From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jan Evert van Grootheest Subject: broken rtl8139 and dropped frames decreasing? Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:13:08 +0100 Message-ID: <49057814.2000403@caiway.nl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: netdev@vger.kernel.org Return-path: Received: from pelian2.kabelfoon.nl ([62.45.45.41]:55158 "EHLO pelian.kabelfoon.nl" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750960AbYJ0Ilm (ORCPT ); Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:41:42 -0400 Received: from suzy2.janevert.homelinux.org (002-008-128-083.dynamic.caiway.nl [83.128.8.2]) by pelian.kabelfoon.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id D0F2B427C15 for ; Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:13:08 +0100 (CET) Received: from lappie.janevert.homelinux.org ([192.168.1.115]) by suzy2.janevert.homelinux.org with esmtp (Exim 4.63) (envelope-from ) id 1KuNDo-0002ox-O7 for netdev@vger.kernel.org; Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:13:08 +0100 Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: Hi, I've got this old computer of a friend (to rescue files and put Ubuntu on it (-: ). And there's something strange going on in the network stack somewhere. I've booted it using an Ubuntu Hardy live CD (i.e. 2.6.24-something kernel). There's a rtl8139 card in it that uses the 8139too module. But something is not right with the hardware. Dmesg is full of reports with TX ring pointers when I plug the cable and try to ping something. The interesting thing is that 'ifconfig eth0' shows dropped RX packets. But each invocation shows one LESS dropped packet! It's never been above zero (that I have seen). The counter currently stands at 4294967260 (i.e. -36). And that's with the network cable unplugged! This also happens when there's a whole weekend between invocations. I did have the cable plugged in for a while. Then found out that network didn't work and unplugged it (had to rescue files first, so would sort it out later). Now that the cable is unplugged, there are no new messages in dmesg about the TX ring. I don't know whether I can reproduce this after a reboot (didn't try). But it's still running with the problem. So if there are requests or info you'd like or things you want me to try then just let me know. (files have been rescued so I'll now be downloading Intrepid RC1 and check whether I can reproduce this) Jan Evert