[vortex] need more info when status 0x82 happens

[Donald Becker]

On Sat, 22 Feb 2003, Giulio Orsero wrote:

> Subject: [vortex] need more info when status 0x82 happens
> 
> Sometimes we experience this error (on various different networks/systems).

For the other list readers, this is explained in
   http://www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
as

   0x82 Out of window collision.  This typically occurs when some other
	Ethernet host is incorrectly set to full duplex on a half duplex
	network.

> Is there a way increasing debug or similar to have the driver log the MAC
> address of the guilty network NIC causing the problem?

No.  We don't have that info for two reasons:
   Even if we are capturing corrupted packets, this doesn't count as one.
   With a twisted pair repeater you don't see the interrupting packet data,
      just a jam signal.

> Yesterday we spent a few hours to catch the node responsible for this, and
> then we found it was the patch cable linking one of the clients it to the
> hub.

Fast Ethernet switches are $10 per port.  At that price repeaters are
obsolete and are no longer a market, even for light duty home use.  That
sounds harsh, but a single problem like this points out the value of
isolating network drops.

-- 
Donald Becker				becker@scyld.com
Scyld Computing Corporation		http://www.scyld.com
410 Severn Ave. Suite 210		Scyld Beowulf cluster system
Annapolis MD 21403			410-990-9993