MII media trouble with ANA 6911A/TX

[Klaus Schroer]

Hi

  We are using the ANA 6911A/TX on several Alpha machines running Linux
2.0.36 with tulip 0.90f. We ordered a bunch of them at the same time and
noticed that they look different and have different chipsets (DS21140 and 
DS21143). We are also using a quad port ANA 6944A (DS21140).

  First I noticed that I had to force the tulip driver to use the same IRQ
for all 4 ports of the ANA 6944A as was already reported. Does this have
any impact on the performance when using all ports at the same time e.g.
running a router or firewall ?

  I had some difficulties getting all of them running in 100baseTX-FD
mode. I finally found that I couldn't use the DS21143 cards when
connecting to a 3Com switch but I could use them when I connected the
DS21143 to the ANA 6944A ports. The problem is that if you let it
autonegotiate it will end up in half duplex mode and if you try to force
it using FD (option=14) it just tells you that the MII transceiver was not
found. Here is the log message when including the module:
  kernel: tulip.c:v0.90f 12/17/98 becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
  kernel: eth0: Digital DS21143 Tulip at 0x9000, 00 00 d1 1a 6f ec, IRQ 16.
  kernel: eth0:  EEPROM default media type Autosense.
  kernel: eth0:  MII interface PHY 0, setup/reset sequences 2/0 long, capabilities 00 00.
  kernel: eth0:  Index #0 - Media MII (#11) described by a 21142 MII PHY (3) block.
  kernel: eth0:  MII transceiver #1 config 3100 status 7849 advertising 0101.
  kernel: eth1: Digital DS21140 Tulip at 0x9800, 00 00 92 96 99 20, IRQ 18.
  kernel: eth1:  EEPROM default media type Autosense.
  kernel: eth1:  Index #0 - Media 100baseTx-FD (#5) described by a 21140 non-MII (0) block.
  kernel: eth1:  Index #1 - Media 100baseTx (#3) described by a 21140 non-MII (0) block. 
  kernel: eth1:  Index #2 - Media 10baseT-FD (#4) described by a 21140 non-MII (0) block.
  kernel: eth1:  Index #3 - Media 10baseT (#0) described by a 21140 non-MII (0) block.
When using no option connecting to the 3Com switch I get a large number of
  kernel: eth0: Using MII transceiver 1, status ffff.
  kernel: eth0: 21143 negotiation status 000000c6, MII.
  kernel: eth0: MII status 786b, Link partner report 0081, CSR6 320e2202.
and the connection is very slow (netperf shows about 5 Mb/s) so the
autonegotiation didn't work.
When using option 14 connecting to the 3Com switch I get
  kernel: eth0: Using user-specified media MII 100baseTx-FD.
  kernel: eth0: 21143 negotiation status 000000c6, MII.
  kernel: eth0: MII status 7849, Link partner report 0000, CSR6 320e2202.
  kernel: eth0: No link beat on the MII interface, status then 7849 now 7849.
and I get no connectionat all.
When using option 11 connecting to the 3Com switch I get
  kernel: eth0: Using user-specified media MII.
but get poor performance again (like with no options) so the MII
autonegotiation didn't work either.
Finally I solved the problem for my case by switching connections. When
using option 14 and connecting to one port of the ANA 6944A I get:
  kernel: eth0: Using user-specified media MII 100baseTx-FD.
and it works (netperf shows about 87 Mb/s).
  So I have to use the DS21140 based cards to connect to the 3Com switch
and the DS21143 based cards to connect to the ANA 6944A. Can someone
explain that behaviour or did some make the same experience ?

Live long and prosperous
Klaus