Set speed/duplex on sis900 ethernet interface

Hello,

I am being plagued by
Sep 16 18:38:14 mcl_x eth1: Media Link Off
Sep 16 18:38:38 mcl_x eth1: Media Link On 10mbps half-duplex
Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
.......

The problem is that if the interface goes down for any reason
it gets broken. The Link off/on is expected it's what follows
that is not.

The only fix that I have at present is a reboot.

The interface is connected to a 10mbps hub that does
no autonegotiation.

This seems to happen every time the interface goes down.

When the above errors occur the interface usually becomes almost
completely unresponsive. e.g. Ping round trip times via this
interface range up to 5s. It is ocurring consistently on a number
of different computers and is I believe due to a bug.

I noticed:
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/lin...03.3/0018.html

This seems to state that the driver fails if an attempt is made to
transmit a packet before autonegotiation is complete.

I have therefore tried to get the interface to use settings specified
by me but can find no way to accomplish this.

"mii-tool -F 10baseT-HD eth1" does change it but only until it goes down
again. When it comes back up we are in the "no negotiate" mode again.
This means that autonegotiation is ON but that it has failed.

I have also tried ethtool but it won't work against my driver.

mcl_x-~#ethtool -s eth1 speed 10 duplex half autoneg off
Cannot get current device settings: Operation not supported
not setting speed
not setting duplex
not setting autoneg
mcl_x-~#


I have learned more about linux startup than I really want to know
but still feel no closer to a solution.

The hardware is a firewall appliance that uses Redhat Linux as its OS.

uname -a
Linux 2.4.9-34.11xxx #1 Tue Jan 28 16:53:15 CST 2003 i686 unknown

Since it's a commercial product I am a little reluctant to fiddle
with the code although I guess that I might be able to build a
development system I don't even have one right now.

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to configure the ethernet
ports such that they NEVER negotiate at all.

It has been suggested that increasing
/sbin/sysctl -w net.core.netdev_max_backlog=300
from its present value may help but I am a little worried
that I may need to change other parameters (eg memory) too and in
any case don't think that it will work.


Thanks a lot for any ideas.

AnyBody43 wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am being plagued by
> Sep 16 18:38:14 mcl_x eth1: Media Link Off
> Sep 16 18:38:38 mcl_x eth1: Media Link On 10mbps half-duplex
> Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
> Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
> Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
> Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
> ......
>
> The problem is that if the interface goes down for any reason
> it gets broken. The Link off/on is expected it's what follows
> that is not.
>
> The only fix that I have at present is a reboot.
>
> The interface is connected to a 10mbps hub that does
> no autonegotiation.
>
> This seems to happen every time the interface goes down.
>
> When the above errors occur the interface usually becomes almost
> completely unresponsive. e.g. Ping round trip times via this
> interface range up to 5s. It is ocurring consistently on a number
> of different computers and is I believe due to a bug.
>
> I noticed:
> http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/lin...03.3/0018.html
>
> This seems to state that the driver fails if an attempt is made to
> transmit a packet before autonegotiation is complete.
>
> I have therefore tried to get the interface to use settings specified
> by me but can find no way to accomplish this.
>
> "mii-tool -F 10baseT-HD eth1" does change it but only until it goes down
> again. When it comes back up we are in the "no negotiate" mode again.
> This means that autonegotiation is ON but that it has failed.
>
> I have also tried ethtool but it won't work against my driver.
>
> mcl_x-~#ethtool -s eth1 speed 10 duplex half autoneg off
> Cannot get current device settings: Operation not supported
> not setting speed
> not setting duplex
> not setting autoneg
> mcl_x-~#
>
>
> I have learned more about linux startup than I really want to know
> but still feel no closer to a solution.
>
> The hardware is a firewall appliance that uses Redhat Linux as its OS.
>
> uname -a
> Linux 2.4.9-34.11xxx #1 Tue Jan 28 16:53:15 CST 2003 i686 unknown
>
> Since it's a commercial product I am a little reluctant to fiddle
> with the code although I guess that I might be able to build a
> development system I don't even have one right now.
>
> Can anyone tell me if there is a way to configure the ethernet
> ports such that they NEVER negotiate at all.
>
> It has been suggested that increasing
> /sbin/sysctl -w net.core.netdev_max_backlog=300
> from its present value may help but I am a little worried
> that I may need to change other parameters (eg memory) too and in
> any case don't think that it will work.
>
>
> Thanks a lot for any ideas.
Most phy's with an MII interface have a control register that allows you
to disable autonegotiation. You can probably get the hardware spec for
your particular phy, locate that bit, and make a call in the driver
module_init routine to set it to zero. Of course, this implies that
your modified driver will always need to have it speed/duplex abilities
set according to what the system is connected to.

