2 NICS

I am wondering are you using the 3com980 cards and trying to use both Nics as one? If so you will need the 3com utility on 3coms site you can meail me and I will send it to you too. jchambers@djgrp.com

If you are not trying that than of course question 1.
Are you sure they are not using the same IRQ?
If they are change the IRQ by deleting the nic and restarting with both of them in.
Question 2?
Are you putting the cards right next to each in the PCI slots? I have had two different timeswhen I moved the first NIC around to a different slot and fixed the problem. Rember that you do not know which one is causing the problem.
Question 3
Make sure that the machine is not setup on DHCP if it is calling up the same IP than it will diable one of the Cards.
I hope this helped.

Answer 1:
thanks but
- NOT dual 3Com's
- NOT on the same IRQ
- NOT adjacent PCI slots (tho' I will move them around and try it)
- STATIC IP's

Are you using Win2K Pro or Server? If you are using Win2K Pro, while you can certainly install 2 NICs, and create multiple LAN connections (i for each NIC present, only one LAN connection (and thus 1 NIC) can be active at a time. You cannot bind asingle connection to multiple NICs.
If you are using Win2k server, this is also true except when you configure the server to route between the 2 LAN connections.

Thanks for the input:
it is Win2K server
I do not want to route between these two networks in this box. I want this box to be on each network independantly. No traffic has to pass from one network to the other via this machine

It sounds like this is a gateway problem. You need to specify a default gateway on only ONE NIC, not both. If you need to route packets for a specific subnet through one NIC, then set up a static route for that NIC's subnet and use the other as the default gateway for the rest of the world. If one NIC is internal and the other external (i.e., connected to a WAN or the Internet), always set the external one as the default gateway (or if that NIC is connected to another router, use the router's address as the default gateway). Hope this helps!

Point value changed by question poster.

It *should* be simple so let's simplify.

All I want to do is have this box on 2 networks. It is server. Both networks are public accessible. Networks are not subnet of same network (different upstream providers).

If I need to install RRAS how do I configure it (detail please)?

Thanks for input thus far. . .

Okay, more questions then! How do you intend to move from doamin to domain? You can only log in to a single domain at a time. Also, you can only enter info in Network Identification relating to one domain at a time.
Also, when you change membership from one domain to another, you effectively delete the machine account from the domain you are moving from and must go through the process of joining the new domain. When you want to switch back, you have to go through the same process.
I repeat, unless you are setting up the server as a router, you CANNOT have more than one LAN connection active at a time.
If you you aren't willing to accept an answer of "you can't do what you want to do" from those of us willing to try and help (for free), maybe you will accept the same answer if you go pay big bucks to a consulting firm.

Thanks for everyones help so far. I am closing this question but I will re-post it on Network Design.

This question was closed by the author