Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 09:40:58 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> To: Javier Henderson <javier@kjsl.com> Cc: Dave Raven <dave@raven.za.net>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Cisco/BSD auto-negotiation Message-ID: <20060821094058.5e232d85.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> In-Reply-To: <FB7A58BB-C0EE-4B6F-A8C8-3BF8930CCEA9@kjsl.com> References: <041701c6c523$4bc5cfa0$c802a8c0@lucy> <FB7A58BB-C0EE-4B6F-A8C8-3BF8930CCEA9@kjsl.com>
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In response to Javier Henderson <javier@kjsl.com>: > > On Aug 21, 2006, at 9:11 AM, Dave Raven wrote: > > > Hi all, > > I'm currently looking into a problem with a Cisco 3640 router and a > > FreeBSD 4.9 unit, connected via a crossover cable, that are not > > negotiating > > correctly. > > > > If you force the media setting to full or half duplex it has constant > > collisions on the interface, and if you let both autonegotiate the > > cisco > > keeps resetting (every ~20 seconds) its network card. > > > > Are there known issues with this, or any known fixes? > > I've not seen this problem with my systems, all of which have Intel > NIC's (fxp and em), they all correctly negotiate with the Cisco gear > I've tested (a 2651XM and a few Catalyst switches running both IOS > and CatOS). I've not seen the constant negotiation you report above. > I've FreeBSD systems running 4.10-RELEASE, 5.5-RELEASE and 6.1- > RELEASE, all up to date with security patches. While the canonical answer to this is "FreeBSD 4.9 is old, you should upgrade and see if the problem goes away" ... I don't think that's going to help, although you _should_ upgrade. We have a wide range of hardware here. Lots of Cisco switches as well as lots of Dell switches and some off-brand. Our experience has been that some network hardware is garbage. Period. In every case where we've had a problem similar to yours, the problem followed a particular piece of hardware. We've found the Dell switches are particularly prone to this kind of problem ... i.e. no matter what make/model of NIC we plug in to a Dell switch, we have autonegiotiate issues. We've also found certain brands of NIC are problematic no matter what brand of switch you plug them into. In 90% of the cases, we've found that forcing the duplex/speed and turning off autonegotiate fixes the problem, in the remaining 10% of cases, we've had to replace the hardware. Looks like you've already tried forcing the speed/duplex. Considering the cost of NICs these days, I'd just throw that one out and buy a replacement. -- Bill Moran Collaborative Fusion Inc.
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