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XL PCI NIC?

F

fatphatboy88

n00b
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
21
So I'm 99.9% sure the ethernet port on my motherboard went bad the other day. I've updated everything in Windows 8.1 and tested it in Ubuntu MATE. It still doesn't work. But just to be extra thorough before I RMA, I borrowed a NIC from one of the tech support guys at work.

He gave me two 3Com Fast Etherlink XL PCI cards they had sitting in a box collecting dust. Will the XL PCI fit in a regular PCI slot? On the right side of the card, there is a socket for a 32 pin microcontroller and a 3 pin power connection. Are these supposed to be populated because both cards are empty. Or will it be fine to run it (if it fits) without the external power and the socket empty?

I'm still at work right now, so I can't just open up the case and put the card in to test it out.

 
Wow, thats an old card, should be able to pop it just like that, into a PCI slot, not PCIe
 
It's usable just like that. The socket you see is for an optional boot ROM. The extra connector was only used for writing to the EPROM chip.
 
The power connector is for the Wake On LAN cable -- and yeah the socket is for the boot rom but there is actually probably a boot rom on there in just another smaller package under the socket or something, regardless for what you are doing, the boot rom isnt even necessary. So yeah, that will work as is in a regular PCI, not PCIe, slot.

Heh, I have a stack of these at home.
 
I haven't seen an old 3C905 card in a LONG time. That's an old-school 10/100 Straight PCI card. You'll have to have a PCI slot on your Mobo. What mobo do you have and we can verify for you?
 
I've used a bunch of those; nice cards. I don't remember the specifics, but with a modern card, modern motherboard, and modern power supply, power for WOL would come through the pci slot, but in older systems, there was a separate connector (the card supports both). I think you would likely need the boot rom if you wanted to do a network boot on this card; that era card didn't usually come with onboard pxe (or whatever).
 
Not worth the effort IMO, don't waste your time with a 100mbps card or a PCI card. You can get Intel PCIe gigabit adapters for less than $10....

example: www.ebay.com/itm/261875298733
 
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I think I have a half dozen of those. I used them on my PC firewall until probably a year or two ago. They are solid, but definitely antiques.
 
I remember having two of these and seeing much worse performance than the Intel 100 mbit counterparts on FreeBSD 4.X ;-)
//Danne
 
Pretty sure you can't even get drivers past XP for those cards. Not even sure if there are XP drivers.

Those were the bomb back in the day though. Way faster than any other 100Mb card back in the day.
 
I forgot all about this thread. The cards work well in Ubuntu. However they aren't even recognized in Windows 8.1. They served their purpose though. Just used them long enough to make sure 100% that the ethernet port had gone bad on the motherboard before I RMA it.

They are definitely relics. When I brought them back, one of the techs just threw them in the recycle pile. He said they were probably from the late 90s and was surprised when I told Linux recognized them right away.

Already bought an Intel 10/100/1000 Gigabit PCI to keep as a backup of my own now. I am debating on weather or not to just buy a new better motherboard and sell the RMA when I get it back.
 
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