I am not sure how to identify the chip models, but the

3c905c-tx-m has these markings on the chip:
920-BR05
3Com 40-0579-005
6324 CT0015 P16
BROADCOM 5904

Netgear FA311 Rev-B1 has these markings on the chip:
VS052AXC4
DP83815DVNG

Intel PRO/100 S
82550EY
L151SZ94

3Com and Intel make their own chips. Very nice and fast cards, low CPU overhead which I suppose means bus mastering. Otherwise a good idea with a slower CPU.
The Netgear card could have a Realtek chip, could you check for the company logo? (Stylized crab.) In that case: Very compatible, higher CPU overhead. Still, even Realtek 8139 supports bus mastering.

I don't know if it's possible to turn off bus mastering or if the drivers will still work with the card after doing that. (Here is described how to enable bus mastering for RTL8139 but I don't know if that would accomplish anything. If it worked it would certainly mean higher CPU utilization.

If you don't like to use an ISA card you could either look for other NIC brands (although many use Realtek chips), or you could try to slow the card down a different way, like through PCI configuration or by switching it to 10MB mode (the latter shouldn't be too difficult, and if you use it on a switch it won't hurt other decices).

I did not think about trying to force the NIC cards into 10base-T mode. I'll play with the Intel and 3Com DOS diagnostic programs. The Netgear card has this chip on it, http://install.subdmn.com/images/81880-fa311- … gear-driver.jpg I do not see the Realtek logo.

I previously determined if I disable "PCI Master Burst Read/Write" in the BIOS, that the NIC wouldn't freeze the motherboard, however the transfer rates slowed down to 0.3 Mbps, meaning it was essentially useless.

What do you mean by hurt other devices? If I use my 10/100 ISA ethernet card in 10base-t mode, full duplex, it will bugger up other computers on the router? What about other computers on the switch?

feipoa wrote:

I did not think about trying to force the NIC cards into 10base-T mode. I'll play with the Intel and 3Com DOS diagnostic programs. The Netgear card has this chip on it, http://install.subdmn.com/images/81880-fa311- … gear-driver.jpg I do not see the Realtek logo.

No idea what brand that chip is. You might try a Realtek card, I can't think of anything more compatible, and they are the most common chips on NICs so it should be easy to get one. In fact it's probably more difficult to avoid them.

I previously determined if I disable "PCI Master Burst Read/Write" in the BIOS, that the NIC wouldn't freeze the motherboard, however the transfer rates slowed down to 0.3 Mbps, meaning it was essentially useless.

I wouldn't read that as disabling PCI mastering but only as disabling the burst, but that's just my interpretation. I don't know if any PCI network cards support PIO mode. PIO mode should be sufficient for 100mbps, judging from IDE PIO mode.

What do you mean by hurt other devices? If I use my 10/100 ISA ethernet card in 10base-t mode, full duplex, it will bugger up other computers on the router? What about other computers on the switch?

Just the old problem you have with hubs or direct connections, a card in 10mbps mode will occupy more time on the shared medium and slow down the whole network. With a switch or router that shouldn't be an issue since the switch will receive and store the packets and re-send them in 100mbps mode.

idspispopd wrote:

feipoa wrote:

I did not think about trying to force the NIC cards into 10base-T mode. I'll play with the Intel and 3Com DOS diagnostic programs. The Netgear card has this chip on it, http://install.subdmn.com/images/81880-fa311- … gear-driver.jpg I do not see the Realtek logo.

No idea what brand that chip is.

That is National Semiconductor.

Specifically, that's the National Semiconductor DP83815 10/100 MacPhyter.

Later acquired by Texas Instruments:
http://www.ti.com/product/dp83815

I just testing a DFE-530tX 10/100 network card in my Acer AP43 board and while I cannot reproduce a hang, it doesn't work right.
When I download it goes in pulses. It will show full speed for a few seconds and then drop to zero. Then a while later it will start again and then stop again

Also it causes the serial ports to not work (not enough resources in device manager)

Perhaps those pauses are some defence system to prevent freezing? Do you have this issue with other network cards as well? Do you have photos of your BIOS settings?

idspispopd wrote:

...you could try to slow the card down a different way, like through PCI configuration or by switching it to 10MB mode (the latter shouldn't be too difficult, and if you use it on a switch it won't hurt other decices).

I used 3com's DOS utility to adjust the mode to 10base-t, full duplex. It solved the freezing issue, however LAN Speed Test indicates only a 6.4 mbps write and 8.6 mbps read speed. My 3c515 10/100 ISA card in 10base-t full duplex mode gets 8 mbps read and 11.2 mbps write, so I see little purpose in using a PCI NIC at this point. I wish there was a 20 or 30 mbps mode.

feipoa wrote:

Perhaps those pauses are some defence system to prevent freezing? Do you have this issue with other network cards as well? Do you have photos of your BIOS settings?

I tried a realtek RTL8169 based gigabit ethernet card (only other PCI card I have)
and it does a similar thing. Now my ISA DE-220 works just fine

Here is the cache/memory timings screen if that is what you meant: http://postimg.org/image/alh5s37g9/

smeezekitty, if you set your cache write cycle to 3T instead of 2T, does that correct your NIC problem?

It does not. Now removing the USB card makes the serial work and makes the problem less severe (drops to about 6KB/s instead of 0 but still)

The SiS chipset seems to have problems with PCI NICs for some reason

I have replicated the NIC problem with USB file transfers now. There seems to be an issue whereby the PCI bus attempts to transfer information too quickly between 2 items on the bus. In this case, it is from a USB pen drive to the HDD, which is on a SCSI PCI controller. In the case of the NIC, it was from the network via a PCI NIC card to the SCSI HDD. In all cases, setting the cache write cycle to 3T instead of 2T slows down the overall system performance such than lock-ups do not occur. The hit on RAM throughput, however, is substantial.