Re: Forcedeth driver bug

[Carl-Daniel Hailfinger <c-d.hailfinger.kernel.2004@gmx.net>]

Kalin KOZHUHAROV schrieb:
> 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.

Could you please try Linux 2.6.8-rc2 without any driver patch? It has the
latest version of forcedeth and I am very interested in any bug reports/
side effects of the update.

Regards,
Carl-Daniel
-- 
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