I now know the reason for the intel network cards failing to initalise

on OpenBSD.
OpenBSD doesn't have a driver for the bridge chipset (PLX) therefore

cannot utilise the LAN ports on board.  I have checked the PLX website

and their doesn't appear to be any support for OpenBSD.
Jules Desforges wrote:

quoted text
> I have recently acquired, 3 * Nexcom NSA 1108 units - with the

> intention of using them as OpenBSD routers.

> Information about the unit can be found here :-

>

> http://www.nexcomuk.co.uk/product/productshow.jsp?iid=13&pid=692

>

> The unit has the following onboard LAN chips :-

>

> PCI-E GbE: Intel. 82571EB

> PCI-32 GbE: Intel. 82541PI

>

> both of which are listed as being supported in the em manual page -

> despite this OpenBSD is having problems recognising 8 of the nic

> ports. The 2 fiber ports always detect fine, the remaining 8 copper

> ports issue errors in the dmesg.

>

> I have tried various things including

>

> 1) Updating to most recent bios

>

> 2) Disabling acpi, apm, usb

>

> 3) Disabling hyperthreading in the bios

>

> Whilst I get slightly different results on each test, the 8 copper

> nics still do not work. As the dmesg output is quite long I have put

> links to them here. The dmesg was carried out on an OpenBSD snapshot

> from two days ago.

>

> http://www.kgb.org.ru/nexcom/

>

> Interestingly, all ports work fine in freebsd. I know a hardware

> developer at Nexcom in Taiwan who is keep to help and would be willing

> to assist OpenBSD developers with hardware documentation.

>

> I have used other Nexcom units with OpenBSD, including the NSA1086 and

> DNA840 - both make ideal routing platforms when used with bgp/ospf/

> carp.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Jules