3c905c (cyclone) 100baseTX?

Greetings

I have a computer that I am netbooting (I'll probably have some
questions on that later) gentoo, with a 2.6.9 kernel, and the damn thing
is slower then molasses on a cold day. The hardware is a 650mhz p3,
intel 810 everything and the nic is a 3c905c. The card seems to start
up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello and
the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel
loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.

mii-tool indicates that the adapter is capable of 100baseTX, and I've
tried a number of kernel options (ether=0,0,0x04; full_duplex=1;
duplex=0; media_type=100BASE_TX) but nothing seems to work. ifconfig
wont switch to 100b-tx either.

Since this computer needs to have a net driver compiled in (to mount the
nfs volume as the root fs), how do I make this jimmy-janger combobulate
to 100btx?

Regards,
Andy

On 2005-01-22, Andrew Golding <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello and
> the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel
> loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.

It could be a problem with the driver or a problem with the device
the card is connected to in the other side. Be sure that the whole
net is 100 Mb capable and try to recompile the driver.

Davide

--
A Linux machine! because a 486 is a terrible thing to waste!

I reconfigured the driver to support just the 900 series, but that
didn't do it. It doesn't seem to be the switch either... like i said,
everything is honkey dory up until the kernel starts up ethernet. The
current options I am using are:
/vmlinuz root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.1.155:/var/lib/nfsmount rw
ip=dhcp ether=0,0,0x04

Nothing seems capable of manually switching the media type once the
system is going (default is autonegotiate).

mii-tool cannot seem to use the -A option to only advertise
100baseTx-FD, and the -F option doesn't seem to have effect, either.
ifconfig eth0 media 100baseTX gives a SIOCSIFMAP operation not supported.

Erp! What the devil is going on?

-Andy


Davide Bianchi wrote:
> On 2005-01-22, Andrew Golding <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello and
>>the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel
>>loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.
>
>
> It could be a problem with the driver or a problem with the device
> the card is connected to in the other side. Be sure that the whole
> net is 100 Mb capable and try to recompile the driver.
>
> Davide
>

Andrew Golding wrote:

> I reconfigured the driver to support just the 900 series, but that
> didn't do it. It doesn't seem to be the switch either... like i said,
> everything is honkey dory up until the kernel starts up ethernet. The
> current options I am using are:
> /vmlinuz root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.1.155:/var/lib/nfsmount rw
> ip=dhcp ether=0,0,0x04
>
> Nothing seems capable of manually switching the media type once the
> system is going (default is autonegotiate).
>
> mii-tool cannot seem to use the -A option to only advertise
> 100baseTx-FD, and the -F option doesn't seem to have effect, either.
> ifconfig eth0 media 100baseTX gives a SIOCSIFMAP operation not supported.
>
> Erp! What the devil is going on?
>
> -Andy
>
Hi,

What other NIC or devices do you have on your LAN?

The NIC will negotiate to the slowest device on the network.

--
Regards and Godspeed,
Gary

The magic is in the Magician not the wand!

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> I have a computer that I am netbooting (I'll probably have some
> questions on that later) gentoo, with a 2.6.9 kernel, and the damn thing
> is slower then molasses on a cold day. The hardware is a 650mhz p3,
> intel 810 everything and the nic is a 3c905c. The card seems to start
> up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello and
> the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel
> loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.

I'm assuming you are using the 3c59x driver. I'm surprised it's
behaving badly. The driver has been around for a while, though I guess
something could have happened to it for 2.6.x. You could try
downloading and booting Knoppix (lives on a CD, so won't mess up your
disk). IIRC Knoppix still uses a 2.4.x series kernel, so this would
help you narrow down the cause of your problem.

gary wrote:
> Andrew Golding wrote:
>
>
>>I reconfigured the driver to support just the 900 series, but that
>>didn't do it. It doesn't seem to be the switch either... like i said,
>>everything is honkey dory up until the kernel starts up ethernet. The
>>current options I am using are:
>>/vmlinuz root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.1.155:/var/lib/nfsmount rw
>>ip=dhcp ether=0,0,0x04
>>
>>Nothing seems capable of manually switching the media type once the
>>system is going (default is autonegotiate).
>>
>>mii-tool cannot seem to use the -A option to only advertise
>>100baseTx-FD, and the -F option doesn't seem to have effect, either.
>>ifconfig eth0 media 100baseTX gives a SIOCSIFMAP operation not supported.
>>
>>Erp! What the devil is going on?
>>
>>-Andy
>>
>
> Hi,
>
> What other NIC or devices do you have on your LAN?
>
> The NIC will negotiate to the slowest device on the network.
>
Everything seems to be using 100baseTX
-Andy

