3com NIC question

[sauza]

I have installed a 3COM 3C905B-TX NIC into my computer. I dual boot Win2k and Win98se. Prior to the dual boot window (when my computer is booting) I am delayed by the NIC which displays a lengthy message to the effect of:
DHCP MAC addr: xx xx xx xx xx xx
DHCP...
This seems to add about a minute to my boot time and is quite annoying. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to bypass this process? Oh, the NIC connects to a DSL modem for my internet connection.

 

[SufferinSuccotash]

Your Internet connections won't work without it. Its getting IP and DNS information so you can connect to the Internet. If you know that your IP address doesn't change, you could find out what it is and specify it as a static one, and specify a DNS server as well. This is not a good strategy if your IP address changes often, though...

 

[SufferinSuccotash]

CRAP!!!!! My first double-post~! :|

 

[Scarpozzi]

What your computer is doing is sensing the presence of your DSL modem. It is most likely the Win2K stuff that's doing it. What happens is this. A network card can be installed in a computer and it will not initialize all the network protocols unless you are actually plugged into a network. When it sits there, it's detecting the network... The only reason I would think it's the Win2K half of your system is because Win98 doesn't really load those settings until after it starts to boot. There might be a setting somewhere in the startup to fix it, but I don't know much about that stuff cause I got rid of my dual boot systems. Didn't have this problem with them, but they were both laptops and had PCMCIA modems in them so they work just a little differently. If nothing else, that's a pretty good guess as to what's going on... Hope you find a solution.

 

[sauza]

I guess I should give a little more info. I sit and watch the NIC boot prior to the OS selection screen. I am pretty confident that it doesn't have anything to do with Win98 or Win2k. If I am at the keyboard while the NIC boot is occurring and I press the ESC key, it bypasses the "DHCP..." stage and goes right to the OS selection screen. My network settings are then fine and I can surf or game to my heart's content.

I would like to bypass the NIC boot without having to hit the ESC key. Sounds minor, but it is annoying.

 

[stash]

Turn off wake on LAN, or remote boot, or whatever it's called in your BIOS.

The card thinks its being remotely told to turn the comp on. It is then searching for an ip address from a DHCP server, which, obviously does not exist.

Check the power settings in the bios. You should find something related to the problem.

 

[paruhd0x]

Stash is right.

 

[sauza]

I looked in the power management section of the bios of my abit bm6 board and all the power on options are disabled...and have always been. Is there some way to get into the bios of the NIC to disable these options?

 

[Batti]

3Com has config utilities for most of their cards on their web site.
http://support.3com.com/infodeli/tools/nic/3c905b.htm

 

[sauza]

This is good info about the 3com config support site. I downloaded documentation regarding MBA and PXE (????)for my card - dozens of pages of technical procedures. I was hoping for more of a quick fix. After reading the docs it seems the answer may be removing a chip from the NIC. I'd rather not. Am I destined to press ESC to bypass this procedure every time I reboot my computer?