Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!ICS.UCI.EDU!milne
From: milne@ICS.UCI.EDU (Alastair Milne)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.nfs
Subject: PC-NFS problems on 386
Message-ID: <8906121909.aa13452@ICS.UCI.EDU>
Date: 13 Jun 89 02:01:20 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Distribution: inet
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 49


    We have been having a bit of a problem with PC-NFS which we can't seem to
    clear up locally.  I wondered if anybody else has seen this, and (ideally)
    has a solution.

    The startup sequence for PC-NFS starts with NET START RDR.  
    On PC's with the i286 or i386, NET START RDR usually winds up reporting:

	Cannot send broadcast packet: Unknown error
	NFS028W : Unable to find a YP server for domain uci-ics.
	net:  Unable to get hostname by ip addr (128.195.1.53)

	(the ip addr reported is always correct for the host reporting it)

    Now, the net nevertheless seems to run correctly (i.e. the operations we
    try succeed); according to NFSCONF, the PC host picks up everything it's
    supposed to by YP and RARP (host name, IP number, subnet mask, etc.).  I
    can't immediately see a consequence of the conditions reported; and it
    seems clear that YP is in fact succeeding in using the domain name 
    we specify.

    The very odd thing is that this has almost never been seen to happen on
    8088 and 8086 machines.  The suggestion is that the CPU is outrunning
    something in the net support -- but when you consider that the majority of
    hosts on the net are Sun 3's and 4's, and Sequent Balances, how a 16MHz
    (or even a 12MHz) PC could outrun the net is not clear.

    The ethernet card we use is the WD8003E.  Has anybody heard of this card's
    having problems when used with a relatively high-speed CPU?  The drivers
    are set up as:

       DEVICE=NFS\PCNFS.SYS
       DEVICE=NFS\SOCKDRV.SYS
       DEVICE=NFS\WD8003E.SYS /i3

       (before we put the /i3 on WD8003E.SYS, we were enormously frustrated in
       trying to discover why the net refused to come up.  The /i3 was the
       answer for almost every PC on the net.)

    If there is general interest, I'll summarise anything I get for the net.
    However, mention of the WD8003E has got no response in the past.  I have
    the impression it's not a terribly popular card.


    Thanks,

    Alastair Milne,
    ETC,
    UC Irvine