[vortex] 3c59x, ifconfig reports rx errors.

[Rikard Boström]

Hi,

I have got two 3com Fast Ethernet PCI adapters in my GNU/Linux Slackware
box.
The first eth0 is connected to my adsl modem, the second eth1 to a switch
for
communication to my LAN.

My problem is that "ifconfig" reports some rx errors for my eth0. They are
not that common, but still, an error is an error, right? :-)

Here's the output from ifconfig:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
inet addr:xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Bcast: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:155278 errors:51 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:102
TX packets:94897 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:15
collisions:208 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:192605438 (183.6 Mb) TX bytes:49456127 (47.1 Mb)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0xa400

I think the collisions are normal, because the adsl modem runs at 10Mbit
Half-Duplex.

I've tried to experiment a little with different things. I tried another
cable, that
didn't work. I tried another NIC (a 10mbit 3com PCI card, don't know the
exact
modell but it uses the same module), that didn't work either.

I tried to connect the NIC into a d-link adsl router (which now was
connected to
my adsl modem), and that made the errors go away. I began to suspect that
the
adsl modem was the one to blame, but then I tried something else. I switched
NIC
to an Intel PRO/100+ using the eepro100 module, connected it to my adsl
modem and *BAM*! The errors were gone.

So it seems like the 3x59x module/driver doesn't like my ADSL modem very
much,
which is of the brand Orckit by the way.

So, is this a bug? Should I continue using the Intel NIC instead?

/dahonk