HTH
Neil

--
/************************************************** *
*Neil Horman
*Software Engineer
*Red Hat, Inc.
*(E-Mail Removed)
*gpg keyid: 1024D / 0x92A74FA1
*http://www.keyserver.net
************************************************** */

Neil Horman <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<bk9j2t$i14$(E-Mail Removed)>...

Loads snipped from my original message

> >
> > Can anyone tell me if there is a way to configure the ethernet
> > ports such that they NEVER negotiate at all.
> >
> >
> > Thanks a lot for any ideas.
> Most phy's with an MII interface have a control register that allows you
> to disable autonegotiation. You can probably get the hardware spec for
> your particular phy, locate that bit, and make a call in the driver
> module_init routine to set it to zero. Of course, this implies that
> your modified driver will always need to have it speed/duplex abilities
> set according to what the system is connected to.
>
> HTH
> Neil
> *Neil Horman
> *Software Engineer
> *Red Hat, Inc.


Well it's "a way"!!!!!

I could manage this I would think since, I have done some stuff
like it in the past. One problem is that the boxes have 3
interfaces and we always use 2 of them at least. It may be
difficult to have them all set to the same value.
This could mean making more changes to the code than I might like.
Setting a bit is not too bad, parameterising a whole new section
of code is a bit of a bigger step for me.

Thanks a lot for the input, will for sure let you know if I
do the hack. This is unlikely since these are commercial
products that we have "support" for and it would be a bigish effort
for me to get a development system going, and also due to the issue
above.

Hopefully the "support" will fix it eventually. BTW I am still looking
for something a little less drastic

Thanks again.

-snip-
I am being plagued by
Sep 16 18:38:14 mcl_x eth1: Media Link Off
Sep 16 18:38:38 mcl_x eth1: Media Link On 10mbps half-duplex
Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
.......

> >The problem is that if the interface goes down for any reason
> >it gets broken. The Link off/on is expected it's what follows
> >that is not.

> >The only fix that I have at present is a reboot.

> >The interface is connected to a 10mbps hub that does
> >no autonegotiation.

-snip-
> > Can anyone tell me if there is a way to configure the ethernet
> > ports such that they NEVER negotiate at all.
-snip-


Yo Anybody, greetz from the east,

Have you tried /etc/init.d/network restart? Might save you a reboot.
How about buying a new hub/switch. They go for under $20.

Create a script for mii-tool and cron it and a network restart? At
least for the evenings when you'd rather not come in. I know that's
cheesy, but until a real solution comes, duct tape is better than no
tape.

By the way, it looks like you could use a kernel upgrade on that
puppy. I know how it is with firewall products, it's like the "Wizard
of OZ, and don't bug the man behind the curtin". This risk is
bringing down connectivity and zillions of web surfers (oops, I mean
employees) jumping your stuff. As it is, it sounds like you're not on
their birthday gift list.

I'm having a problem with 10Mbit settings not being retained through
the reboot, but 100 seems to work. RH 7.3 recently kerneled and
patched.

mvshk

(E-Mail Removed) (Googlizer) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
> -snip-
> I am being plagued by
> Sep 16 18:38:14 mcl_x eth1: Media Link Off
> Sep 16 18:38:38 mcl_x eth1: Media Link On 10mbps half-duplex
> Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
> Sep 16 18:38:42 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
> Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth1: transmit timed out
> Sep 16 18:38:50 mcl_x eth1: Transmit timeout, status 00000004 00000000
> ......
>
> > >The problem is that if the interface goes down for any reason
> > >it gets broken. The Link off/on is expected it's what follows
> > >that is not.
>
> > >The only fix that I have at present is a reboot.
>
> > >The interface is connected to a 10mbps hub that does
> > >no autonegotiation.
>
> -snip-
> > > Can anyone tell me if there is a way to configure the ethernet
> > > ports such that they NEVER negotiate at all.
> -snip-
>
>
> Yo Anybody, greetz from the east,
>
> Have you tried /etc/init.d/network restart? Might save you a reboot.
> How about buying a new hub/switch. They go for under $20.
>
> Create a script for mii-tool and cron it and a network restart? At
> least for the evenings when you'd rather not come in. I know that's
> cheesy, but until a real solution comes, duct tape is better than no
> tape.
>
> By the way, it looks like you could use a kernel upgrade on that
> puppy. I know how it is with firewall products, it's like the "Wizard
> of OZ, and don't bug the man behind the curtin". This risk is
> bringing down connectivity and zillions of web surfers (oops, I mean
> employees) jumping your stuff. As it is, it sounds like you're not on
> their birthday gift list.
>
> I'm having a problem with 10Mbit settings not being retained through
> the reboot, but 100 seems to work. RH 7.3 recently kerneled and
> patched.
>
> mvshk

Thanks,
Been there with most of that but it was a (very) good read anyway.

I'm in the UK, is that east?