Strange Problem with v.0.99G and 3c905B-TX

Finbarr O'Kane finbarro@netsoc.ucd.ie
Mon Oct 12 19:05:55 1998



On Mon, 12 Oct 1998, Greg Whalin wrote:

> On Mon, 12 Oct 1998, Donald Becker wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 12 Oct 1998, Greg Whalin wrote:
> > 
> > > Now, I have had two systems in the past coupld of days (after running fine
> > > for at least 24 hours) lose all network connectivity and log this message.
> > > 
> > > Oct 11 09:13:42 ops kernel: eth0: Setting half-duplex based on MII #24
> > > link partner capability of 0020.
> > 
> > You link partner advertised 10baseT half duplex only.
> > The driver changed to half duplex mode, and transceiver switch to 10baseT
> > only.
> >
> 
> Strange?
>  
> > > I am running these systems on a Cisco Cat2924XL.  Each system is directly
> > > conected to a 10/100 full/half duplex autosensing port on the Cisco.
> > 
> > Cisco is known to have bad autonegotiation implementations.  This specific
> > only hasn't been reported before, but there is a chance that the bug is in
> > the switch.
> > 
> 
> If this is the case, then i can't reliably trust autonegotiation.  Another
> problem I have had is that when using options=12 to force 100 full duplex,
> the connection still is only coming up 10 half duplex.  This is cured when
> I allow autonegotiation.  Am I using the incorrect option?  
> 
> > > When it first boots, everything is fine and the system comes up with the
> > > card in 100MB/s and Full Duplex.  Then, after what seems like some random
> > > period of time, it logs the above message and the system loses network
> > > connectivity.
> > 
> > Does physically disconnecting and reconnecting the cable reset the link?
> > (I'm not suggesting that as a fix, just as a way to confirm the problem is
> > with autonegotiation.)
> 
> I will try this if/when it occurs again to see.  I have only unloaded and
> reloaded the module to cure it so far.
> 
> On an unrelated note, I still seem to be getting ...
> 
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82.
> 
> over and over and over agina on my high traffic servers.  Is this a
> problem?  
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg
> 
> 

Hi there, 

on a slightly different note, I have a 3c905 that has its driver built
into the kernel instead of a module, and I had the hardest time to get it
to go to 100mbit full duplex, no amount of remote reboots (scary as they
are) solved the problem.

However, I manually set the speed of the switch (3com switch 3000) to
100mbit full duplex and /then/ reboot my server, which picked up 100mbit
full duplex no problem

'everybody loves autonegotiation' :)