hi, i have 2 ethernet cards in my machine. the university network requires me to "obtain an IP address automatically", so i have set this up in the TCP/IP properties of both cards. however, in the WINIPCFG window, one of them works properly, and has the heading "IP address" for the address the uni has allocated me. the other one, however, gives a completely random number, and says instead, "IP autoconfiguration address", and doesn't obtain the necessary details from the network. indeed, it generates a number even when it isn't connected to the network. unfortunately, the one that works doesn't belong to me. does anyone know why these two network cards behave so much differently? the one that works is a 3COM that is worth more than my machine, and the other one is an older Novell 2000 Compatible. what does the "autoconfiguration" mean? is there a setting somewhere i can change? thanks.

WIN9x doesn't support multiiple NICS. Also I'm guessing you're using DHCP. The server gives your computer one IP address because your machine has one SID (system id) and can be known to the network by only one identity. The system selected the 3COM as your card because it is on a lower numbered slot.

Win9x does support multiple NIC's, but why need the 2nd one anyway? You can still use DHCP if that is what the school wants and designate a ip for your other card if you want to run it off to another local network, but I doubt that is what you are doing. If you're worried that you have to give the 3COM back some day, simply unistall it and the NE2000 (I assume it is a D-link) should still work on the University's network as long as you have DHCP running.

no, the problem isn't with one card being chosen over another. my original card was the novell, which didn't work. i only installed the borrowed 3com to see if i could actually connect to the network, and i found that it did work, and gave me an IP address instead of the IP autoconfiguration address i got with the Novell 2000. what i want to be able to do is give the 3com back and get the novell to behave in the same way, successfully obtaining an IP address from the network. thanks. yes, i am using DHCP (whatever that is).

sorry, just saw response #2. yes, the point is i may have to give the 3COM back very soon. i tried using the NE2000 for 3 weeks beforehand and it didn't once successfully connect to the uni network. i want to know if there is anything i can change on the ne2000 to stop it from autoconfiguring.

to stop the ne2000 from autoconfigin' you can set the ip yourself which the uni probably won't want you to do but you could ask them, they should have some kind of tech support. Also you could make sure that their are no conflicts in the device manager, I assume you already did that. If the Ne2000 is an ISA card (not plug and play) it can be tricky to get working. I have had 5 different D-link ISA cards(NE2000 compatible) and they all took a lot of screwing around with to get working. DHCP just refers to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, which means that the university is assigning you an ip address automatically, possibly a different one each time, that is why your 3COM is set to obtain an ip address automatically (just so you know). By assigning the card an ip address yourself (static ip)which is what the university may be able to do, you might solve some problems with your NE2000. (big maybe). Anyway I would make sure that the Ne2000 has the right drivers, check the card itself and see what company makes it. A good place to get drivers is www.driverguide.com. But your best bet is probably to contact the university for support, or the local comp sci kid. Good Luck.

i also had trouble getting older NIC to work. What i found is that they are very stubborn about which IRQ they use. One of my NIC's only works when i manually set the IRQ to 3...the other must use 9. Supposedly there are jumpers on some cards to change the IRQ used, but neither of minwe have them.