[tulip] problems with ADMtek device

Gero Zylka gero@zylka.de
Mon, 5 Feb 2001 12:37:26 +0100


Hi Donald,

Thanks for the quick response and sorry that my explanations did
not include enough details. Unfortunately, I'm not a network guru...

> Full duplex??  Do you have a switch?
> "Hub" usually refers to a repeater.  A switch or router is technically a
> hub, but referred to by the more precise name.
Let me be honest. I dont know exactly what kind of device (switch, hup, etc.)
I'm using at the other end. The tech guy at Exodus changed our 3COM hup (or
what ever it was) to a Cisco device just to support 100 Mbps. Then he asked me
if our linux box supports full_duplex. That's why I thought that the other end
is using 100 Mbps fixed to FD.

> What driver version are you using?  What is the detection message?
> The driver should recover from transmit errors, but without knowing the
> details...
I'm using the recent version of tulip.c driver (tulip.c:v0.92 4/17/2000)
Kernel message at boot time is:

kernel: tulip.c:v0.92 4/17/2000  Written by Donald Becker <becker@scyld.com>
kernel:   http://www.scyld.com/network/tulip.html
kernel: eth0: ADMtek Comet rev 17 at 0xd0062000, 00:03:6D:1A:54:C8, IRQ 7.

> You are _advertising_ 100baseTx-FDX, not forcing full duplex.
> Your link partner is set to forced full duplex, which turns off
>  autonegotiation.
> Since autonegotiation did not complete, you didn't agree on a media
> type!
I already tried the force mode but it did not help either. Please
see message below:

[root@scream PACKAGES]# ./mii-diag -vfF 100baseTx-FD
mii-diag.c:v2.00 4/19/2000  Donald Becker (becker@scyld.com)
 http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
Using the default interface 'eth0'.
Setting the speed to "fixed", Control register 2100.
 MII PHY #1 transceiver registers:
   0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 ffff
   ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff
   ffff 0000 ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff
   ffff ffff ffff ffff ffff 0000 0000 0000.
 Basic mode control register 0x0000: Auto-negotiation disabled, with
 Speed fixed at 10 mbps, half-duplex.
 Basic mode status register 0x0000 ... 0000.
   Link status: not established.
   This transceiver is capable of <Warning! No media capabilities>.
   Unable to perform Auto-negotiation, negotiation not complete.
 Link partner information information is not exchanged when in fixed speed mode.

Please note that I dont know if my partner is really fixed to full_duplex.
However, I'm unable to change my device settings anyway.

> The primary recommendation is to stop forcing full duplex on both ends
> and allow autonegotiation .  This link will just work, and you will
> avoid future problems.
Ok, I'll try to find out how my link partner is really setup. Then I'll adapt
my network device to match this settings. The only thing I still dont know
is how to change parameters of my network device. It's still claiming to
be setup a fixed speed 10 mbps, half-duplex.

Thanks again,

Gero.