[realtek] 8139too transmit timed out, abnormal interrupt, dirty entry in queue ...

[Norbert Federa]

KERNEL/DRIVER:	2.4.3vanilla, 8139too v0.9.15c
NIC:		RTL8139C
NETWORK:	10Mbit Hub
PROBLEM:	total network hangs for ~20-40 seconds.


LOG:
eth0: Abnormal interrupt, status 00002008
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0:  Tx queue start entry 37394  dirty entry 37390.
eth0:  Tx descriptor 0 is 00002000.
eth0:  Tx descriptor 1 is 00002000.
eth0:  Tx descriptor 2 is 00002000. (queue head)
eth0:  Tx descriptor 3 is 00002000.

this message block appears directly before the hangs.
and the Tx error counter gets incremented by 1. 

according to ftp://ftp.realtek.com.tw/lancard/data_sheet/8139c/8139c11.pdf
page 14 (section 5.6 interrupt status register) 
the status 0x2008(bits: 10000000001000, #13 and #3 set) would mean:

Bit #3:
Transmit (Tx) Error: Indicates that a packet transmission was
aborted, due to excessive collisions, according to the TXRR's setting
Bit #13:
Cable Length Change: Cable length is changed after Receiver is
enabled.

is this true?

would be glad 'bout any hints!! thanks.



p.s: 
is donald becker's driver (ftp://www.scyld.com/pub/network/test/rtl8139.c)
supposed to work under 2.4.x kernels?

// Norbert