[netdrivers] via-rhine problem

[Janusz A. Urbanowicz]

We are using VIA Epia M13000 mainboards with VIA Rhine NICs. The system is
Debian Linux (sarge) and the kernel is 2.4.22 (due to ther hardware we need
to support). It has been observed that for some cards, after an initial
perion of work, the card gets frozen and no system activity except for
system reset can get the card to work again. Following is the dmesg dump of
attepmted interface up (and pump dhcp session):

The card here reports sharing IRQ 10 with other devices (USB controllers)
but this is not the source of problems - the machine I type it on does the
same (with one device more on IRQ 10) and works flawlessly.

Linux version 2.4.22 (alex at hell) (gcc version 3.3.6 (Debian 1:3.3.6-7)) #1 pią wrz 9 13:40:04 CEST 2005
[...]
via-rhine.c:v1.10-LK1.1.19  July-12-2003  Written by Donald Becker
  http://www.scyld.com/network/via-rhine.html
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:12.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:10.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:10.1
eth0: VIA VT6102 Rhine-II at 0xee002000, 00:40:63:de:cf:d4, IRQ 10.
eth0: MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x7869 advertising 05e1 Link 0021.
via-rhine.c:v1.10-LK1.1.19  July-12-2003  Written by Donald Becker
  http://www.scyld.com/network/via-rhine.html
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:12.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:10.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:10.1
eth0: VIA VT6102 Rhine-II at 0xee002000, 00:40:63:de:cf:d4, IRQ 10.
eth0: MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x7869 advertising 05e1 Link 0021.
eth0: Reset not complete yet. Trying harder.
via-rhine.c:v1.10-LK1.1.19  July-12-2003  Written by Donald Becker
  http://www.scyld.com/network/via-rhine.html
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:12.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:10.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:10.1
via-rhine: Reset succeeded.
eth0: VIA VT6102 Rhine-II at 0xee002000, 00:40:63:de:cf:d4, IRQ 10.
eth0: MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x786d advertising 05e1 Link 0021.
eth0: via_rhine_open() irq 10.
eth0: Reset succeeded.
eth0: Done via_rhine_open(), status 081a MII status: 786d.
eth0: Transmit frame #0 queued in slot 0.
eth0: Interrupt, status 00000002.
 Tx scavenge 0 status 00000000.
collisions: 0:0
eth0: exiting interrupt, status=00000000.
eth0: VIA Rhine monitor tick, status 0000.
eth0: Transmit frame #1 queued in slot 1.
eth0: Interrupt, status 00000002.
 Tx scavenge 1 status 00000000.
collisions: 0:0
eth0: exiting interrupt, status=00000000.
eth0: Transmit frame #2 queued in slot 2.
eth0: Interrupt, status 00000002.
 Tx scavenge 2 status 00000000.
collisions: 0:0
eth0: exiting interrupt, status=00000000.
eth0: VIA Rhine monitor tick, status 0000.
eth0: Transmit frame #3 queued in slot 3.
eth0: Interrupt, status 00000002.
 Tx scavenge 3 status 00000000.
collisions: 0:0
eth0: exiting interrupt, status=00000000.
eth0: VIA Rhine monitor tick, status 0000.
eth0: Transmit frame #4 queued in slot 4.
eth0: Transmit frame #5 queued in slot 5.
eth0: Interrupt, status 00000002.
 Tx scavenge 4 status 00000000.
collisions: 0:0
 Tx scavenge 5 status 80000000.
eth0: exiting interrupt, status=00000000.
eth0: Shutting down ethercard, status was 081a.

Alex