[tulip-bug] tulip driver goes into half-duplex at random times on netgear card

[Herb Rubin]

CPU: AMD K-6-2
OS: Redhat 7.0
eth0: realtek to DSL modem (internet)
eth1: Netgear 310 to Netgear 8 port Switch (internal network)

I have encountered a problem that shows up after a while.  My netgear 310
card goes into half duplex mode and effectively stops functioning. This
occurs at random times requiring me to restart networking. It always comes
back up fine (in full duplex mode).

Here's my /var/log/messages lines from Redhat 7.0 that gave me the clue:

tulip.c:v0.91g-ppc 7/16/99 becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
eth1:  MII transceiver #1 config 3100 status 7829 advertising 01e1.
eth1: Setting full-duplex based on MII#1 link partner capability of 45e1.

4 hours later I saw this:

eth1: Setting half-duplex based on MII#1 link partner capability of 0080


eth0 never goes down (Realtek).

I can reproduce this on a different machine running Redhat 6.2 and Netgear 310
card. But, not on Redhat 6.1.

At first I thought it was related to heavy traffic but now I am not sure.

Has anybody else seen this?

Herb
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Herb Rubin