VA6 motherboard + Netgear FA310TX need media options

["George Shaffer" <gshaffer_(_at_)_erols_(_dot_)_com>]

I spent a large part of the past two weeks trying to figure out why I 
couldn't network OpenBSD 2.9 or current on two computers that 
had run 2.7 and 2.8 without problems.  After considerable 
experimentation, I reported a hardware compatibility bug.  After 
many back and forth e-mails with one of the developers, we 
agreed that with just the wrong hardware, 2.9 and later, don't work 
reliably with default network card media options.  Fully specifying 
the speed "media 10baseT" or "media 100baseTX" and "mediaopt 
full-duplex" seems to reliably fix the problem.  Without the media 
options, the card can ping no others and no others can ping it.

During the install, if the network card is not recognized, use the 
floppyc29.fs (or floppyc2.fs if making the boot floppy on a 
Windows system) image and not the standard floppy29.fs.  When 
configuring the card, provide full media options.

The hardware in question seems to be the NetGear 10/100 
FA310TX NIC in conjunction with some "VA6" motherboards, 
perhaps depending on the date of manufacture.  The VA6 is an 
Abit motherboard but the brand appears nowhere on the board or 
manual that I've been able to find.  "VA6" is printed in large letters 
between the PCI slots next to the AGP slot and the next PCI slot 
away from the AGP slot. The VA6 is an inexpensive ATX form 
factor motherboard made in the orient; I cannot locate any "Made 
in ..." labels.  It has built in IDE, USB and sound card and an 
Award Modular BIOS, v 4.51PG. 

The PCs with the problem were purchased the same day in 
August 2000.  An almost identical PC, purchased in June 2000, 
with apparently the identical motherboard and NICs does not 
exhibit these problems.  The network cards are NetGear FA310TX 
Rev-D2 which are on the list of cards know to work with OpenBSD.

George Shaffer
GeodSoft, LLC
http://GeodSoft.com