[realtek] 8139C transmit timeout problems

[magenta]

On Fri, Dec 13, 2002 at 10:25:07PM -0500, Donald Becker wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, magenta wrote:
> 
> > Hi, I'm having the well-known "interrupt line blocked" problem with an
> > RTL8139D card.  I've read all of the mailinglist archives and Google hits
> > and everything, and none of the suggestions have worked.  I have tried all
> > of the following:
> ...
> > - Sacrificing a baby virgin chicken-goat hybrid and dancing naked under the
> >   pale moonlight while reciting "Jabberwocky" backwards, both phonetically
> >   and word-wise
> 
> I'm glad to hear that you fixed the problem.
> 
> As you have now figured out, it's very difficult to verify that
> chicken-goat hybrids are still virgins, especially when you buy the
> "free range" variety.

I bred it myself.  I have a recombinant DNA splicing chamber in my back
yard.  It may have been contaminated, though... my cat loves to catch mice
and drop them in there.

> For the second interface, read the manual to verify that the slots do
> not share bus master lines.  If they cheat on the spec by doing this the
> slots are individually bus-master capable, but you obviously cannot use
> two bus master cards at once.

I think the manual outright lies.  I found an old 10Mbit ne2k card which
I'd forgotten about (too bad it's too late to return the second 8139 thanks
to a stupid return policy); a 10Mbit is all I need for the upllink) and I
put the 8139 in slot 1 (which is where the nonfunctioning eth1 was) and the
ne2k in slot 2 (where eth0 was), but then the 8139 still didn't get an
interrupt, but when I reversed them to put the 8139 in slot 2, it started
working again.  This indicates to me that slot 1 isn't actually bus-master
capable (even though the manual clearly states that all 3 PCI slots are).

It was a cheap motherboard on clearance for $20, though, so I guess I can't
complain too much.  Well, I can, but it'd be petty.

> Oh, and the glow in the dark stickers on your ceiling do not substitute as
> "pale moonlight", but an array of old radium watch dials will work in a
> pinch.

The nice thing about living in a small-ish desert city without a light or
smog pollution problem is that one can actually see the moon here. :)

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