EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Dylan Griffiths]

	Hi.  While doing some file tranfers to our new server (a Compaq Proliant
8way XEON 500 with 4gb ram and an EEPro100 NIC), the box socked solid (no
oops, no response via network, no response via console).  The other hardware
in the system was a Compaq Smart Array 9SMART2 driver).  It's running
Slackware 7.1.  The other system was a dual P3 450 running Redhat 7.1 (Linux
velocity.kuro5hin.org 2.4.2-2smp #1 SMP Sun Apr 8 20:21:34 EDT 2001 i686
unknown) w/ 3c59x NIC.  The Redhat machine experienced no problems.
	In Uni processor mode, the system is totally stable.  But only using 1/8th
of its power :-/  We had to roll back to 2.2.19 with a bigmem patch, but
we'd like to have a stable 2.4 kernel to use (since it's so much better SMP
wise, throughput wise, etc).
--
    www.kuro5hin.org -- technology and culture, from the trenches.

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Andrew Morton]

Dylan Griffiths wrote:
> 
>         Hi.  While doing some file tranfers to our new server (a Compaq Proliant
> 8way XEON 500 with 4gb ram and an EEPro100 NIC), the box socked solid (no
> oops, no response via network, no response via console).  The other hardware
> in the system was a Compaq Smart Array 9SMART2 driver).  It's running
> Slackware 7.1.  The other system was a dual P3 450 running Redhat 7.1 (Linux
> velocity.kuro5hin.org 2.4.2-2smp #1 SMP Sun Apr 8 20:21:34 EDT 2001 i686
> unknown) w/ 3c59x NIC.  The Redhat machine experienced no problems.
>         In Uni processor mode, the system is totally stable.  But only using 1/8th
> of its power :-/  We had to roll back to 2.2.19 with a bigmem patch, but
> we'd like to have a stable 2.4 kernel to use (since it's so much better SMP
> wise, throughput wise, etc).

Some things to try:

1: Include `magic sysrq' support in the kernel and use ALT-SYSRQ-T and S
   when it has locked up.   If you get some traces then please feed them
   into `ksymoops -m System.map' and report back.

2: If the above doesn't work, add `nmi_watchdog=1' to the kernel boot
   options.  That may catch the lockup.

3: Replace the NIC with another eepro100.  If the problem goes away then
   chuck the old one.

4: Replace the NIC with one of a different type (ie: swap with the other
   machine). If that fixes it we look at the ethernet driver.  Otherwise
   we look at, umm, the rest of the kernel.

-

RE: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Vibol Hou]

I have a lock problem on a dual P3 1GHz w/1GB RAM setup and 2.4.5, but it
doesn't seem to be NIC related although I have two EEPro100's in it.

I get lockups while doing large disk reads that use larges amounts of memory
(MySQL's myisamchk on a 600MB MyISAM table, for instance).  The SCSI
subsystem is an Adaptec Ultra160 card w/Ultra160 drives.

Since the system locks even when doing a fsck on one of the badly damaged
drives (from the hard lock) during bootup, I am pretty sure this is an
isolated problem.

In SMP mode, when the system does manage to boot, it will load up MySQL and
run fine for about 10 minutes.  Afterwards, the system hardlocks.  In
another instance, shutting down MySQL right after starting it also caused
the system to hardlock in SMP mode.  I thought it might have something to do
with the bounce buffers, so I disabled the 4GB bigmem area, but that didn't
change the situation.

The chipset is a VIA 686B Southbridge and VIA 694DP Northbridge, though I
don't know whether this would affect the hard locks on the SCSI subsystem
(SysRQ unresponsive).

It's rock solid with a uniprocessor kernel compiled with the exact same
configuration as the SMP kernel (minus the SMP switch, of course
(APIC+IO-APIC+4GBhighmem enabled.  I've tried various kernels from 2.4.3 to
2.4.5-ac21).

Have you checked to see if it's the SCSI subsystem that is causing your
locks?

--
Vibol Hou
KhmerConnection, http://khmer.cc
"Stay Connected."

-----Original Message-----
From: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
[mailto:linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org]On Behalf Of Dylan Griffiths
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2001 8:42 PM
To: Linux kernel
Subject: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?


