ANA-6944A/TX (!) + AMIBIOS + linux-2.1.122; 3/4 success!

[John Kennedy]

09/30/98 @ 12:39:23 PM (Wednesday)

[Donald Becker]
>> Subject: Re: ANA-6944A/TX (!) + AMIBIOS + linux-2.1.122; 3/4 success!
> 
> This board should work: I have (likely an older version) ten in a
> Beowulf cluster.

  Hsm.  Well, I can pull it out and look for version numbers when I get
home.  I could swear I saw a version number logged somewhere...

>> eth3: Something Wicked happened! 8001ffff. 
>> eth3: The transmitter stopped!  CSR5 is 800f7ba, CSR6 ffffffff. 
>
> Those are *really* unusual values.  Something is horribly broken.

  Yeah.  (:

>  Errrm, what does 'mii-diag' report?  I'm wondering why the
>  transceivers were not found...

  I couldn't get it to be happy:

  [mii-diag -v]
    mii-diag.c:v1.03 8/4/98  Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
    Using the default interface 'eth0'.
    SIOCGMIIPHY on eth0 failed: Operation not supported by device

  I didn't compile it or tulip-diag with libmii, so I'll have to see if
that does anything for me (or you).

  I could get interesting info out of tulip-diag.  If the ordering is
right (index #1 == eth0), then the port selection info is right.
eth0/#1 is plugged into a junk-hub, #2 is plugged into a cisco 1924
switch, #3 doesn't have anything plugged into it, and #4 is in limbo.

  [tulip-diag -faem]
    tulip-diag.c:v1.03 5/20/98 Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
    Chip Index #1: Found a DC21140 Tulip card at PCI bus 1, device 7 I/O 0xfc80.
    Digital DS21140 Tulip chip registers at 0xfc80:
      fe000000 ffffffff ffffffff fefabef7 eafecffc fc000000 32040040 fffe0000
      e0000000 fff583ff ffffffff fffe0000 ffffff01 ffffffff 1c09fdc0 fffffec8
     The Rx process state is 'Stopped'.
     The Tx process state is 'Stopped'.
    Transmit stopped, Receive stopped, half-duplex.
     The transmit threshold is 128.
     Port selection is MII, half-duplex.
     This interface is missing the EEPROM.
      This is likely the non-primary interface on a multiport board.
     ***WARNING***: No MII transceivers found!
    Chip Index #2: Found a DC21140 Tulip card at PCI bus 1, device 6 I/O 0xfc00.
    Digital DS21140 Tulip chip registers at 0xfc00:
      ffa08000 ffffffff ffffffff 00015010 00015210 fc660000 320e2202 ffffebef
      e0000000 fff583ff ffffffff fffe0000 ffffff00 ffffffff 1c09fdc0 fffffec8
     The Rx process state is 'Waiting for packets'.
     The Tx process state is 'Idle'.
    Transmit started, Receive started, full-duplex.
     The transmit threshold is 128.
     Port selection is MII, full-duplex.
     This interface is missing the EEPROM.
      This is likely the non-primary interface on a multiport board.
     MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x7849.
     MII PHY #1 transceiver registers:
       3100 7849 2000 5c01 01e1 0000 0000 0000
       0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
       0000 0000 0000 01ae 0000 0065 0001 8060
       8020 0c61 0000 3800 a3b9 0000 cc05 001d.
    Chip Index #3: Found a DC21140 Tulip card at PCI bus 1, device 5 I/O 0xf880.
    Digital DS21140 Tulip chip registers at 0xf880:
      ffa08000 ffffffff ffffffff 00015810 00015a10 fc660000 322ee202 ffffebef
      e0000000 fff583ff ffffffff fffe0000 ffffff80 ffffffff 1c09fdc0 fffffec8
     The Rx process state is 'Waiting for packets'.
     The Tx process state is 'Idle'.
    Transmit started, Receive started, full-duplex.
     The transmit unit is set to store-and-forward.
     Port selection is MII, full-duplex.
     This interface is missing the EEPROM.
      This is likely the non-primary interface on a multiport board.
     MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x786f.
     MII PHY #1 transceiver registers:
       3100 786f 2000 5c01 01e1 4181 0003 0000
       0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
       0000 0000 0000 29f8 0000 0000 0001 8060
       8020 0c81 0000 1800 a3b9 0085 2605 001d.
    Chip Index #4: Found a DC21140 Tulip card at PCI bus 1, device 4 I/O 0xf800.
    Digital DS21140 Tulip chip registers at 0xf800:
      ffa08000 ffffffff ffffffff 00006010 00006210 fc660000 320e2002 ffffebef
      e0000000 fff583ff ffffffff fffe0000 ffffff40 ffffffff 1c09fdc0 fffffec8
     The Rx process state is 'Waiting for packets'.
     The Tx process state is 'Idle'.
    Transmit started, Receive started, half-duplex.
     The transmit threshold is 128.
     Port selection is MII, half-duplex.
    EEPROM transceiver/media description for the DC21140 chip.
    
