SUMMARY: 3Com905-TX problem on Solaris 8 (i386 platform)

From: Przemyslaw Tokarski (przemek@zpk.u.lodz.pl)
Date: Fri Jul 28 2000 - 08:20:16 CDT


Hello Sun managers !!

This is my summary on "3Com905-TX problem on Solaris 8 (i386 platform)"

The original posting was:

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Hello Sun managers !!

 Here`s the brief decription of the problem:

I`m trying to connect a new machine (Intel Pentium III, 64MB of RAM, ASUS
P3B-F motherboard, `uname -a' output is: "SunOS pc1 5.8 Generic i86pc i386
i86pc") to our LAN segment (network number: 212.191.4.96, netmask:
255.255.255.224) through a 3Com`s 3C905-TX 10/100 ethernet card (it`s a
10Mb/s segment). The card is being detected at the system startup.
Excerpt from '/var/log/messages':

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jul 25 11:03:36 pc1 gld: [ID 944156 kern.info] elxl0: 3Com Etherlink XL
PCI LAN driver: type "ether" mac address 00:60:08:90:7b:55
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The link speed and type is also correctly auto-sensed by the card.
This is what I see on the system console when I pull out the cable
from the card and when I reconnect it:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jul 27 11:21:39 pc1 elxl: WARNING: elxl0: no MII link detected
Jul 27 11:22:04 pc1 elxl: NOTICE: elxl0: 10 Mbps half-duplex link up
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

which is OK for our LAN. I even forced the card to work in half-duplex,
10Mb/s mode with settings in /kernel/drv/elxl.conf file.

The card itself seems to be OK (checked with another machine) as is the
cable (checked with another machine). I also moved the cable around
between hub ports. Diodes indicate the there is a connection. 10Mb/s
diode on the card is lit up and activity diode also lights up.

Both interfaces (loopback and primary network interface) are properly
configured. This is the output from 'ifconfig -a' command:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
lo0: flags=849<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 8232
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000
elxl0: flags=843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        inet 212.191.4.125 netmask ffffffe0 broadcast 212.191.4.127
        ether 0:60:8:90:7b:55
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

...and from `netstat -r':

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Routing Table:
  Destination Gateway Flags Ref Use Interface
-------------------- -------------------- ----- ----- ------ ---------
212.191.4.96 pc1 U 1 63 elxl0
224.0.0.0 pc1 U 1 0 elxl0
default 212.191.4.97 UG 1 0
localhost localhost UH 22 4674 lo0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

...and from `netstat -i -a -v':

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name Mtu Net/Dest Address Ipkts Ierrs Opkts Oerrs Collis Queue
lo0 8232 loopback localhost 3833 0 3833 0 0 0
lo0 8232 loopback localhost 0 N/A 3770 N/A N/A 0
elxl0 1500 212.191.4.96 pc1 0 0 182 0 0 0
elxl0 1500 212.191.4.96 pc1 0 N/A 124 N/A N/A 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now, when I try to ping another machine on this LAN segment (e.g
212.191.4.102) there is no response and when I try to ping the machine
being configured from 212.191.4.102 (Sun`s SPARCstation 4 visible on the
network) there is no response either.

It looks like 3C905-TX does not pick up any frames from the network
(`netstat -i -a -v' shows it). When I do snoop (snoop -d elxl0) it
doesn`t show any packets either, although the machine is on a busy
ethernet segment and the activity diode blinks constantly. snoop doesn`t
detect any packets even I ping the machine being configured explicitly
from another machine on the same LAN segment (212.191.4.102). However the
card sends out the packets as I see packets with its ethernet address
(source hardware address) from another host on the network (also using
snoop). Other machines on the network are unable to figure out the new
machine`s hardware address so I tried to establish the communication
between it and 212.191.4.102 manually by adding mappings to ARP tables on
both machines. Now they would know each other`s MAC addresses.
Unfortunately it didnt`t help at all. The bottom line is that the card
sends out packets, but is not unable to receive any. It might be a
driver/kernel bug. I have no idea at his point. Please, correct me if
there is anything I did wrong. I would appreciate any comments and
suggestions.

Best regards...

Przemyslaw Tokarski
Nuclear Problems Institute
Lodz,Poland
przemek@zpk.u.lodz.pl

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Thank you all who replied:

Francois Marcos <fmarcos@singularis.com>
Witold Paluszynski <witold@ict.pwr.wroc.pl>
Steve Gauthier <SGauthier@domainpharma.com>
Roger Fujii <rmf@lookhere.com>

...and my special thanks go to Roger Fujii <rmf@lookhere.com> whose
suggestion to disable "PnP OS" feature in the BIOS solved the problem.

Thanks Roger.

This is original reply from Roger:

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ho ho ho..... I ran across the exact same problem under solaris 7
with another ethercard (might have been the 3c905, but I can't remember).

The way I got rid of the problem is to go into the BIOS and
change the settings from "PNP OS" to FALSE, instead of TRUE.
There's something oddball about the PNP setup under solaris that
the IRQ didn't get properly attached.

Hope this helps.....

Roger Fujii <rmf@lookhere.com>
Underemployed, and trying to keep it that way....
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Best regards...

Przemyslaw Tokarski
Nuclear Problems Institute in Lodz,Poland
przemek@zpk.u.lodz.pl

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