tg3 networking issue

[Rick Stevens]

On Mon, 2006-07-17 at 20:16 +0200, Patrick wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-07-17 at 11:03 -0500, Anthony Messina wrote:
> > Patrick wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > > 
> > > I recently updated to kernel 2.6.17-1.2157_FC5 on my FC5 laptop. Not
> > > sure if it's related but now networking stops working intermittently.
> > > The driver used is tg3 for a Broadcom  BCM5789 nic. In /var/log/messages
> > > I see:
> > > 
> > > NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
> > > tg3: eth0: transmit timed out, resetting
> > > tg3: tg3_stop_block timed out, ofs=2c00 enable_bit=2
> > > tg3: eth0: Link is down.
> > > tg3: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
> > > tg3: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX.
> > > 
> > > Doing a $sudo /sbin/service network restart immediately solves the
> > > problem. I only see this happen with the download of the FC5 Unity DVD
> > > torrent. Not with small fish like surfing or getting my mail from an
> > > imap server on the LAN. Has anyone seen something similar? Any
> > > suggestions how I can pinpoint/fix this?
> > > 
> > 
> > i had/have what sounds to be exactly the same problem.  see my post from
> > april: https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2006-April/msg04485.html
> > 
> > the problem seems to come and go.  i never found a solution and no one
> > else seemed to be able to offer any advice at the time.
> 
> Yikes that does not sound very encouraging. Are you aware of an FC5
> kernel where this problem does not happen (assuming it's related to the
> tg3 module)?

I've never liked the tg3 module...it's always had issues with speed
negotiation and the like.  One way around is to turn off negotiation on
the switch/router and set it to fixed (along with the other appropriate
parameters) and do the same for the machine itself.

If you're using the tg3 driver for a Broadcom chipset, try to use the
actual Broadcom driver (from their website).  It doesn't have these
issues.

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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-       "I'd explain it to you, but your brain might explode."       -
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