[vortex-bug] transmit timed out, tx_status 00 status e000

[Donald Becker]

On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Gerhard Hintermayer wrote:

> A while ago I read some postings about this error, but found no
> solution for that error. I had a 3c905B Cyclone running into that
> *every* time I put heavy load onto the NIC, checked the source and
> changed TX_TIMEOUT for 2*HZ to 6*HZ, and the error was gone. Is that a
> the right way to go ?

No.

This has been reported various times.
It's a hack that can mask certain problems (and it might be a good
idea just for that reason), but it doesn't fix a problem.

The reason for the 2 second delay is that a properly functioning
Ethernet should allow a packet to be sent well less than a second.  The
driver "watchdog" doubles this and assumes that Something Bad has
happened that might be fixed by a reset.

The only only ill effects from increasing the watchdog delay to 6
seconds are:
   If there is a problem that a reset will fix, you are off the air for
   4 seconds longer.
   You don't count some transient network problems as errors, leading to
   a false sense of reliability.

> I also have a 3C905B-FX, running for more than 2 years without any
> problem and then *bang* - the same error.

Three of your friends throw up after eating chicken salad.  Do you think
"I should find more robust friends" or "we should check that refrigerator".

I suspect that you have a network-wide problem.

> I can't imagine, that this is not a known and not yet solved issue.

I don't consider messages reporting errors to be a bug.  It's only a bug
if the driver fails to continue operation when it could safely do so.

-- 
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