lester@lsces.co.uk writes:

...

How can I tell which is eth0, 1, and 2? Normally, eth0 is the PCI closest to the top of the mobo, however, in this PC the PCI/ISA slots are plugged into a card which is plugged in perpendicular to the motherboard, so I don't know where to start counting (it's a desktop, rather then a tower). In my stupid diagram below, both 2 and 3 are shared ISA/PCI slots, and 0 is just a PCI. If anyone can understand the diagram, could you maybe let me know what order the slots go in? Yes, I am ashamed to even ask this, but I think I have a software setting wrong, but before I alter that I want to make sure I have the PCI order correct.

First problem - the order of the slots is up to the BIOS. I have a multi-graphic card system in which the manufacturer of the processor card fixed a fault, resulting in the order of the cards getting reversed.

Second problem - the order that eth0,1 and 2 are alocated will depend on the order that the associated hardware is loaded ( I think ). Certainly I don't think eth0 and eth1 would be reallocated if eth2 is added later and uses a card slot that would normally have been found first.

You need to check which ethx is using which set of hardware and identifying the slot may not help with that.

Exactly -- and the place to look is /etc/modules.conf -- Beware that if you change things there by hand you will also have to change the names of /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth* to correct the configurations for the various interfaces. You can also do this in yast2 if you have a good reason not to like the kernels choice for eth0 (the first card that it detects defaults to eth0 and you have to configure all the others, but you can change it (I think:-))