	Hi.  While doing some file tranfers to our new server (a Compaq Proliant
8way XEON 500 with 4gb ram and an EEPro100 NIC), the box socked solid (no
oops, no response via network, no response via console).  The other hardware
in the system was a Compaq Smart Array 9SMART2 driver).  It's running
Slackware 7.1.  The other system was a dual P3 450 running Redhat 7.1 (Linux
velocity.kuro5hin.org 2.4.2-2smp #1 SMP Sun Apr 8 20:21:34 EDT 2001 i686
unknown) w/ 3c59x NIC.  The Redhat machine experienced no problems.
	In Uni processor mode, the system is totally stable.  But only using 1/8th
of its power :-/  We had to roll back to 2.2.19 with a bigmem patch, but
we'd like to have a stable 2.4 kernel to use (since it's so much better SMP
wise, throughput wise, etc).
--
    www.kuro5hin.org -- technology and culture, from the trenches.
-
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Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Dylan Griffiths]

Andrew Morton wrote:
> 1: Include `magic sysrq' support in the kernel and use ALT-SYSRQ-T and S
>    when it has locked up.   If you get some traces then please feed them
>    into `ksymoops -m System.map' and report back.

That was locked as well, AFAIK.
 
> 2: If the above doesn't work, add `nmi_watchdog=1' to the kernel boot
>    options.  That may catch the lockup.
> 
> 3: Replace the NIC with another eepro100.  If the problem goes away then
>    chuck the old one.
> 
> 4: Replace the NIC with one of a different type (ie: swap with the other
>    machine). If that fixes it we look at the ethernet driver.  Otherwise
>    we look at, umm, the rest of the kernel.

I'd love to do some of this, but since the box is now being shipped to a
colo facility in New York, I don't really have a choice in the matter.

Hopefully someone here doing SMP + EEPro100 can see if they can reproduce
the issue (2.4.5 kernel).

--
    www.kuro5hin.org -- technology and culture, from the trenches.

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[John Jasen]

On Sat, 30 Jun 2001, Dylan Griffiths wrote:

> I'd love to do some of this, but since the box is now being shipped to a
> colo facility in New York, I don't really have a choice in the matter.
>
> Hopefully someone here doing SMP + EEPro100 can see if they can reproduce
> the issue (2.4.5 kernel).

I've had issues with the Intel cards, as well.

What revision of the card is it?

Have you tried the drivers available from Intel, to see if they do a
better job? In my case, they didn't.

I've also had reports, for a linux-2.2.x kernel, that sometimes its
guesswork as to whether stock kernel eepro100, the intel e100 driver, or
Don Becker's eepro100 will work on the beasts.

HTH.

RE: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Arturas V]

>Hi. While doing some file tranfers to our new server (a Compaq >Proliant 
>8way XEON 500 with 4gb ram and an EEPro100 NIC), the box socked sol (no 
>oops, no response via network, no response via console). The other 
> >hardware in the system was a Compaq Smart Array 9SMART2 driver). It's 
>running Slackware 7.1.

We had similar problems with Compaq Proliant XEON EEPro100 NIC and Compaq 
Spart Array. System would periodically hang or panic. Problems went away 
after I replaced EEPRO100 NIC with TLAN NICs(Texas instruments or 
"Thunderland"). It's a good indication that there could be a problem with 
eepro driver.
---
Arturas Vaitaitis.
---
Please CC: to arturasv@acedsl.com

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Legacy Fishtank]

On Wed, Dec 26, 2001 at 03:43:52PM -0500, Arturas V wrote:
> We had similar problems with Compaq Proliant XEON EEPro100 NIC and Compaq 
> Spart Array. System would periodically hang or panic. Problems went away 
> after I replaced EEPRO100 NIC with TLAN NICs(Texas instruments or 
> "Thunderland"). It's a good indication that there could be a problem with 
> eepro driver.

You not only replaced the driver but the hardware too.  So, that tells
us nothing about the eepro100 driver really.

	Jeff

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Idrigal (Eric Rautenkranz)]

Depending on the model, also, some EEPro100s were buggy hardware wise, and
had problems with various MBs.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Legacy Fishtank" <garzik@havoc.gtf.org>
To: "Arturas V" <arturasv@hotmail.com>
Cc: <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Sent: Wednesday, 26 December, 2001 4:43 PM
Subject: Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?


