[vortex] problems with a 3Com NIC using RH

[Donald Becker]

On Tue, 2 Jul 2002, S. K. wrote:

> Hi, I was pointed to this e-mail address for questions
> about a 3com NIC in linux.
> 
> I'm using Linux version 2.4.7-10smp

SMP... that means you are using the APIC.

> for some reason after running for a couple of hours
> through heavy traffic I get the error:
> 
> Jun 29 01:35:33 teeth kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth2:
> transmit timed out
> Jun 29 01:35:33 teeth kernel: eth2: transmit timed
> out, tx_status 00 status e601.

The card is trying to raise an interrupt.

> Jun 29 01:35:33 teeth kernel: eth2: Interrupt posted
> but not delivered -- IRQ blocked by another device?

The driver detects that there is a problem with the interrupt request
from the device not raising an interrupt, and  accurately reports it.

Try running your kernel with the boot option "noapic".

> these lines of error appear every 10 seconds from then
> on. The system becomes unrecheable remotly. (i.e.
> unseccessfull ping or telnet).  However, from the
> terminal the system seem to be running fine but I
> cannot reach any computer in the network.  Also at
> this point the other computers on the network have
> <incomplete> as a MAC address value for the system in
> question.  I checked if any other device was using the
> same IRQ, however that is not the case.

The message is only suggesting a possible source of the problem.  In
this case the problem is likely the APIC bug.

-- 
Donald Becker				becker@scyld.com
Scyld Computing Corporation		http://www.scyld.com
410 Severn Ave. Suite 210		Second Generation Beowulf Clusters
Annapolis MD 21403			410-990-9993