Hello, Bo. The 3COM NICs DO assign the eth# based on the MAC address. Look at the MAC addresses for the cards and compare them to the eth#, they'll be in the same order. I have experimented with this in the past using 3C509 (ISA), 3C900 (PCI) and 3C905 (PCI) cards. The results were always predictable. The lowest MAC address will be assigned the lowest eth# for cards in the same family using the same driver. If you have a machine with four 3C905 cards in it, make a note of the MAC addresses, or install them in sequence in the slots. The eth# does not depend on the slot the card is in. Bye for now, Stuart.

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"Bo Jacobsen" <subs@systemhouse.dk> 11/13/02 02:47PM >>> <snip>

This does not solve the "problem". On a machine with an Asus A7V8X motherboard, I have an Intelcard in PCI slot 6 and four 3c905cx nics in PCI slot 5, 4, 3, 2. The order in which the cards are named by the system are as follows: eth0=Intel in PCI slot 6. eth1= 3com in PCI slot 5 eth2= 3com in PCI slot 2 eth3= 3com in PCI slot 3 eth4= 3com in PCI slot 4 Very strange. As mentioned earlier, I have tried to swap some of the 3com cards and I have tried to change the IRQ settings for the boards. The result is always the same !?. I have some motherboards with 3c905c nics where the mapping is straight forward eth0=PCI-1 eth1=PCI-2 etc. On other motherboards it's the opposite way around eth0=PCI-3 eth1=PCI-2 etc. It would not be a problem if I could figure out how to probe the system for the eth/PCI slot mapping Bo </snip>