3c905B Problems

Roberto P.Martins Jr. roberto@intermega.com.br
Mon Nov 1 10:34:35 1999


>> I'm having problems with a 3Com 3c905B (Cyclone).
>> The NIC was inserted in a heavy loaded server and on the busiest hours it
>> freezes sometimes, leaving the server off-line. I log at console and everything 
>> seems to be OK, but no one can ping me and I can't ping either.
>> 
>> After an ifconfig, I noticed a lot of overruns. I tried to use 3c59x and 3c90x 
>> (from 3Com) modules without success.

>That indicates that your problem is with the driver, but with your hardware.
>Fix the overrun problem, and your network problems will likely go away.

Sorry about the question but, how can I fix the overrun problem? Changing the
driver? Bellow you'll some conclusions and, of course, other questions... :-)

I searched for the 3c59x module version distributed with RedHat Linux since
version 5.2 and I discover that: 5.2 (kernel 2.0.36) comes with 3c59x v0.99E
(5/12/98), 6.0 (kernel 2.2.5-22) and 6.1 (kernel 2.2.12-20) comes with 0.99H
(11/17/98).

My linux boxes with kernel 2.0.36 and 3c59x v.0.99H don't have the mentioned
problem, so no other system with the same module version like RedHat 6.0 and
6.1 should have the problem either, isn't it?

>It's great having an alternate driver, for situations like this. There is
>very little chance that two unrelated drivers both have the same bug.

3Com modules didn't work, too. After your message I upgraded to 0.99L, the
latest version, until now... 

Now I have to wait some days to know if this upgrade solved the problem...

Thanks,
Roberto P.Martins Jr.