[vortex] 3c905 hanging when network load is high

torsten@thesse.de torsten@thesse.de
Fri Feb 1 17:34:01 2002


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Hi folks,

I have resolved my problem with the hanging 3Com 59xx. I think it's 
interesting for all, that uses old computers. 
The problem don't was anything else in the kernel, the driver and so on, 
the problem is the PCI-Bus. I have changed the slot of the NIC and now it 
runs fine. 
The reason is that there are many problems with PCI busses on the first 
generation of Mainboards with this bus. You can use one or two card(s) 
without any problem and then you have trouble with the next or with a card 
in a higher slot. The only chance to solve these is to change the board. I 
have tell a friend to this problem and this was his answer. If you have a 
PCI Problem, in most cases you can't see anything else in the error log.
The processor's speed don't is the problem. The memory cache of most 
computers are big enough to minimize the write actions to hard disk. So 
the interrupts arn't a problem.
I hope that will help and thanks for your hints!

Best regards Torsten





Ruben van der Leij <ruben@blacklisted.nl>
Gesendet von: vortex-admin@scyld.com
30.01.2002 14:16

 
        An:     vortex@scyld.com
        Kopie: 
        Thema:  Re: Antwort: Re: [vortex] 3c905 hanging when network load is high


 
On Wed, 2002-01-30 at 11:21, torsten@thesse.de wrote:

> > So it couldn`t be the hard disk which is `stealing' interrupts. So is
> > the NIC too fast for the whole system (I made a mistake in my first
> > mail: it's only a P60)?
> 
> Looks like. I don't have much experience with this, the slowest machine 
> that I had with PCI network cards was running at 200 MHz...

> system is a double processor machine with 2 Pentium 100 and a 3Com 5900 
> Combo PCI NIC.
[..]
> In addition I have the same problem with a 486 DXII/66 and ISA NIC 3Com 
> 509 an SuSE Linux 7.1 Kernel 2.2.18, but in this machine the failure 
comes 
> not often as on the pentium machine.

If its worth anyhting: I copied nearly a terabyte last weekend from a
P200MMX, and then did the whole thing once over after underclocking the
machine to a P75. Neither situation gave any hitch, except for 20 of 30
crc-errors. Speeds were better than expected. 28Mbit/s at 200MHz, and
25Mbit/s at 75MHz, and high rates of interrupts (~8000 i/s for eth0 and
~250 for hdd, which contained the data)

If there's a speed-related problem there's more to it than just plain
speed.

Machine is a Asus TX97 with 128Mbyte SDRAM, Intel P200MMX and 3x900 NIC
(tho I usually use a 3c905C-TX)

-- 

Ruben

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<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Hi folks,</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I have resolved my problem with the hanging 3Com 59xx. I think it's interesting for all, that uses old computers. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">The problem don't was anything else in the kernel, the driver and so on, the problem is the PCI-Bus. I have changed the slot of the NIC and now it runs fine. </font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">The reason is that there are many problems with PCI busses on the first generation of Mainboards with this bus. You can use one or two card(s) without any problem and then you have trouble with the next or with a card in a higher slot. The only chance to solve these is to change the board. I have tell a friend to this problem and this was his answer. If you have a PCI Problem, in most cases you can't see anything else in the error log.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">The processor's speed don't is the problem. The memory cache of most computers are big enough to minimize the write actions to hard disk. So the interrupts arn't a problem.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I hope that will help and thanks for your hints!</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Best regards Torsten</font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<table width=100%>
<tr valign=top>
<td>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>Ruben van der Leij &lt;ruben@blacklisted.nl&gt;</b></font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Gesendet von: vortex-admin@scyld.com</font>
<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">30.01.2002 14:16</font>
<br>
<td><font size=1 face="Arial">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; An: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;vortex@scyld.com</font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Kopie: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</font>
<br><font size=1 face="sans-serif">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Thema: &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Re: Antwort: Re: [vortex] 3c905 hanging when network load is high</font></table>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="Courier New">&nbsp;<br>
On Wed, 2002-01-30 at 11:21, torsten@thesse.de wrote:<br>
<br>
&gt; &gt; So it couldn`t be the hard disk which is `stealing' interrupts. So is<br>
&gt; &gt; the NIC too fast for the whole system (I made a mistake in my first<br>
&gt; &gt; mail: it's only a P60)?<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Looks like. I don't have much experience with this, the slowest machine <br>
&gt; that I had with PCI network cards was running at 200 MHz...<br>
<br>
&gt; system is a double processor machine with 2 Pentium 100 and a 3Com 5900 <br>
&gt; Combo PCI NIC.<br>
[..]<br>
&gt; In addition I have the same problem with a 486 DXII/66 and ISA NIC 3Com <br>
&gt; 509 an SuSE Linux 7.1 Kernel 2.2.18, but in this machine the failure comes <br>
&gt; not often as on the pentium machine.<br>
<br>
If its worth anyhting: I copied nearly a terabyte last weekend from a<br>
P200MMX, and then did the whole thing once over after underclocking the<br>
machine to a P75. Neither situation gave any hitch, except for 20 of 30<br>
crc-errors. Speeds were better than expected. 28Mbit/s at 200MHz, and<br>
25Mbit/s at 75MHz, and high rates of interrupts (~8000 i/s for eth0 and<br>
~250 for hdd, which contained the data)<br>
<br>
If there's a speed-related problem there's more to it than just plain<br>
speed.<br>
<br>
Machine is a Asus TX97 with 128Mbyte SDRAM, Intel P200MMX and 3x900 NIC<br>
(tho I usually use a 3c905C-TX)<br>
<br>
-- <br>
<br>
Ruben<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
vortex mailing list<br>
vortex@scyld.com<br>
http://www.scyld.com/mailman/listinfo/vortex<br>
</font>
<br>
<br>
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