[vortex] 3c59x "just stops"

[Bogdan Costescu]

On Fri, 13 Apr 2001, Scott A. McIntyre wrote:

> The system is a Linux 2.4.x kernel, using either the driver that comes
> with that, or the driver available at scyld...

I really doubt this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. The drivers available from
Scyld don't work with the 2.4 kernels.

> or most recently someone
> pointed out "LK1.1.3 25 April 2000, Andrew Morton
> <andrewm@uow.edu.au>"'s version, which also has the problem.

This is quite an old version (almost a year ago!), try getting the 3c59x
driver from 2.4.3.

> I'm wondering, is this still something that could be associated with the
> 3com and associated drivers (I've tried a number of cards, all this
> make/model, with similar results) or is it more likely to be SPAN/Cisco
> related and the reboot forces a reset of the port at a level that
> mii-diag/ifconfig/rmmod can't do?

Is your system SMP ? If so, you can try booting with the "noapic" option.
Get vortex-diag (also from Scyld) and run it when the interface is no
longer functioning, then post the results here.
For how much time the interface is functioning ?
Are there any error messages in the logs around the time when the
interface stops functioning ?

> The system has other interfaces, which remain functioning fine...

Can you change the interface connected to the Cisco port ? You can then
isolate the problem as being with Cisco or with the 3Com card/driver.
One other very approximate method is to watch the "Activity" LED on the
card when you are supposed to be receiving packets from the switch; if
it's not flashing, there is no packet arriving to the card...

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