From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Sep 12 18:52:40 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8CD3A16A412 for ; Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:52:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from snagit@cbpratt.prohosting.com) Received: from n016.sc0.cp.net (smtpout1106.sc0.he.tucows.com [64.97.144.106]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4EF5443D49 for ; Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:52:40 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from snagit@cbpratt.prohosting.com) Received: from [192.168.1.100] (67.47.213.85) by n016.sc0.cp.net (7.2.069.1) (authenticated as eagletree@hughes.net) id 45058ABD00071D46 for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:52:34 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <1DCE50F2-FFCA-479D-9E68-11936F0076DB@cbpratt.prohosting.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: Chris Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:52:25 -0700 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.2) Subject: NIC Questions for 6.1 Release X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 18:52:40 -0000 I've had nightmares with my AMD65 Tyan quad that were most likely caused by the Broadcom built-in NICs. There are a lot of folks who've reported problems not only on FreeBSD, but also Windows and Linux. The issues seem to be negotiation problems and then packet loss if negotiation is disabled. I found that if you include a bad cable in the mix, FreeBSD 6.0 STABLE gave unannounced hard hangs and FreeBSD 6.1 RELEASE would panic. With the cable replaced, the system finally stayed up but I found that it would just tend to drop off the net occasionally for a few seconds here and there. Too often to really be usable. I'm bringing that server back in to rebuild it on p6 in hopes of getting it stable enough to finally go into production. I have to verify that the bge driver problems have been fixed since the May release (if they are fixable) but have been unable to determine if changes have been made. Is there any single source where one can go to see what has been changed on the various components of the OS. The notes, errata, hardware.txt, UPDATING, and many other normal places one looks doesn't really provide this this level of detail. I can research if someone has an idea where you would research? On the other hand, any of you have inside information on the broadcom itself, is it hopeless, and would going to the Intel PRO/1000 MT fix my problems with more surety? These are coming out of the boot as: bge0: The computer is a Tyan s4884 quad opteron (duals). Thanks, Chris