[realtek] suggestions, anyone ?

[Gabriel Enescu]

Hi,

I am having a  hard time trying to make a D-Link DFE TX 530+ Ethernet
card work on my Linux system. Could someone point  to the problem I have
based on the  debug info provided further in the document ? It is the
thing I am doing before trying another card. Your help is much
appreciated. Here are the details:

1. My hardware, old as it might be works fine in Winndows NT 4.0 (sorry
to say that guys, I don't care about Windows but that is a fact).
2. I am running Slackare 7 on a Pentium equipped ASUS motherboard (3 and
a half yrs old).
3. I don't know if my motherboard has bus mastering capabilities as
required by the Ethernet card.
4. No firewall rules were active
5. I couldn't see any resource conflict in /proc/interrupts,
/proc/ioports, /proc/dma)
6. I set the debug level in the rtl8139 driver (the latest version, with
the additional module pci-scan) to 7 and here is the output captured in
/var/adm/debug:

Right after executing ifconfig eth0 up
-------------------------------------------------

May 26 07:25:44 dracula kernel: eth0:   set_rx_mode(1042) done -- Rx
config 00009400.
May 26 07:25:44 dracula kernel: eth0: rtl8129_open() ioaddr 0xe000 IRQ
12 GP Pins 04 full-duplex.
May 26 07:25:44 dracula kernel: eth0:   set_rx_mode(1043) done -- Rx
config 0000940e.
May 26 07:25:44 dracula kernel: eth0:   set_rx_mode(1043) done -- Rx
config 0000940e.
May 26 07:25:47 dracula kernel: eth0: Media selection tick, Link partner
0000.
May 26 07:25:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Other registers are IntMask c07f
IntStatus 0000 RxStatus fff00d00.
May 26 07:25:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Chip config 10 6c.
May 26 07:26:47 dracula kernel: eth0: Media selection tick, Link partner
0000.
May 26 07:26:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Other registers are IntMask c07f
IntStatus 0000 RxStatus fff00d00.
May 26 07:26:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Chip config 10 6c.
May 26 07:27:47 dracula kernel: eth0: Media selection tick, Link partner
0000.
May 26 07:27:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Other registers are IntMask c07f
IntStatus 0000 RxStatus fff00d00.

Afetr starting dhclient
------------------------------

May 26 07:29:42 dracula kernel: eth0:   set_rx_mode(1043) done -- Rx
config 0000940e.
May 26 07:29:43 dracula kernel: eth0: Queued Tx packet at c5af3002 size
342 to slot 0.
May 26 07:29:43 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0004 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:29:43 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0000 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:29:43 dracula kernel: eth0: exiting interrupt,
intr_status=0x0000.
May 26 07:29:47 dracula kernel: eth0: Media selection tick, Link partner
0000.
May 26 07:29:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Other registers are IntMask c07f
IntStatus 0000 RxStatus fff00d00.
May 26 07:29:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Chip config 10 6c.
May 26 07:29:51 dracula kernel: eth0: Queued Tx packet at c5af3002 size
342 to slot 1.
May 26 07:29:51 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0004 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:29:51 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0000 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:29:51 dracula kernel: eth0: exiting interrupt,
intr_status=0x0000.
May 26 07:30:01 dracula kernel: eth0: Queued Tx packet at c5af3002 size
342 to slot 2.
May 26 07:30:01 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0004 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:30:01 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0000 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:30:01 dracula kernel: eth0: exiting interrupt,
intr_status=0x0000.
May 26 07:30:10 dracula kernel: eth0: Queued Tx packet at c5af3002 size
342 to slot 3.
May 26 07:30:10 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0004 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:30:10 dracula kernel: eth0: interrupt  status=0x0000 new
intstat=0x0000.
May 26 07:30:10 dracula kernel: eth0: exiting interrupt,
intr_status=0x0000.


After stopping dhclient
--------------------------------

May 26 07:30:47 dracula kernel: eth0: Media selection tick, Link partner
0000.
May 26 07:30:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Other registers are IntMask c07f
IntStatus 0000 RxStatus fff00d00.
May 26 07:30:47 dracula kernel: eth0:  Chip config 10 6c.

After shutting down the interface
---------------------------------------------
May 26 07:31:48 dracula kernel: eth0:   set_rx_mode(1043) done --
Rxconfig 0000940e.
May 26 07:31:48 dracula kernel: eth0: Shutting down ethercard, status
was 0x0000.


*****************************************************************

I have no idea how the driver works but I have a feeling the messge '...
Link partner 0000' reports a problem on the line. It looks to me like
frames never come in and Rx never triggers interrupts.

Thanks,

Gabriel Enescu