[vortex] transmit timeouts wi Cyclone

[Bogdan Costescu]

On Wed, 9 Aug 2000, grant basham wrote:

> NIC: 3c905B Cyclone 100baseTx
> Linux: i386 (2.2.12 and 2.2.15) with 3c59x.c:v0.99Qk 7/5/2000
> 
> Target: Compaq/Dec Alpha Tru64 Unix Ver(4.0 and 5.0) with
> 	  tu0: DECchip 21143: Revision: 3.0 (a Tulip chip),
> 	  configured for 100Mbps/full or half duplex.

How are these computers connected ?

> Under load with the 99Q driver (running netperf -H Target) I get transmit
> timeouts that require a system restart to fully clear.  I can kill the
> netperf and down the interface to stop the tnsmt tmout errors.  Same problem
> with the test 99Ra driver.

These drivers use an advanced facility for Cyclone and Tornado chips - Tx
polling mode. I haven't fully understood the new code for this, so maybe
Donald is able to say more about the behaviour in the Tx timeout
situation.

> I get good performance in the same test against Linux targets running both
> 3Com905 and Tulip chips, and against Tru64Unix systems set to 10Mbps/half
> duplex

This is a bit strange. It's like the Tru64 machine overloads the
connecting device (hub/switch) when in 100Mbps mode.

> The 99H driver does not give these errors, but with that driver, a
> production node has died a couple times this week from "too much work at
> interrupt" with the subsequent failure to restart.

This message appears when the node is too slow to process incoming 
packets. But AFAIK, after issuing the message, it should just go on.

You can also try the driver at:
	http://www.uow.edu.au/~andrewm/linux/
which has some modifications in this area.

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