Redhat Linux & MediaOne CableModems

[This followup was posted to comp.os.linux.misc and a copy was sent to the cited author.]

I've recently won this battle between Linux and Redhat 6.0. It was long and protracted, but I won it!

There are a couple of things that you should check.

1. As you state in another follow up, you'll need to eliminate the PnP mode on the 3c509. I had to download the drivers from 3com's web site and, once the PnP mode was eliminated, I also had to reintroduce the NIC to Windows. That all went pretty much as expected.
   
   
2. The next thing you need to do is identify which irq and base I/O address your nic is using. Mine was using irq 9 and base I/O of 0x210. You can identify these settings from the Windows Control Panel, click on System->devices->Network->3c509->properties.
   
   
3. Boot into Linux. Execute "ifconfig eth0". If it doesn't show anything, execute "insmod 3c509". That will load the device driver module for that card. Reexecute "ifconfig eth0". If you still don't see anything, you'll have to rebuild your kernel. Pretty explicit directions for that can be found in the HOWTOs which should have been loaded to your /usr/doc/HOWTO directory.
   
   
4. Presupposing that Linux sees your card, look at the bottom of the output of the infconfig command and check what it says is the irq and base I/O address. If they're not the same, edit the /etc/conf.modules file thusly:
   

   alias eth0 3c509
   options 3c509 io=0x210 irq=12 

   Obviously, you'll need to put whatever the correct irq and base i/o address for your card.

5. Reboot your system and check the card again. You can check if the module is loaded via the lsmod comand.
   
   

6. Presupposing, you've made it this far, your card is now out of PnP mode and Linux is correctly configure to talk to it. The next step is to run either pump or dhcpcp. Both will require the use of a -h option with a hostname. I've heard alternate suggestions of whatever you want your host to be named as or what your email account is. I don't think that matters, but realize that it's supposed to be in caps. For example:
   
   

   pump -i eth0 -h DOUG

   is what I use.

7. My bet is that your first couple of attempts at that are going to fail. I've tried just about every version of dhcpcd that I could get my hands on and none of them worked. What finally did work is the version of pump that is hiding on Redhat's errata site. Download that and stash it in a directory that you can see from Linux. If you have the Mandrake version of Redhat Linux, you'll have to uninstall pump via the rpm command and install the one that you downloaded. Apparently, Mandrake's version of pump is later than the one on Redhat's; however, Mandrake's doesn't work with Mediaone's DHCP server. Go figure.
   
   

Long winded, I know, but it was a long battle to get this thing working. I'd appreciate hearing if these steps worked for you. If so, maybe we can get them stashed into a FAQ somewhere or on one of those cable modem HOWTOs.

HTH...

Doug