"Transmit timeout, status ff ffff ffff media ff"

the internal LAN of my server suddenly stopped working.

at the moment I do not have phisical access to it, and I'd like to
know if it's a phisical problem or can maybe be solved from here,
since luckily its connection to the Internet still works.

since I can ping the NIC itself, but not everything else behind it, I
guess the switch did broke down, but it could also be NIC's fault (or
its cable). Could somebody look at these logs and tell me if he has
any idea?

thanks.

++++++++++

elfo:/var/log# tail kern.log -n9
Jun 5 18:58:00 elfo kernel: eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa
0xFFFF
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Transmit timeout, status ff ffff
ffff media ff.
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Tx queue start entry 4 dirty entry
0.
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Tx descriptor 0 is ffffffff.
(queue head)
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Tx descriptor 1 is ffffffff.
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Tx descriptor 2 is ffffffff.
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Tx descriptor 3 is ffffffff.
Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa
0xFFFF

++++++++++

elfo:/var/log# ping -c3 192.168.5.20
PING 192.168.5.20 (192.168.5.20) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.5.20: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.271 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.5.20: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.273 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.5.20: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.251 ms

--- 192.168.5.20 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 1999ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.251/0.265/0.273/0.009 ms

++++++++++

elfo:/var/log# ping -c3 192.168.5.81
PING 192.168.5.81 (192.168.5.81) 56(84) bytes of data.
>From 192.168.5.20 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
>From 192.168.5.20 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
>From 192.168.5.20 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.5.81 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time
1998ms
, pipe 3

(this is the same for every host in the LAN)

++++++++++

elfo:/var/log# ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:F4:86:63:5D
inet addr:192.168.5.20 Bcast:192.168.5.255 Mask:
255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::240:f4ff:fe86:635d/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:356533383 errors:0 dropped:4294967229 overruns:0
frame:0
TX packets:396370310 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:4 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:252504647 (240.8 MiB) TX bytes:1407108737 (1.3
GiB)
Interrupt:10 Base address:0xe400

++++++++++

elfo:/var/log# lspci -vvv -s 00:0a.0
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RT8139
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF-
FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR-
<PERR-
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
Region 0: I/O ports at e400 [disabled] [size=256]
Region 1: [virtual] Memory at e6001000 (32-bit, non-
prefetchable) [disabled] [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA
PME(D0-,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

UPDATE: two OTHER hosts in the LAN are pinging themselves, so either
the server NIC is broken, or the cable, or a single port of the
switch, I'd say?

On Tue, 05 Jun 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.networking, in
article <(E-Mail Removed) om>, Lo'oris wrote:

>the internal LAN of my server suddenly stopped working.

>at the moment I do not have phisical access to it, and I'd like to
>know if it's a phisical problem or can maybe be solved from here,
>since luckily its connection to the Internet still works.

Looks like a bad NIC

>since I can ping the NIC itself

If you looked at the packet counts in /sbin/ifconfig -a, you'll see that
pinging yourself uses the loopback interface - there's no need to spew
over the wire if you are talking to yourself. Thus, the ping is no
indication.

>Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
>Jun 5 19:02:24 elfo kernel: eth0: Transmit timeout, status ff ffff
ffff media ff.

That looks as if you can't actually talk to the NIC.

>elfo:/var/log# ping -c3 192.168.5.81
>PING 192.168.5.81 (192.168.5.81) 56(84) bytes of data.
>>From 192.168.5.20 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable

This says that 192.168.5.20 was unable to determine the MAC address of
192.168.5.81 (an ARP request failed) probably because the signal did
not make it out to the wires.

>elfo:/var/log# ifconfig eth0
>eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:F4:86:63:5D

[compton ~]$ etherwhois 00:40:F4
00-40-F4 (hex) CAMEO COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
0040F4 (base 16) CAMEO COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
71 SPITBROOK ROAD, STE #410
NASHUA NH 030603
UNITED STATES
[compton ~]$

At one time, the kernel was able to see the card

> RX packets:356533383 errors:0 dropped:4294967229 overruns:0
frame:0
> TX packets:396370310 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:4 carrier:0
> collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

[compton ~]$ echo '4294967229/356533383' | bc -l
12.04646586768566353294
[compton ~]$ echo 'obase=16 ; 4294967229 ; 356533383' | bc
FFFFFFBD
15404487
[compton ~]$

That is a shedload of dropped packets - however the numbers are suspect.
The TX errors are OK, but I'd suspect that the data may be corrupt.

>elfo:/var/log# lspci -vvv -s 00:0a.0
>00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
>RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
> Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RT8139

[compton ~]$ etherwhois REALTEK
00-E0-4C (hex) REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.
00E04C (base 16) REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.
1F, NO. 11, INDUSTRY E. RD. IX
SCIENCE-BASED INDUSTRIAL PARK
HSINCHU 300
TAIWAN, REPUBLIC OF CHINA
[compton ~]$

When Realtek manufacturers the NIC, they use a different MAC address. I
don't think this is an error, as 00:E0:4C can't easily be misread as
00:40:F4. You might try using 'mii-tools' to see what's going on with
the card.

[compton ~]$ whatis mii-tool
mii-tool (8) - view, manipulate media-independent interface status
[compton ~]$

Old guy