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:42:29 -0600, Andrew Golding wrote:

> Greetings
>
> I have a computer that I am netbooting (I'll probably have some
> questions on that later) gentoo, with a 2.6.9 kernel, and the damn thing
> is slower then molasses on a cold day. The hardware is a 650mhz p3,
> intel 810 everything and the nic is a 3c905c. The card seems to start
> up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello and
> the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel
> loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.
>
> mii-tool indicates that the adapter is capable of 100baseTX, and I've
> tried a number of kernel options (ether=0,0,0x04; full_duplex=1;
> duplex=0; media_type=100BASE_TX) but nothing seems to work. ifconfig
> wont switch to 100b-tx either.
>
> Since this computer needs to have a net driver compiled in (to mount the
> nfs volume as the root fs), how do I make this jimmy-janger combobulate
> to 100btx?
>
> Regards,
> Andy

Something is wrong with the hardware. It can't be the driver, the 3c905c
driver has been in the kernel for years and years. Try switching ports on
your switch, if that doesn't work the a different ethernet cable. If that
doesn't fix it then replace the card, a 100baseT ethernet card only costs
about $10 so there isn't any reason to spend a lot of time on this problem.

General Schvantzkoph wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:42:29 -0600, Andrew Golding wrote:
>
>
>>Greetings
>>
>>I have a computer that I am netbooting (I'll probably have some
>>questions on that later) gentoo, with a 2.6.9 kernel, and the damn thing
>>is slower then molasses on a cold day. The hardware is a 650mhz p3,
>>intel 810 everything and the nic is a 3c905c. The card seems to start
>>up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello and
>>the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel
>>loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.
>>
>>mii-tool indicates that the adapter is capable of 100baseTX, and I've
>>tried a number of kernel options (ether=0,0,0x04; full_duplex=1;
>>duplex=0; media_type=100BASE_TX) but nothing seems to work. ifconfig
>>wont switch to 100b-tx either.
>>
>>Since this computer needs to have a net driver compiled in (to mount the
>>nfs volume as the root fs), how do I make this jimmy-janger combobulate
>>to 100btx?
>>
>>Regards,
>>Andy
>
>
> Something is wrong with the hardware. It can't be the driver, the 3c905c
> driver has been in the kernel for years and years. Try switching ports on
> your switch, if that doesn't work the a different ethernet cable. If that
> doesn't fix it then replace the card, a 100baseT ethernet card only costs
> about $10 so there isn't any reason to spend a lot of time on this problem.
>
I am sorry if this seems like a waste of time, but there is still
something fishy going on. I have swapped out everything except the NIC,
and it is still winding up at 10baseT-HD

The only reason I am using this particular card is because of its PXE
capability.

What is baffling here is that the hardware seems capable of, and
actually does establish a 100baseTX link after optaining a bootp address
and loading pxegrub. When the kernel loads the 3c59x driver is when the
card switches back to 10baseT-HD, and I do realize that the driver has
been around for awhile and such behavior is odd, suggesting hardware
problems (but then why does the card establish a 100baseTX link?)

If nobody else has seen this before, then that's fine. 10baseT-HD is
usuable until I can get a 100baseTX link, by hook or by crook.

I also wanted to check if I had passed the right parameters to the
kernel in order to try and force 100baseTX, but no word yet on that.

The card now has its own irq, a new cable, and is running to a switch
populated only by 100baseTX devices, and the switch from 100baseTX back
to 10baseT still occurs.

