Re: APM disable broken (was -> Re: 8139too on ABIT BP6 causes "eth0: transmit timed out" )

[victor <ixnay@infonegocio.com>]

Hello erich,

Monday, October 29, 2001, 12:11:27 AM, you wrote:

i have a dual celeron in a bp6, i reflash de bios with
http://bp6.gamesquad.net/bios.phtml the bios revision
Final RU BIOS (newest Fianl Release BIOS from Abit)
and i have a ovislink 8139C chip and a hp 100mb switch and all works
fine


euo> Raphael Manfredi <Raphael_Manfredi@pobox.com> wrote:

euo> ...[recent 2.4-based kernel]...

>> but this problem is not specific to that kernel.  I've been having
>> it for a looong time.
>> 
>> Specifically, I get:
>> 
>>  NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
euo> ...
>> and then the machine is dead, network-wise.  I have to reboot (reset).
>> 
>> Note that I am on an ABIT BP6 board, and I do get a lot of APIC errors
>> under heavy network traffic, which is what raises the above.
>> By heavy network traffic, I mean a 7 Mb/s full duplex (it's a 100 Mb/s
>> LAN).

euo> I had what looks like exactly this problem with my ABIT BP6 -based machine
euo> running RH 7.1, and the problem turned out to be the interaction between
euo> SMP and the APM BIOS, when APM is turned on.  A different network card,
euo> but the same symptom.  Another symptom I would occasionally see was a
euo> certain kind of hard-disk hang, but only on the integrated HPT366
euo> controller.

euo> I suggest you try either:

euo>   --  adding the "noapic" line to your kernel command-line (which will
euo>       lose you some I/O performance since normal interrupts will not be
euo>       handled APIC-style)
euo>   --  completely disabling APM from your kernel configuration.  Using
euo>       "apm=off/disabled" (I can't remember the exact one you're supposed
euo>       to use here) does not totally disable APM usage.


euo> This brings me to my other point.  During the Linux kernel startup
euo> code (in the early assembly), the APM BIOS checking code leaves the
euo> BIOS in the "connected" state even if the kernel option for disabling
euo> APM or the SMP forced disable of APM is triggered.

euo> This makes various motherboards (such as the ABIT BP6) unstable.

euo> The Right Thing to do would be to disconnect the APM BIOS if it is
euo> determined that APM support should be disabled.

euo> I could probably generate a patch to fix this if it looked like it would
euo> be accepted by the folks maintaining APM support...

euo> --
euo>     Erich Stefan Boleyn     <erich@uruk.org>     http://www.uruk.org/
euo> "Reality is truly stranger than fiction; Probably why fiction is so popular"
euo> -
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-- 
Best regards,
 victor                            mailto:ixnay@infonegocio.com