Re: Network problems with b44 in 2.6.0

Re: Network problems with b44 in 2.6.0

[Michael Guntsche]

Hi,

> As soon as I started the process, the following error messages started
> appearing in my syslog.

>	b44: eth0: Link is down.
>	b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
>	b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
>	b44: eth0: Link is down.

I played around with various settings on my notebook and noticed that
setting the link to 10BaseT-HD gave me a troughput of ~900KB/s.
No error messages in syslog, but ifconfig is still showing lots of errors
and collisions.

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:C0:9F:23:FA:FC  
          inet addr:192.168.0.147  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:89558 errors:21031 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:21031
          TX packets:65585 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:26
          collisions:22559 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:99059807 (94.4 MiB)  TX bytes:3306603 (3.1 MiB)
          Interrupt:5 

I got this after copying 20 MB from the gateway to the notebook.


/Michael

Re: Network problems with b44 in 2.6.0

[Michael Guntsche]

I did some more tests and found out that disabling ACPI support with
acpi=off gave me a functional card again.
pci=noacpi wasn't enough.

Someone knows how ACPI can interfere with the network in only one
direction (receive)?.
It would make more sense to me if the card didn't work at all.

Michael

Network problems with b44 in 2.6.0

[Michael Guntsche]

Recently I activated my BCM4401 network card on my notebook, 
using the b44 module, to do some large file transfers 
(normally I use my wireless connection).
While copying around several MB between 2 computers I noticed something
very strange.

Scp'ing a file FROM the notebook TO my gateway, I got a throughput of
1.2MB. This looks normal, since the gateway is a very old machine.


--------

The problems started when copying a file in the opposite direction
(FROM the gateway TO the notebook).

As soon as I started the process, the following error messages started
appearing in my syslog.

	b44: eth0: Link is down.
	b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
	b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
	b44: eth0: Link is down.
	b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
	b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
	b44: eth0: Link is down.
	b44: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
	b44: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
	b44: eth0: Link is down.

After a few seconds the whole transfer -stalled--.
The Link just went down and up and the messages filled my syslog.
For me it looks like that something is seriously wrong on the RX side,
since sending a file works without a problem.


System Info:
Acer TravelMate 800
Debian unstable
Kernel 2.6.0 no modifications
Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)

Please CC: me if you have hints/need more information since I am not
subscribed to the list

Thanks in advance,
Michael