Am I crazy?
-Andy

Andrew Golding wrote:
> General Schvantzkoph wrote:
> > On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:42:29 -0600, Andrew Golding wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Greetings
> >>
> >>I have a computer that I am netbooting (I'll probably have some
> >>questions on that later) gentoo, with a 2.6.9 kernel, and the damn
thing
> >>is slower then molasses on a cold day. The hardware is a 650mhz
p3,
> >>intel 810 everything and the nic is a 3c905c. The card seems to
start
> >>up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the back is yello
and
> >>the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as soon as the kernel

> >>loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.
> >>
> >>mii-tool indicates that the adapter is capable of 100baseTX, and
I've
> >>tried a number of kernel options (ether=0,0,0x04; full_duplex=1;
> >>duplex=0; media_type=100BASE_TX) but nothing seems to work.
ifconfig
> >>wont switch to 100b-tx either.
> >>
> >>Since this computer needs to have a net driver compiled in (to
mount the
> >>nfs volume as the root fs), how do I make this jimmy-janger
combobulate
> >>to 100btx?
> >>
> >>Regards,
> >>Andy
> >
> >
> > Something is wrong with the hardware. It can't be the driver, the
3c905c
> > driver has been in the kernel for years and years. Try switching
ports on
> > your switch, if that doesn't work the a different ethernet cable.
If that
> > doesn't fix it then replace the card, a 100baseT ethernet card only
costs
> > about $10 so there isn't any reason to spend a lot of time on this
problem.
> >
> I am sorry if this seems like a waste of time, but there is still
> something fishy going on. I have swapped out everything except the
NIC,
> and it is still winding up at 10baseT-HD
>
> The only reason I am using this particular card is because of its PXE

> capability.
>
> What is baffling here is that the hardware seems capable of, and
> actually does establish a 100baseTX link after optaining a bootp
address
> and loading pxegrub. When the kernel loads the 3c59x driver is when
the
> card switches back to 10baseT-HD, and I do realize that the driver
has
> been around for awhile and such behavior is odd, suggesting hardware
> problems (but then why does the card establish a 100baseTX link?)
>
> If nobody else has seen this before, then that's fine. 10baseT-HD is

> usuable until I can get a 100baseTX link, by hook or by crook.
>
> I also wanted to check if I had passed the right parameters to the
> kernel in order to try and force 100baseTX, but no word yet on that.
>
> The card now has its own irq, a new cable, and is running to a switch

> populated only by 100baseTX devices, and the switch from 100baseTX
back
> to 10baseT still occurs.

Seems by now you've tried the usual tests/fixes, so you have to decide
how much you need _this_ nic/driver to work. With the net boot
capability, it may be worthwhile -- and you may be able to proudly
proclaim you've uncovered a bug somewhere. Oh joy

RH/Fedora had a rash of problems with 3Com cards/drivers when the 2.6
kernel came out. For some turning off kudzu probing at boot solved the
problem. I don't know gentoo particulars but you might check what (if
any) hardware/pci probing it does.

I may have missed it, but I don't recall you mentioning whether after
boot you have manually unloaded the driver and then reloaded it
manually (with options?) to see what difference it makes.

When all else fails I can only suggest these links:

Gentoo Forums -- search on "3c905c"
http://forums.gentoo.org/search.php?...1e2154f3a2f655
Search found 124 matches

And Becker's site at scyld:
http://www.scyld.com/vortex.html
http://www.scyld.com/modules.html << commandline options
http://www.scyld.com/ethercard_diag.html << mii-diag & vortex-diag.c

I'm wondering if the pxe loading could be leaving the nic in an
unsuitable/hung configuration that prevents mii-tool from making
changes. In the past, I've seen this with other cards on occasion --
mobo/pci/nic registers can be a picky mix. pci probing like kudzu
noted above can do this also.

Good luck,
prg
email above disabled

Andrew Golding wrote:
> General Schvantzkoph wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 22:42:29 -0600, Andrew Golding wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings
>>>
>>> I have a computer that I am netbooting (I'll probably have some
>>> questions on that later) gentoo, with a 2.6.9 kernel, and the damn
>>> thing is slower then molasses on a cold day. The hardware is a
>>> 650mhz p3, intel 810 everything and the nic is a 3c905c. The card
>>> seems to start up fine in 100baseTX mode (the indicator light in the
>>> back is yello and the switch shows a 100basetx connection), but as
>>> soon as the kernel loads, BAM! back to 10baseT Half duplex.

[snip]

>>
> I am sorry if this seems like a waste of time, but there is still
> something fishy going on. I have swapped out everything except the NIC,
> and it is still winding up at 10baseT-HD
>
> The only reason I am using this particular card is because of its PXE
> capability.

Do you load the kernel from your nfs mount? If so, you really should try
booting with a Knoppix CD to verify 100MHz performance of your card. If
you get 100MHz with the Knoppix CD, there may be some "wrong" parameters
in the nfs-loaded kernel.

> Am I crazy?

I hope not :-)