    Leaf node at offset 40, default media type 0800 (Autosense).
     CSR12 direction setting bits 3f.
     1 transceiver description blocks:
      Media MII,  block type 1.
       MII interface PHY 0 (media type 11).
     MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x786d.
     MII PHY #1 transceiver registers:
       3100 786d 2000 5c01 01e1 0021 0000 0000
       0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
       0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001 8060
       8020 0c61 0000 3000 a3b9 0082 c705 001b.

[Mark Whitis]
>  Since you have problems getting it to work under Windows 98 with
>  the manufacturers drivers and diagnositcs and since you have
>  problems with other boards in that slot it seems likely you have
>  a hardware problem and your difficulties have nothing to do with
>  the tulip driver.

  Always a possibility, although a 3c905 worked in that slot.  I suspect
win98 is just as much a victim of the AMIBIOS as linux is.

>  You should probably replace your computer or motherboard.  You may
>  have a defective PCI slot.  I do recall having some problems with the
>  quartet cards when I tried to use them in one particular machine -
>  I ended up concluding that the PCI bus was defective on that machine.

  As I said, the 3c905 worked there, so it probably isn't totally
defective, unless you just mean in features (not in manufacturing).

>  You may also simply have a resource conflict between ISA and PCI
>  peripherals.  When you reverse the probe order, that could easily
>  cause a change between eth0 and eth3 since those will be assigned
>  resources in the opposite order.  When you change the order of the
>  boards, that also changes the order in which resources are assigned
>  to them and can change which board has a conflict.

  I've only got one ISA card in there (sound card, should be #5 although
I don't use it under linux), and it is reserved in the BIOS.

>  But it sounds as if you have a defective or substandard pci slot in
>  your machine.  A single pin which miscontacts on the edge connector
>  or a bad solder joint could be the cause of your problem.  Or someone
>  could have cut corners and made one of the slots non bus mastering
>  (or virtually worthless).

  Other than the 3c905 working there, I suppose that is a possibility.
I believe I also had my 3dfx voodoo card in that slot too, but moved it
down because it was putting a lot more twist on the mini-video cable than
I liked.  Now, slot #4 is definitely suspect because I'm pretty sure the
3c905 wouldn't work in that slot.

>  When you are trying to use advanced expansion boards, it really does
>  pay to use a decent motherboard.  ATX form factor is also helpful
>  for mechanical reasons - there is less likely to be any connectors,
>  processors, or memory in the way of long expansion cards.  And a
>  decent bios not only doesn't have the reverse probe order problem
>  but gives you more flexibility in mapping device resources.

  Well, new motherboard is an option, but an expensive one.  I don't
have an ATX now, so I'd end up tossing out a lot of stuff to do it.
I'd definitely like to eliminate software first.  (:

  I know someone with a phoenix (sp?) BIOS, so I'm going to try it in
there box and see how it comes up.  If it finds eth3 without any problems,
we'd know it was a problem with my machine.
								--- john