Re: Forcedeth driver bug

[Kalin KOZHUHAROV <kalin@ThinRope.net>]

Mikael Bouillot wrote:
>   Hi all,
> 
>   I'm having trouble with the forcedeth driver in kernel version 2.6.7.
>>From what I can see, it seems that incoming packets sometime get stuck
> on their way in.
> 
>   What happens is this: some packet enters the NIC, and for some reason,
> it doesn't come out of the driver. As soon as another incoming packet
> gets in, both packets are handed down by the driver.
> 
>   It is usually invisible during normal TCP operation, as there are
> several packets in flight and the stuck packet gets pushed down by the
> one following it very soon. But for lockstep protocols like SMB, it very
> annoying as it means you get "blanks" of 2 to 5 seconds during the
> transfer.
> 
>   I can reproduce this very easily with a modified version of ping. I
> do a flood ping from another machine to the one with the nvnet NIC, but
> I modified ping to send a new packet if one gets "lost" only 10 seconds
> later instead of after 10 ms. The result is that after a couple hundred
> ping-pong at full speed, one ping gets stuck. After 10 seconds, another
> ping is sent and both pong come back.
> 
>   This didn't happen with the proprietary nvnet driver on kernel 2.4.24.
> My hardware is a nForce 2 mobo (in a shuttle SN45G barebones).
> 
>   Is this a know bug? If someone working on it already or should I
> investigate the matter further? Please CC any reply to me as I'm not on
> the list.

Search http://groups.google.com/ or somewhere else in LKML for "new device support for forcedeth.c"

Try the latest patch ( forcedeth_gigabit_try17.txt was the one I tested last) and report back.
The driver has undergone quite a lot of patching lately.
AFAIR, while testing it, similar effect was observed, but the it was way broken anyway.

Kalin.

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