[eepro100] Twin laptops - one good NIC configuration - one bad

[John Sved]

Problem Reminder:

As soon as the box is powered the Hub shows the link/ACT (Traffic) lamp
to be flashing at ~ 1 Hz.   The NIC chip works but very poorly.  A
direct laptop top laptop test shows acceptably high data transfer rates.
   The NIC works better with a different Hub but still not correctly.

I have emailed DELL's help desk with a trouble shooting report to get
their opinion (i.e. is it failed hardware, failed firmware or what ?)
Perhaps the info below will tell those who can understand it and suggest
a "register fix".



  >>Jun 17 12:25:13 john1 kernel: e100: eth0 NIC Link is Down
  >>Jun 17 12:25:19 john1 kernel: e100: eth0 NIC Link is Up 100 Mbps Full
duplex
  >>
  >  ...
  >
  >>The UP DOWN messages appear frequently.  Are they a cause of the Hub
  >>Link/Act LED flashing ?
  >>
  >
  > They are a symptom of a serious link problem.  These messages are just a
  > report, not a cause.
  >

Robbie Dinn wrote:
 >
 > Donald Becker wrote:
 >
 >>On Tue, 18 Jun 2002, John Sved wrote:
 >>
 >>>Donald Becker wrote:
 >>> > On Tue, 18 Jun 2002, John Sved wrote:
 >>> >
 >>> >>>>How can the e100 driver be removed ?
 >>> >>>>
 >>> >>>Delete the entry from /etc/modules.conf
 >>> >>>
 >>> >>I removed all occurances in /etc/modules.conf, saved and restarted.
 >>> >>
 >>> >>The e100 entry in the boot.msg still appears.  No change to the
 >>> >>indicated NIC status on the hub.
 >>>

 >
 > This is SuSE 8.0 distribution, right?
Yes.

 > I use this too.
 >
 > Could it be that John Sved forgot to run the mk_initrd shell
 > script? Note the underscore between the 'k' and 'i'.

First I tried to read about this:  The SuSe help about compiling kernels
and mkinitrd just confused.  In the end I tried the mk_initrd.  No error
reported but no indication that it worked.   After trying to find any
changed file in /boot , I rebooted.

It worked !  The e100 message was gone.  No eepro100 message during
boot.  But lsmod reports eepro100.

Thanks Robbie Dinn.

After copying the compiled eepro100-diag to /usr/bin I got the following:

xxxxx:~ # eepro100-diag -a -f
eepro100-diag.c:v2.08 4/17/2002 Donald Becker (becker@scyld.com)
   http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
Index #1: Found a Intel i82557/8/9 EtherExpressPro100 adapter at 0xdcc0.
i82557 chip registers at 0xdcc0:
    0c000050 02e02000 00000000 00080002 182545e1 00000600
    No interrupt sources are pending.
     The transmit unit state is 'Suspended'.
     The receive unit state is 'Ready'.
    This status is normal for an activated but idle interface.
   The Command register has an unprocessed command 0c00(?!).
xxxxx:~ # eepro100-diag -e -f
eepro100-diag.c:v2.08 4/17/2002 Donald Becker (becker@scyld.com)
   http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
Index #1: Found a Intel i82557/8/9 EtherExpressPro100 adapter at 0xdcc0.
Intel EtherExpress Pro 10/100 EEPROM contents:
    Station address 00:20:E0:6B:FC:BC.
    Receiver lock-up bug exists. (The driver work-around *is* implemented.)
    Board assembly 727095-002, Physical connectors present: RJ45
    Primary interface chip i82555 PHY #1.
     Sleep mode is enabled.  This is not recommended.
     Under high load the card may not respond to
     PCI requests, and thus cause a master abort.
     To clear sleep mode use the '-G 0 -w -w -f' options.
xxxxx:~ # eepro100-diag -m -f
eepro100-diag.c:v2.08 4/17/2002 Donald Becker (becker@scyld.com)
   http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
Index #1: Found a Intel i82557/8/9 EtherExpressPro100 adapter at 0xdcc0.
   MII PHY #1 transceiver registers:
    1000 782d 02a8 0154 05e1 45e1 0003 0000
    0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
    0203 0000 0001 1f18 0000 0001 2b43 0001
    0000 0000 3000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000.
xxxxx:~ #


Please suggest the next trouble shooting steps.



-- JS