WARP, 3com ethercard irq problem SOLVED

[kress@ctpsun.ciw.edu (Victor Kress)]

Background:
About two weeks ago I sent out a plea for info on the solution to the
following problem.  Running Warp on a tp750 with tcpip for os2 2.0, my 3com
3c589 PCMCIA card would set to IRQ7 automaticly, and there was no option
for changing it.  IRQ7 also happens to be the parallel port IRQ.  This was
generally not a problem, but at least one program (backmaster for os2)
checks for conflicts when attempting to use the parallel port.  It sees
that IRQ7 is in use, informs you of this, and exits.  This was a big
problem, as it made my iomega parallel II tape backup just short of
useless.
Solution:
This is a case of compound problems.  Two people from this group suggested
that I add the line:
Interrupt = 5
to the elpc3os2 stanza of protocol.ini.  This was the standard solution,
but it turns out that the then current 3com drivers do not support this
line.  tcpip stops working.  They now have an updated driver, but they do
not want to put it on their ftp site untill it has been tested a while.
They gave me a private BBS number, but it is impossible to connect to.  If
anybody else needs this driver and wants to try their hand, contact me.
Anyway, I finally got the driver via email.  It works, with one
qualification.  The thinkpad system info program listed irqs 3,5,11,..as
free.  My megaherz modem always takes 3, leaving 5, 11, ..  pointing the
driver at IRQ5 in protocol.ini leads to a hang on bootup. /*start tangent*/
I'm so glad I had made utility disks, so that I could boot off disk and
restore the old protocol.ini.  Anybody who uses os2 on hpfs should make a
utility boot disk, or you'll be sorry some day:).  tp750x owners have an
advantage here, as it takes two 1.44's, but only one 2.88 diskette. /*end
tangent*/  Pointing to IRQ11 in protocol.ini works perfectly.

I hope that this saves somebody else the trouble I went through.

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Victor Kress
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory
5251 Broad Branch Road N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20015-1305
(202) 686-2410 x2489
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