Ethernet adapters with Intel 8255x Chipsets: Problems running SuSE Linux 7.0
Support knowledgebase (eepro100_e100)
Applies to
SuSE Linux: Version 7.0,7.1
This article refers to an older version of SuSE Linux.
Therefore some of the informations given in this article may
be outdated or the article may contain stale links.
Kernel: Versions 2.2.16 to 2.2.18
Symptom:
You experience problems when operating an ethernet adapter based
on one of the Intel chipsets 8255{7,8,9} (e.g. the EtherExpress
Pro100) in a system running SuSE Linux 7.0 or 7.1. The ethernet
driver identifies itself like this (see /var/log/messages
or /var/log/boot.msg):
SuSE Linux 7.0, kernel 2.2.16:
kernel: eepro100.c:v1.09j-t 9/29/99 Donald Becker
http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/eepro100.html
kernel: eepro100.c: $Revision: 1.3 $ 2000/05/31
Modified by Andrey V. Savochkin and others
SuSE Linux 7.1, kernel 2.2.18:
kernel: eepro100.c:v1.09j-t 9/29/99 Donald Becker
http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/eepro100.html
kernel: eepro100.c: $Revision: 1.3 $ 2000/11/17
Modified by Andrey V. Savochkin and others
Problems include:
- Seemingly unmotivated loss of network connectivity during
normal system operation.
- The
eepro100 driver seems to load properly
and configuring the provided ethernet interfaces via
ifconfig works without errors.
Nevertheless, the ethernet interfaces provide no network
connectivity (e.g. ping to remote hosts fails).
- (rare) Loading the
eepro100 driver module hangs
the system.
Frequently these problems are accompanied by typical kernel error messages
like the following ones (see /var/log/messages or the
Alt-F10 syslog console):
kernel: eth0: card reports no RX buffers.
kernel: eth0: card reports no resources.
Cause:
A bug in this version of the eepro100 driver
which did not make itself apparent with earlier Linux kernel versions.
Possible solutions:
Switching to another driver may help. Two available possibilities:
Intel e100
Intel provides a driver called e100 for the same family
of ethernet adapters. Pre-compiled versions for the SuSE 7.0 standard
kernels are available from ftp.suse.com and its
mirrors.
SuSE tested the pre-compiled modules on several SuSE 7.0-systems where
the eepro100 had caused troubles and encountered no
problems. Recommended.
SuSE Linux 7.1 provides the e100 module included into its
kernel sources and pre-compiled kernels. So all you need to do here is
to replace eepro100 with e100 in
/etc/modules.conf and run depmod -a.
Then stop the network, unload the eepro100 module and
re-start the network.
The URLs:
eepro100: Recent version
If you prefer to upgrade to the most recent version of eepro100
(included building the module yourself), you can retrieve the sources
directly from the author's eepro100 webpage
(
http://www.scyld.com/network/eepro100.html
).
Warning: To use this eepro100 version, you
need to additionally download and build an auxiliary module called
pci-scan . This module is not integrated into the kernel
used for SuSE Linux 7.0 and might prove impossible to load because of
symbol naming conflicts (depending on which other kernel components and
modules are active in your system). In this case, using the new
eepro100 involves kernel modifications which are beyond
the scope of this SDB article.
Keywords: INTEL, EEPRO100, ETHEREXPRESS, NETWORK, DEVELOPMENT, EXPERIMENTAL, DRIVER
Categories:
Network
SDB-eepro100_e100, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany
- Version: 20. Dez 2000
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 26. Feb 2001 by kgw (sdb_gen 1.40.0)