[HECnet] need help w/perplexing VAX networking issue

This is "mostly" on-topic, as I'm trying to get a friend on HECnet. ;) Last night while putting together a system for a friend, I hit a VAX networking problem. I wasted hours on it. I go way back with VAXen and VMS, and have never seen anything like this. I need assistance. The platform is a MicroVAX 3400 (KA640) with integrated Ethernet, and a fresh install of VMS 7.3 with DECnet Phase-IV. I did nothing different on this machine that I haven't done a thousand times before on various VAXen. The symptom is that the interface seems to be able to receive, but not transmit. With LAT enabled, for example, it will see service availability broadcasts, but it never sends any packets when trying to establish an outbound connection. The MAC address table on the (Cisco) switch never gets an entry for that machine. The only thing that looked weird to me was the Ethernet interface device names. The template device for the Ethernet interface is ESA0, and I'd expected for the cloned devices for NETACP and LATACP to have been ESA1 and ESA2, but they turned out to be ESA3 and ESA4, with no ESA1 or ESA2 clones in existence. I'm not convinced that it's a problem, but it seemed odd. We tried two copies of every piece of hardware: chassis/PS, boards, cab kits, cables, switch ports on the other end, etc. I no longer have the system here, but will try to arrange for remote console access soon. I've never been so baffled (or frustrated) about a VMS networking issue. Does anyone have any ideas about this? Thanks, -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA