Saw some similar posts; however, none really addressed my need. Situation: Got a machine running Solaris 8 (intel), with a flaky on board network controller. So I installed a 3 com NIC; however, I am unable to get the system to detect it. When I go into BIOS and disalbe on board network controller, OS won't boot properly, screen stays black and CDE has issues. When its enabled everything is okay except I can't figure out how to get it to recognize the 3 Com. Question one, do I need to install certain drivers/patches for this card? If so where can I get them. I couldn't find anything really relative on sunsolve.sun.com. Second question, how can I assign it the interface name of elxl0 and not have the on board controller think that's its name. I have done a boot -r, unplumbed the original interface so that no interfaces are showing but still can't get it to detect 3 com NIC. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

try touch /reconfigure reboot Is the card a 3c905 ?

Yes, the card is a 3c905. When, I hit escape during the boot process and tell it to scan for new hardware it seems to see the card. However, when I boot back up and try to add the proper driver it says no card can be found. I did try a touch /reconfigure but that didn't work, nor did a boot -r. Also not sure why when I disable to onboard NIC the OS doesn't boot at all. I figured maybe there was some conflicting going on so I just unplubmed that interface and tried to plumb one for the 3C0M no luck so far. Any other ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have a laptop. I got a patch for 3c589 from xig as recommended at www.bolthole.com/solaris/x86.html. I think their instructions had me do some changes in the hardware config/boot program. After I boot I have to remove the pcmcia card, then resinsert it. That lights the light, then this gets it working: ifconfig pcelx0 plumb ifconfig pcelx0 dhcp

Anyone Know where i could download solaris 8 or 9 for intel for free?

Sun lets you download the cd iso images free for 20 bucks. http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries/get.html#8download