[epic-bug] full/half duplex fluctuation

Nohl Attila Rajmund Attila.Nohl@eth.ericsson.se
Fri Feb 8 11:38:01 2002


Hello!

I have a problem with SMC Etherpower II cards. We have some Compaq
Pentium and Pentium II based PCs running RedHat Linux 7.1. When two
Pentium II machines' SMC Etherpower cards are connected via a
crosslinked UTP cable, it works fine. But when we connect a Pentium and
a Pentium II machine and try to ping through the link, first we get
roundtrip times bigger than one second and they are growing. After the
seventh-eighth ping the LNK, the 100 and the FDX LEDs turn off, then
again a second later they turn on. Then again they turn off and on until
I stop pinging. This fluctuation continues about ten seconds after I
stopped pinging. Then again the first pings go through the link until it
starts again fluctuating.
I got the same effects with both RedHat's 2.4.2-2 kernel and with the
2.4.17 kernel. The log contains the following:

Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: epic100.c:v1.11 1/7/2001 Written by Donald Becker <becker@scyld.com>
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:   http://www.scyld.com/network/epic100.html
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:   (unofficial 2.4.x kernel port, version 1.11+LK1.1.10, July 6, 2001)
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  e000 9e29 86fb d800 0001 1c08 10b8 a020 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  0010 0000 1980 2100 0000 0000 0003 0000 0701 0000 0000 0000 4d53 3943 3334 5432
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  5f58 2031 0000 0000 0280 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: epic100(00:03.0): MII transceiver #3 control 3000 status 7849.
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: epic100(00:03.0): Autonegotiation advertising 01e1 link partner 0001.
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: eth1: SMSC EPIC/100 83c170 at 0x1000, IRQ 10, 00:e0:29:9e:fb:86.
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  e000 9e29 9de9 d300 0001 1c08 10b8 a020 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  0010 0000 1980 2100 0000 0000 0003 0000 0701 0000 0000 0000 4d53 3943 3334 5432
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel:  5f58 2031 0000 0000 0280 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: epic100(00:04.0): MII transceiver #3 control 3000 status 7849.
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: epic100(00:04.0): Autonegotiation advertising 01e1 link partner 0001.
Feb  8 17:30:07 router05 kernel: eth2: SMSC EPIC/100 83c170 at 0x1400, IRQ 11, 00:e0:29:9e:e9:9d.
Feb  8 17:30:30 router05 kernel: eth1: Setting half-duplex based on MII xcvr 3 register read of 0001.
Feb  8 17:30:33 router05 kernel: eth1: Setting full-duplex based on MII #3 link partner capability of 41e1.
Feb  8 17:30:54 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:30:54 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 4003.
Feb  8 17:30:58 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:30:58 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 0003.
Feb  8 17:30:58 router05 kernel: eth1: Setting half-duplex based on MII #3 link partner capability of 0001.
Feb  8 17:31:02 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:02 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 000b.
Feb  8 17:31:06 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:06 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 000b.
Feb  8 17:31:08 router05 kernel: eth1: Setting full-duplex based on MII #3 link partner capability of 41e1.
Feb  8 17:31:10 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:10 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 0003.
Feb  8 17:31:14 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:14 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 4003.
Feb  8 17:31:18 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:18 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 0003.
Feb  8 17:31:18 router05 kernel: eth1: Setting half-duplex based on MII #3 link partner capability of 0001.
Feb  8 17:31:22 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:22 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 000b.
Feb  8 17:31:26 router05 kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Feb  8 17:31:26 router05 kernel: eth1: Transmit timeout using MII device, Tx status 000b.
Feb  8 17:31:28 router05 kernel: eth1: Setting full-duplex based on MII #3 link partner capability of 41e1.


I don't understand why it does not work because the same cards work well
in the Pentium II machines. Do you have any ideas?

				Bye,NAR
-- 
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not
 tried it."