From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jul 2 22:24:58 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7EB9516A469 for ; Mon, 2 Jul 2007 22:24:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tundra@tundraware.com) Received: from eskimo.tundraware.com (eskimo.tundraware.com [66.92.130.161]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2C76A13C4DB for ; Mon, 2 Jul 2007 22:24:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tundra@tundraware.com) Received: from [192.168.0.2] (viper.tundraware.com [192.168.0.2]) (authenticated bits=0) by eskimo.tundraware.com (8.14.1/8.14.1) with ESMTP id l62MOn9v051611 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Mon, 2 Jul 2007 17:24:51 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from tundra@tundraware.com) Message-ID: <46897B2F.1040700@tundraware.com> Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:24:47 -0500 From: Tim Daneliuk Organization: TundraWare Inc. User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.12 (Windows/20070509) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: PU References: <7a49f37b0707021436p4e52e2e8mc165307ba610b5c7@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <7a49f37b0707021436p4e52e2e8mc165307ba610b5c7@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-tundraware.com-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-tundraware.com-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-tundraware.com-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (not cached, score=-4.399, required 1, autolearn=not spam, ALL_TRUSTED -1.80, BAYES_00 -2.60) X-tundraware.com-MailScanner-From: tundra@tundraware.com X-Spam-Status: No Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Problem with a NIC in FBSD 6.2 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: tundra@tundraware.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:24:58 -0000 PU wrote: > Hello, > > I have a bit of a problem I'm hoping someone here can help with. I built a > 6.2 FBSD box and wound up with a bad NIC out of 3 and what I thought might > have been a bad pci slot. I replaced the NIC with a new one, and moved the > card to another slot just to make sure I took care of the problem. > However, now when I boot up, my rl0 interface is recognized, but isn't > 'initialized'. What I mean by that is that I see entries in dmesg, but an > ifconfig does not show that interface. I can't even plumb the thing as the > OS says it doesn't exist. What really throws me is that the other two NICs > and a video card that were also moved are recognized with no problems at > all. Problems just seem to follow the rl0 interface. Hmmm .. ISTM that the way to attack this is to take a single NIC and try it in each slot to make sure that card it properly recognized. Repeat for each NIC. You will discover one of several possibilities: a) A given NIC is actually bad in that it fails in one or more slots where the other (good) NICs work in any slot you try. Remedy: Place the NIC on the ground and strike it repeatedly with a large hammer. b) All NICs work in some slots but fail on others. This would hint to one of two possibilities: A bad PCI slot or a motherboard that does strange and perverse things by hardwiring certain interrupts to certain slot positions (yes, I've seen this and it's maddening). Remedy: Run over the motherboard with a large tank. c) Any given NIC will work in any slot, but they cannot all coexist in the same machine. I have seen this sort of problem (not with NICs) and it was the aforementioned PCI interrupt mapping being hardwired and/or shared in unpleasant ways. REMEDY: Again, run over the motherboard. P.S. RealTeks are not terrific NICs. For low end - if you can even still find them, I like the old 3Com 3c905s. For a few bucks more, the Intels seem to be quite nice as well. P.P.S. Make sure the mobo BIOS isn't doing something unnatural about interrupt mapping/sharing and PCI slot configuration. P.P.P.S Roasting goats ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Daneliuk tundra@tundraware.com PGP Key: http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/ -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Daneliuk tundra@tundraware.com PGP Key: http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/