ppc32 lockups with 2.6

[Christian Kujau <evil@g-house.de>]

moin,

i have problems with my ppc32 (PReP) machine and 2.6.0-test* kernels.
since this is some kind of home "server", i did not test any ealier
versions, but 2.6.0-test{7|8|9}. all show the same behaviour, somewhere
during the bootup, the machine just freezes. i found out, that upon
configuring my thernet devices the lockups occur.

so, i have 2 network cards, both are working under 2.4 with the 3c59x
(eth0) and tulip (eth1, it's an on-board 21140).

loading the drivers by using insmod / modprobe succeeds, the driver
registers, some messages are printed.

e.g.

Linux Tulip driver version 1.1.13 (May 11, 2002)
PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:04.0 (0000 -> 0003)
tulip0:  EEPROM default media type Autosense.
tulip0:  Index #0 - Media AUI (#2) described by a 21140 non-MII (0) block.
tulip0:  Index #1 - Media MII (#11) described by a 21140 MII PHY (1) block.
tulip0:  MII transceiver #8 config 3100 status 786b advertising 01e1.
eth0: Digital DS21140 Tulip rev 34 at 0x1800, 08:00:3E:29:0B:B6, IRQ 9.

or

3c59x: Donald Becker and others. www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
See Documentation/networking/vortex.txt
0000:00:06.0: 3Com PCI 3c905C Tornado at 0x1000. Vers LK1.1.19
  00:01:02:f1:83:37, IRQ 11
   product code 464a rev 00.13 date 11-12-00
   Internal config register is 1800000, transceivers 0xa.
   8K byte-wide RAM 5:3 Rx:Tx split, autoselect/Autonegotiate interface.
   MII transceiver found at address 24, status 782d.
   Enabling bus-master transmits and whole-frame receives.
0000:00:06.0: scatter/gather enabled. h/w checksums enabled

"ifconfig eth0" gives then an unconfigured eth0, ok. but using "ifconfig
eth0 192.168.1.1" results in a lockup. no oops printed, no SysReq anymore.

i tried with the "tulip" modul first, and could "strace" the ifconfig,
until it freezes.

    http://nerdbynature.de/bits/sheep/network/ifc-tulip.log

the 3c59x module however acted somehow differently: upon using "ifconfig
eth0 192.168.1.1" the screen filled with strange chars in some pattern,
i've never seen before on a linux box (no, i was clean :-)) (ok, the
pattern is probably not important, but it's on [1] anyway) then, the
system locked up too.

as you can see (http://nerdbynature.de/bits/sheep/network/config) i have
then compiled some debug options into the kernel, i loaded the 3c59x
module with "debug=6". also, i want to say that this is not my first
build of a 2.6 kernel, i have a i386 running pretty stable with 2.6 for
weeks now; some time ago i used to have an Alpha (AXP) with 2.5.x
running 24x7.

please let me know, i have forgotten something or where to look further.
i will be glad to help with running tests and the like.

i don't suspect hw errors here, because both cards are happy working
under 2.4.

some details about the PrEP machine:
[1] http://nerdbynature.de/bits/

Thank you,
Christian.

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