"Transmit timed out" with EtherExpress Pro100B

[Osma Ahvenlampi]

On a Dell PowerEdge 2300, using Linux 2.0.35 with the aic7xxx
5.1.0-pre15 and eepro100 1.03 drivers I get the "eth0: Transmit timed
out status 0050 command 0000" error with the associated massive
broadcast flooding when I install the appletalk module (this machine
is intended to be a Samba/Netatalk file server). I was able to
determine the cause of the problem with help of the list archive,
however the release notes for this driver seemed to indicate the bug
should have been fixed by now. It most clearly isn't, though.

Additionally eepro100-diag just crashes on line 298 when I try to run
it, and mii-diag doesn't tell a lot..

As far as I understand, the multicast_filter_limit option doesn't work
with kernel 2.0.x (at least it didn't seem to take when I put it in
/etc/conf.modules). I haven't tried patching the driver yet.

Assuming the driver just does not work, I have to replace the card in
the machine. I've used 3c905's in the past, and although they haven't
caused me any problems, I've heard all the usual horror stories and
they haven't seemed terribly fast. I suppose I should get a DEC Tulip
based card then. Which one would be good? Of course, I'd prefer to
keep the original configuration and have a working driver..

fragment from dmesg:

eepro100.c:v1.03 8/11/98 Donald Becker http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/eepro100.html
eepro100.c:v1.03 8/11/98 Donald Becker http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/eepro100.html
eth0: OEM i82557/i82558 10/100 Ethernet at 0xdce0, 00:A0:C9:E4:E2:5F, IRQ 14.
  Board assembly 697680-001, Physical connectors present: RJ45
  Primary interface chip i82555 PHY #1.
  General self-test: passed.
  Serial sub-system self-test: passed.
  Internal registers self-test: passed.
  ROM checksum self-test: passed (0x24c9f043).
  Receiver lock-up workaround activated.

[root@pe2300 src]# ./eepro100-diag
eepro100-diag.c:v0.07 2/25/98 Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Index #1: Found a Intel 82557 EtherExpressPro100B adapter at 0xdce0.
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
[root@pe2300 src]# ./mii-diag -v
mii-diag.c:v1.03 8/4/98  Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Using the default interface 'eth0'.
MII PHY in use is 1.
[root@pe2300 src]# cat /proc/pci
PCI devices found:
  Bus  0, device  14, function  0:
    Ethernet controller: Intel 82557 (rev 5).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 14.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=8.Max Lat=56.
      Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf7000000.
      I/O at 0xdce0.
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfe000000.
  Bus  0, device   7, function  3:
    Bridge: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 2).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.
  Bus  0, device   7, function  2:
    USB Controller: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 USB (rev 1).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  Master Capable.  Latency=64.
      I/O at 0x0.
  Bus  0, device   7, function  1:
    IDE interface: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 IDE (rev 1).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  Master Capable.  Latency=64.
      I/O at 0xffa0.
  Bus  0, device   7, function  0:
    ISA bridge: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ISA (rev 2).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  Master Capable.  No bursts.
  Bus  2, device   6, function  0:
    SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7860 (rev 3).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 11.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=4.Max Lat=4.
      I/O at 0xe800.
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf9ffe000.
  Bus  2, device   4, function  0:
    SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7890/1 (rev 0).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  BIST capable.  IRQ 11.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=39.Max Lat=25.
      I/O at 0xec00.
      Non-prefetchable 64 bit memory at 0xf9fff000.
  Bus  0, device   2, function  0:
    PCI bridge: DEC DC21152 (rev 3).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  Master Capable. Latency=32. Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=3.
  Bus  1, device   0, function  0:
    VGA compatible controller: ATI Mach64 GD (Rage Pro) (rev 92).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 255.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=8.
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfc000000.
      I/O at 0xfc00.
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfbfff000.
  Bus  0, device   1, function  0:
    PCI bridge: Intel 440BX - 82443BX AGP (rev 2).
      Medium devsel.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.  Min Gnt=136.
  Bus  0, device   0, function  0:
    Host bridge: Intel 440BX - 82443BX Host (rev 2).
      Medium devsel.  Master Capable.  Latency=32.
      Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf0000000.