Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:58:16 +0200
From:      Tobias Ernst <tobi@casino.uni-stuttgart.de>
To:        Nikos Vassiliadis <nvass@teledomenet.gr>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: strange arp problem with bge nics
Message-ID:  <46D9C458.8070303@casino.uni-stuttgart.de>
In-Reply-To: <1262ce9de9ed8ac240d21624fd6b5eb0@mail.teledomenet.gr>
References:  <46D87EA3.7070703@casino.uni-stuttgart.de> <1262ce9de9ed8ac240d21624fd6b5eb0@mail.teledomenet.gr>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Nikos Vassiliadis schrieb:

>> I don't think this is an auto negotiation issue. How can a Windows
>> machine that is connected to the same switch as my two FreeBSD machines
>> and does not even talk to them explicitly influence the autonegotation
>> of the FreeBSD NIC? 

> I didn't say that a Windows machine can influence adversely a FreeBSD
> machine. 

In my case, to the contrary, a Windows machine does positively influence
the FreeBSD machines. Look:

- One switch connected to bge3 on both FreeBSD machines, no
  other connections.

- The machines cannot ping each other.

- Hook up a Windows machine that basically does nothing at all to
  another port of the switch.

- As a result, the machines can now ping each other.

- Disconnect the Windows machine.

- The machines continue working normally.

> (Symptom is that the NIC reports the link as up (PCS synched) but
> no traffic can be exchanged.)
> This message is from revision 1.71 of the bge driver. In short I
> would really try what's recommended there.

Well, that bug in revision 1.71 was discussed somewhere in the 4.x
branch and a patch was submitted to current at the time. So I would
guess that it is already included in 6.2!?

> hm, what happens if you disable ARP?
> ifconfig intX -arp
> and use static ARP?

Point taken, this does not fix it.

On the other hand, forcing the link speed likewise does not fix the
problem, so I don't think it is an auto negotiation problem, either.

In the meantime, I have found out that the affected interfaces show
similar problems on Linux (Debian Etch). I'm starting to get the
impression that this is a hardware issue.

There was a bug reported for the BIOS of this xSeries 346 that leads to
"PCI configuration errors" resulting in "SCO Unixware not picking up
network connections". I flashed the updated BIOS, but to no avail.

Thanks & Regards
Tobias

-- 
Universität Stuttgart|Fakultät für Architektur und Stadtplanung|casinoIT
70174 Stuttgart Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 24D
T +49 (0)711 121-4228             F +49 (0)711 121-4276
E office@casino.uni-stuttgart.de  I http://www.casino.uni-stuttgart.de



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?46D9C458.8070303>