> On Wed, Dec 26, 2001 at 03:43:52PM -0500, Arturas V wrote:
> > We had similar problems with Compaq Proliant XEON EEPro100 NIC and
Compaq
> > Spart Array. System would periodically hang or panic. Problems went away
> > after I replaced EEPRO100 NIC with TLAN NICs(Texas instruments or
> > "Thunderland"). It's a good indication that there could be a problem
with
> > eepro driver.
>
> You not only replaced the driver but the hardware too.  So, that tells
> us nothing about the eepro100 driver really.
>
> Jeff
>
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
>

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Zwane Mwaikambo]

The oldest kernel i've tried is 2.4.10-ac11 on my SMP box and my
mysterious "hangs" (10-20s at a time) disappeared when i switched to
2.4.17-pre2. The box is dual P3 on Serverworks LE chipset. I tried
switching cards from the onboard eepro100 to a seperate dual eepro100 card
and that also exhibited the same problems, so there *might* be something
with the driver. Currently i'm using 3c59x, but i can still test with the
onboard eepro100, let me know if you need guinea pigs.

Cheers,
	Zwane Mwaikambo

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Zwane Mwaikambo]

>There're several problems with the stability of drivers in eepro drivers
>May be the problem is lack of low level decumentation for the cards
>They advise to use their binnary only driver (did you? :)).

I used the kernel driver, binary only drivers are a royal pain.

Cheers,
	Zwane Mwaikambo

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Zwane Mwaikambo]

On Fri, 28 Dec 2001, Anton Tinchev wrote:

> The problem is with the kernel driver - i locks under heavy load (over 2
> 000-3 000 packet/s, may be less).
> Change the card if you can, i didn't recommend you this card for production
> server.

Unfortunately it was the onboard one, plus a rather cool dual eepro100
card. And yes the server does experience quite a load when everyone is in
the office. But not the lockups everyone else seems to be experiencing.

Cheers,
	Zwane Mwaikambo

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Anton Tinchev]

After few months of problems with eepro with the following hardware

Intel STL2 (Serverworks III LE) Mainboard
and
Asus CUVX-D (via 694D chipset)

I trashed the cards and now using 3C905

There're several problems with the stability of drivers in eepro drivers
May be the problem is lack of low level decumentation for the cards
They advise to use their binnary only driver (did you? :)).


Zwane Mwaikambo wrote:

> The oldest kernel i've tried is 2.4.10-ac11 on my SMP box and my
> mysterious "hangs" (10-20s at a time) disappeared when i switched to
> 2.4.17-pre2. The box is dual P3 on Serverworks LE chipset. I tried
> switching cards from the onboard eepro100 to a seperate dual eepro100 card
> and that also exhibited the same problems, so there *might* be something
> with the driver. Currently i'm using 3c59x, but i can still test with the
> onboard eepro100, let me know if you need guinea pigs.
>
> Cheers,
>         Zwane Mwaikambo
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Anton Tinchev]

The problem is with the kernel driver - i locks under heavy load (over 2
000-3 000 packet/s, may be less).
Change the card if you can, i didn't recommend you this card for production
server.
Cheers

Zwane Mwaikambo wrote:

> >There're several problems with the stability of drivers in eepro drivers
> >May be the problem is lack of low level decumentation for the cards
> >They advise to use their binnary only driver (did you? :)).
>
> I used the kernel driver, binary only drivers are a royal pain.
>
> Cheers,
>         Zwane Mwaikambo

Re: EEPro100 problems in SMP on 2.4.5 ?

[Anton Tinchev]

Yes, in me this cards lockups between 2-3 days.

Zwane Mwaikambo wrote:

> On Fri, 28 Dec 2001, Anton Tinchev wrote:
>
> > The problem is with the kernel driver - i locks under heavy load (over 2
> > 000-3 000 packet/s, may be less).
> > Change the card if you can, i didn't recommend you this card for production
> > server.
>
> Unfortunately it was the onboard one, plus a rather cool dual eepro100
> card. And yes the server does experience quite a load when everyone is in
> the office. But not the lockups everyone else seems to be experiencing.
>
> Cheers,
>         Zwane Mwaikambo