I'm convinced there's something fishy going on with either my Windows98 machine, or some of the network components I'm using..
My network consists of: -Compaq 575e Pentium 75 w/ Win95 + 10Base2/T card -PPro 200 w/ Win98SE + 10/100BaseT FA311 card -P133 w/ Debian Linux 2.2.17 (Testing) + 10/100 RTL8139B -NetGear FS105 5 port 10/100 switched hub I seem to experience problems maintaining speed. All systems correctly acquire details via DHCP from Debian box (10.0.0.0/8 net).. However, frequently after a connection is started, Win98 box will slow to a crawl on network access and/or time out. SSH seems unaffected, other protocols (SMB, HTTP, POP3) are affected. Noticed this tonight, rebooted windows98 box.. All seems fine now.. How can I test each component within my network thoroughly? Ie. Cabling, switch, RTL8139, FA311 + old 10T/2 card I suspected cable from switch to 98 machine.. now I suspect 98 machine, but wish to eliminate network components from equation. I've posted messages about this before, but up until this point suspected Debian box until I noticed problems connecting to Win95 box from Win98 box... Also - anyone have dummy-proof instructions on compiling and installing modules for FA311 network adaptor? I've had no luck trying manufacturer (FA311.c) or scyld.com (natsemi.c) drivers. Do I need to compile a custom kernel with some of the symbols options etc. turned on? Would like to get RTL8139 out of network, or at least out of Debian box into Compaq and 10T/2 card out of Compaq. Also have a second Compaq 575e - would like to configure this for Debian Linux, but Debian seemed to choke on onboard CMD IDE controller after setup completed - I hear that these (CMD IDE) are horrid things for Linux - any ideas? Have SiS IDE controller in my current Debian box - it says something about bus-mastering disabled in bios, running in a more basic mode. Leave it be? Try to enable it? I can't see any option in the bios that would affect this unless bios is hard coded to disable it. ADFH
