Another dark LED on a 21140 Chipset card...

[Ted_Rule@flextech.co.uk]

I have a D-Link DFE500-Tx ( 21140 chip set ) card, running tulip.c v0.89K
on a RedHat 5.1 box with a 2.0.35 kernel.

This is still early days for the box, but the first problem I can see is
that the Full Duplex LED is not lit, despite both the hub AND the card
reporting
duplicity in their auto-neg diagnostics... The "100 M" and "Link" Leds are
activated though.

The hub is a Cabletron MMAC+ switch. The link is running at 100Base-Tx Full
Duplex.

If I raise the debug level on the card to 3 in conf.modules, I can see:

Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: Found Digital DS21140 Tulip at PCI I/O
address 0xd800.
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: tulip.c:v0.89K 8/8/98
becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: eth0: Digital DS21140 Tulip at 0xd800, 00
80 c8 4c 09 ef, IRQ 10.
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: eth0:  EEPROM default media type
Autosense.
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: eth0:  MII interface PHY 0, setup/reset
sequences 0/0 long, capabilities e0 78.
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: eth0:  Index #0 - Media MII (#11)
described by a 21140 MII PHY (1) block.
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: eth0: Checking for MII transceivers...
Sep  7 17:13:14 intranot kernel: eth0:  MII transceiver found at MDIO
address 0, config 1000 status 782d.
Sep  7 17:13:17 intranot kernel: PS/2 auxiliary pointing device detected --
 driver installed.
Sep  7 17:13:18 intranot kernel: eth0: MII status 782d, Link partner report
 41a1, CSR12 ffffff80, HD.
Sep  7 17:13:18 intranot kernel: eth0: The transmitter stopped!  CSR5 is
fc068002, CSR6 320e0202.
Sep  7 17:13:18 intranot kernel: eth0: Setting full-duplex based on MII
Xcvr #0parter capability of 41a1.
Sep  7 17:14:18 intranot kernel: eth0: MII status 782d, Link partner report
 41a1, CSR12 ffffff80, FD.
Sep  7 17:15:18 intranot kernel: eth0: MII status 782d, Link partner report
 41a1, CSR12 ffffff80, FD.
Sep  7 17:16:18 intranot kernel: eth0: MII status 782d, Link partner report
 41a1, CSR12 ffffff80, FD.
Sep  7 17:17:18 intranot kernel: eth0: MII status 782d, Link partner report
 41a1, CSR12 ffffff80, FD.
Sep  7 17:18:18 intranot kernel: eth0: MII status 782d, Link partner report
 41a1, CSR12 ffffff80, FD.


I can ftp transfer some 7Megabytes in some 3 seconds flat, which suggests
from previous experience that the Duplex Auto-Neg
has worked correctly.

It just seems such a shame that the LED doesn't come on to give an external
indication of the state of the card.

I suppose the big question is whether the LED's are driven by the software
driver or by the raw hardware on the card?


Any further enlightenment appreciated.


Ted Rule,

Flextech Television