[realtek] Huge transmit/carrier errors with 8139C on linux

[Donald Becker]

On Thu, 18 Jul 2002, Kevin Cassidy wrote:

> After much research on the Internet I'm at a loss to get an explanation
> as to why my ifconfig shows an output such as this :
...
>           RX packets:94828 errors:1 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:112200 errors:6091 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:12182
>           collisions:992 txqueuelen:100

This looks like your link partner is forced to full duplex.

If so, there is a permanent fix. Slap the switch administrator just
behind the ear, barely catching the ear lobe, and say "what".  Pause a
bit.  Say "were".  Another pause, regaining your composure.  Say "you
thinking".  Tell them that if their equipment doesn't work properly with
autonegotation, they should stop buying that brand.  And the existing
equipment should be set to half duplex mode so that it will interoperate
properly with default configurations.

> Why am I getting so many transmit errors ?

Those are likely out-of-window collisions, as the link partner is
sending packets without doing CSMA/CD.  Full duplex is only valid when
it's autonegotiated.

> root@server1:/usr/src/rtl# ./rtl8139diag -m
> rtl8139-diag.c:v2.06 3/22/2002 Donald Becker (becker@scyld.com)
>  http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
> Index #1: Found a RealTek RTL8139 adapter at 0xec00.
>  The RTL8139 does not use a MII transceiver.
>  It does have internal MII-compatible registers:
>    Basic mode control register   0x1000.
>    Basic mode status register    0x782d.
>    Autonegotiation Advertisement 0x01e1.
>    Link Partner Ability register 0x0000.

No link partner information.

-- 
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