Realtek 8139 and SMP?

[Benno Portmann]

In our Linux-Cluster  we have some problems using the SMC EZ-Card 10/100

ethernet adapter.

We have Gigabyte GB-6BXD boards (Intel 440BX AGPset) with two 450 MHz
Intel PIII on it. There is no graphics adapter in it, the SMC EZ10/100
is the only card in the slots. We use a IDE hard disk for booting and
then work on a NFS-mounted file server. Kernel 2.2.13 with SMP is used,
the ethernet card driver is RTL8139.c (Version 1.08 or 1.08a). The
messages only occur when we run jobs under MPI (LAM), the jobs continue
running and seem not to be touched by the problem.

We get the following messages in /var/log/warn:

Jan  5 12:32:32 snowwhite kernel: eth0: RTL8139 Interrupt line blocked,
status 4.
Jan  5 13:03:32 snowwhite kernel: eth0: RTL8139 Interrupt line blocked,
status 4.
Jan  5 13:03:32 snowwhite kernel: eth0: SMP simultaneous entry of an
interrupt handler.
Jan  5 13:14:32 snowwhite kernel: eth0: RTL8139 Interrupt line blocked,
status 1.
Jan  5 13:14:32 snowwhite kernel: eth0: SMP simultaneous entry of an
interrupt handler.
Jan  5 13:32:32 snowwhite kernel: eth0: RTL8139 Interrupt line blocked,
status 1.

What do this messages exactly mean?! Can someone give a short
explanation?!?

Is this a hardware error or a driver problem?
Does someone have an idea for the solution? Any other suggestions?!?

The other problem is that we get a transmission rate of about 3 MB/sec
(ftp or NFS). Does someone know, if the cards really work in full-duplex
mode under Linux? To be concrete: Do we have to tell Linux to work in
full-duplex mode?

Thanx in advance

Benno Portmann


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