[realtek] Ping doesn't respond anymore after 5 good tests

[Alain SMEDTS]

Hereby the output of ping (stopped with Ctrl C):
# ping 172.17.4.100
PING 172.17.4.100 (172.17.4.100): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 172.17.4.100: icmp_seq=0 ttl=128 time=0.8 ms
64 bytes from 172.17.4.100: icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=0.2 ms
64 bytes from 172.17.4.100: icmp_seq=2 ttl=128 time=0.3 ms
64 bytes from 172.17.4.100: icmp_seq=3 ttl=128 time=0.3 ms
--- 172.17.4.100 ping statistics ---39 packets transmitted, 4 packets
received, 89% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.2/0.4/0.8 ms

Hereby the output of ifconfig:
# ifconfig eth1
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:10:B5:03:63:1D
            inet addr:172.17.4.200  Bcast:172.17.4.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5 errors:2 dropped:0 overruns:1 frame:2
          TX packets:46 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100           Interrupt:5 Base
address:0x7100

The Compaq is a Pentium 100 Mhz system with 32Mb memory.

In /var/log/messages I find the following messages occasionaly:
Jan  5 07:58:48 Volcanus kernel: eth1: Oversized Ethernet frame, status
31302f2e!

Jan  5 08:03:43 Volcanus kernel: eth1: Setting half-duplex based on
auto-negotiated partner ability 0000.

This is the output of the driver:
Jan  5 08:16:54 Volcanus kernel:  http://www.scyld.com/network/rtl8139.html
Jan  5 08:16:54 Volcanus kernel: eth1: SMC1211TX EZCard 10/100 (RealTek
RTL8139) at 0x7100, IRQ 5, 00:10:b5:03:63:1d.

I tried with debug=7 and then I can ping without any problems (stopped it
after more than 400 good packages). However this isn't a permanent solution
as the response times are rather high. I didn't find any debug messages in
/var/log/messages, or is this debug info put in another file?

Kind regards,

Alain
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald Becker" <becker@scyld.com>
To: "Alain SMEDTS" <alain_smedts@hotmail.com>
Cc: <realtek@scyld.com>
Sent: Friday, January 05, 2001 2:19 AM
Subject: Re: [realtek] Ping doesn't respond anymore after 5 good tests


On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Alain SMEDTS wrote:

> After a reboot of Slackware 7.1 (Kernel 2.2.16),  ping finds other hosts
> for about 5 times, then ping doesn't respond anymore.

What does the error count report?  Five good packets, and then all
subsequent packets are bad?

> I used rtl8139.o delivered with Slackware, it is version 1.07. I upgraded
> to RTL8139 v1.12, but the problem is the same. I tried three different NIC
> (all using RTL8139) from two different brands (Accton Cheetah and Planet
> ENW-9500). Those NIC work fine in another Linux box with the same
> drivers.

The points to a hardware problem, perhaps a PCI bus issue.  And it's
exactly the sort of problem that is difficult to work on: as you
experienced, the same driver and card works just fine with another system.

Is the broken system a 486?  (486 systems typically have PCI burst bugs.)

Try running the driver with debug=7
The output will be very verbose, but you might be able to spot a relavent
error message.

> The machine that causes problems is a Compaq Prosignia 300 with built-in
> NIC (pcnet32.o working without any problem!)

It could possibly be corrupted packets from that machine, but that could be
easily checked by bringing the rtl8139 interface down and back up.


Donald Becker becker@scyld.com
Scyld Computing Corporation http://www.scyld.com
410 Severn Ave. Suite 210 Second Generation Beowulf Clusters
Annapolis MD 21403 410-990-9993