[vortex] Connectivity Takes a Break

[ruben@nutz.nl]

On Mon, Jul 30, 2001 at 05:12:59PM -0400, Montee, Josh wrote:

> RedHat 6.2 (Kernel 2.2.14-5.0)

> eth1: Setting half-duplex based on MII #24 link partner capability of 4081.
> eth1: Setting full-duplex based on MII #24 link partner capability of 4101.

> All conclusive information I can find can only point me in the
> direction of something to do with 10/100 full/half duplex mode negotiation.

> Please, can anyone shed some light on this?

Autonegotiation is sometimes failing. I had the same problem on cisco
switches in combination with 3com 905 cards. Switching to cisco network gear
might not solve your problem. I 'solved' the problem by forcing both ends of
the link to the same setting. If you do, make sure you too have both ends
forced, otherwise you will not see any effect. Only force settings if you
see no other way to resolve the flipping speed or duplex negotiated.

One thing you *should* do (not only for getting a newer driver for your
905's) is upgrading to 2.2.19. Earlier kernels have quite a lot of problems,
including a nasty capabilities-bugs which will give root to local users in
seconds.

According to Donald himself 0x82 means a station on the network is talking
to you in full duplex mode, while you are in half duplex. This causes a
collision outside the timewindow reserved to detect collisions. Since your
string of errors starts with a half-duplex negotiation-result he's right on
that. But: Your machine decided to renegotiate, and finds a full duplex
link. After that your link will work error-free. Until it decides for
whatever reason to renegotiate again. And that is the real cause of your
problem.

As said, I had this situation in a *large* network of over 200 webservers,
and 'solved' it by forcing every troublesome machine to 100Mbit/FD. That
turned out to be some 20. Right now I occasionally have the same problem at
home, with a 3c905B connected to a 3com SuperStack II 3300.

Perhaps somebody else can shed some light on the cause of these
renegotiations.

-- 
Ruben

	Heisenberg might have been here
				-- Anonymous