that has been selected with the setup
utility. To override this, use the following media options with
ifconfig(8) or in your
/etc/rc.conf file.
- 10base5/AUI
- Use the AUI port.
- 10base2/BNC
- Use the BNC port.
- 10baseT/UTP
- Use the UTP port.
If there are multiple cards in the computer, they are searched for in the
following order: bus, slot, then Ethernet address.
HARDWARE¶
The
ep driver supports Ethernet adapters based on the 3Com
3C5x9 Etherlink III Parallel Tasking chipset, including:
- 3Com 3C1 CF
- 3Com 3C509-TP, 3C509-BNC,
3C509-Combo, 3C509-TPO, 3C509-TPC ISA
- 3Com 3C509B-TP, 3C509B-BNC,
3C509B-Combo, 3C509B-TPO, 3C509B-TPC ISA
- 3Com 3C529, 3C529-TP
MCA
- 3Com 3C562/3C563 PCMCIA
- 3Com 3C569B-J-TPO,
3C569B-J-COMBO CBUS
- 3Com 3C574, 3C574TX,
3C574-TX, 3CCFE574BT, 3CXFE574BT, 3C3FE574BT PCMCIA
- 3Com 3C579-TP, 3C579-BNC
EISA
- 3Com 3C589, 3C589B, 3C589C,
3C589D, 3CXE589DT PCMCIA
- 3Com 3CCFEM556B, 3CCFEM556BI
PCMCIA
- 3Com 3CXE589EC, 3CCE589EC,
3CXE589ET, 3CCE589ET PCMCIA
- 3Com Megahertz 3CCEM556,
3CXEM556, 3CCEM556B, 3CXEM556B, 3C3FEM556C PCMCIA
- 3Com OfficeConnect
3CXSH572BT, 3CCSH572BT PCMCIA
- Farallon EtherWave and
EtherMac PC Card (P/n 595/895 with BLUE arrow)
NOTES¶
The 3c509 card has no jumpers to set the address. 3Com supplies software to set
the address of the card in software. To find the card on the ISA bus, the
kernel performs a complex scan operation at IO address 0x110. Beware! Avoid
placing other cards at that address!
Furthermore, the 3c509 should only be configured in EISA mode when installed in
a computer that has actual EISA slots (and an EISA-aware BIOS). The normal
driver auto-detection support is sufficient for non-EISA systems.
Many different companies sold the 3Com PC Cards under their own private label.
These cards also work.
The Farallon EtherWave and EtherMac card came in two varieties. The
ep driver supports the 595 and 895 cards. These cards have
the blue arrow on the front along with a 3Com logo. The Farallon 595a cards,
which have a red arrow on the front, are also called EtherWave and EtherMac.
They are supported by the
sn(4) driver.
DIAGNOSTICS¶
- ep0: reset (status: %x)
- The driver has encountered a FIFO underrun or overrun. The
driver will reset the card and the packet will be lost. This is not
fatal.
- ep0: eeprom failed to come
ready
- The eeprom failed to come ready. This probably means the
card is wedged.
- ep0: 3c509 in test mode. Erase pencil
mark!
- This means that someone has scribbled with pencil in the
test area on the card. Erase the pencil mark and reboot. (This is not a
joke).
- ep0: No I/O space?!
- The driver was unable to allocate the I/O space that it
thinks should be there. Look for conflicts with other devices.
- ep0: No irq?!
- The driver could not allocate the interrupt it wanted.
Look for conflicts, although sharing interrupts for PC Card is
normal.
- ep0: No connectors!
- The driver queried the hardware for what ethernet
attachment were present, but the hardware reported none that the driver
recognized.
- ep0: Unable to get Ethernet
address!
- The driver was unable to read the ethernet address from
the EEPROM. This is likely the result of the card being wedged.
- ep0: if_alloc() failed
- The driver was unable to allocate a ifnet structure. This
may happen in extremely low memory conditions.
- ep0: strange connector type in EEPROM:
assuming AUI
- The driver does not know what to do with the information
the EEPROM has about connectors, so it is assuming the worst.
- ep0: unknown ID 0xXXXXXXXX
- The driver has found an ID that it believes it supports,
but does not have a specific identification string to present to the
user.
- ep0: <%s> at port 0x%03x in EISA
mode
- The 3C509 ISA card is in EISA mode. This message appears
to be purely informational.
- ep0: <%s> at x0%03x in PnP
mode
- This card appears to be in Plug and Play mode. It should
be probed as part of the plug and play phase of the ISA probes.
- ep0: Invalid EEPROM checksum!
- The EEPROM has a bad checksum, so the driver is ignoring
the card.
- ep0: bus_setup_intr() failed!
- The driver was unable to setup the interrupt handler. This
should never happen.
SEE ALSO¶
altq(4),
ed(4),
el(4),
ie(4),
intro(4),
ng_ether(4),
sn(4),
vx(4),
ifconfig(8)
STANDARDS¶
are great. There is so many to choose from.
BUGS¶
Support for the 3Com 3C1 CompactFlash is not working.