[vortex-bug] Kernel Panic

[Bogdan Costescu]

On Thu, 14 Sep 2000, Regine LECONTE wrote:

> I need some explaination about a Kernel Panic occured with the 3COM
> Etherlink PCI driver for
> Linux , release 3c59x.c : v0.99L and this architecture :
>     Linux Kernel 2.2.12-20 ( RedHat )
>     SMP ( 2 processors )
>     VIA  as protocol

First of all, 0.99L is an old driver.
What VIA distribution are you using ? From what I have seen some time ago
in M-VIA 1.0 (which is also old), the 3c59x driver (I think it was 0.99L
as that was the most recent at that time) was modified quite a lot, so the
probability of bugs introduced by M-VIA developers is quite high.
In contrast, both S-Core and GAMMA (other low-latency software
packages) have minimal modifications to the network drivers.

> When I use a debug ( vortex_debug < 6 ) less than 6, I have a Kernel
> Panic :
> But when this variable is egal to 6 all is fine.

The current Linux drivers do not have this problem. Neither the original
0.99L had it (as I used it intensively on SMP systems last year). I wonder
why the low-latency software developers do not check for new network
drivers...

Sincerely,

Bogdan Costescu

IWR - Interdisziplinaeres Zentrum fuer Wissenschaftliches Rechnen
Universitaet Heidelberg, INF 368, D-69120 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Telephone: +49 6221 54 8869, Telefax: +49 6221 54 8868
E-mail: Bogdan.Costescu@IWR.Uni-Heidelberg.De