AW: *very* sluggish at 100Mb/s but OK at 10Mb/s??

[Stauffer, Walter (Exchange)]

Simon,

I am suffering from very similar problems with 50% of a group of 6 machines
with on-board eepro100 (82558B). On the problem machines, eepro-diag gives
me the same output as you have (below). After an ifconfig down / up, the net
is
sometimes OK for a few seconds up to minutes (and eepro-diag reports
normal),
but then falls back to sluggish.

Try the following:
 - arrange for the problem machine to be quiet on the net
 - ping it from another machine (ping -t if from Win)
 - I bet sooner or later replies will stop
 - when replies stop, let the problem machine do something on the net
 - again I bet ping replies will work again for some time ...

I have been able to reproduce this problem with Linux, Win95, Win98, WinNT,
and DOS. I have also encountered the same with IBM EtherJet NIC's with the
82558B on it.

To me, it looks like some Intel chip problem ...

I have an open case with the reseller of my problem boxes, but they tend to
blame it on Linux, my cable, my hub, my building, cosmic rays, whatever.

I have invested countless hours into resolving this problem, and if I can't
get
a reasonable resolution and explanation from either the manufacturer of the
boxes or Intel themselves, I am going to tell *everybody* to stay away from
Intel NIC's at all cost ...

Regards and good luck,
Walter


[snip]
 ...
> eepro100-diag.c:v1.01 7/8/99 Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
> Index #1: Found a Intel 82557 EtherExpressPro100B adapter at 0xf800.
> i82557 chip registers at 0xf800:
>   00000000 00000000 00000000 00080002 14378462 00000000
>   No interrupt sources are pending.
>    The transmit unit state is 'Idle'.
>    The receive unit state is 'Idle'.
>   This status is unusual for an activated interface.
 ...
[snip]