hi i had posted about being unable to ping via potato. i changed out the 3c905 and it pings! there is still no loopback in my route and i still get the SIOCADDRT error if i try to add it: route add -net 127.0.0.0 sorry for the wasted bandwidth. the card had been ok when i set the machine up... thanks dave -- Dave Mallery, K5EN PO Box 520 Ramah, NM 87321 no gates no windows... running GNU/Linux free at last! Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds