Re: [E1000-devel] 64bit e1000 problems with Intel 82541PI

[Jeff K. <jef...@in...>]

2009/3/24 Stack Stack <i.a...@gm...>:
> Hello!
>
> I have a few problems with my Intel Gigabit card. I was hoping someone could
> help. I am not subscribed to the list but I am following the list online
> [5].
>
> I had been running 32 bit Debian Etch with my Intel Gigabit network card for
> sometime without problem. When Debian Lenny was released, I decided to go
> 64bit (for a number of reasons). My first boot up into Lenny I was greeted
> with the kerneloops message [1]. Every boot up I get a kerneloops. A little
> bit of digging around and I found that the kerneloops were caused by the
> network card. If I boot the system with the network cable unplugged, no
> message. Immediately after plugging in the network cable, I get a
> kerneloops. Using a 32bit Lenny LiveCD, it works perfect. Same version of
> the 64 bit Lenny LiveCD and I get kerneloops. Same results with the
> 32bit/64bit versions of Ubuntu 8.04.
>
> I searched around on Google and found others making mention of this network
> card having issues with 64bit Linux. I found someone who said their problem
> went away after upgrading the kernel (his post was for the 2.6.27-rc). So I
> upgraded to the stable version of 2.6.28. Same deal [2]. I had to do quite a
> bit of digging but I eventually found my kerneloops submission [3].
>
> I then discovered this mailing list off of kernel.org and started digging
> around. I got the impression that there has been a number of issues with the
> newer kernels and the e1000 driver. So I downloaded the latest
> (e1000-8.0.6.tar.gz), unpacked it, and as root navigated to the src folder
> and ran 'make install'. I did this on the latest kernel and updates from
> Debian Lenny (2.6.26-1-amd64). There were no errors in the make that I saw.
> I ran `rmmod e1000; modprobe e1000`. My network has a DHCP server on it.
> WICD (the network manager that I use in gnome) flashed yellow and said I had
> a IP address of -1. Ifconfig showed no IP address at all.  So I rebooted. On
> start up, I got another kerneloops [4].
>
> What is interesting is with the new driver I get kerneloops on start up, but
> unlike the other driver I don't get kerneloops after the box has been
> started and I plug the network cable in. I just get "Detected Tx Unit Hang".
>
> I typically don't bother to venture this far down the rabbit hole chasing
> bugs so I am not sure what to do next. Usually I would have filed a bug
> report and gone on my way, but I am curious where the rabbit hole goes and
> if I can help in catching the bugs :-)
> I would appreciate any help or suggestions.
>
> Thanks!
> ~Stack~
>

The kernel version of e1000 is what you should be using if you have a
kernel version 2.6.28 or newer (since 2.6.29 just got released).

We keep the stand-alone driver on sourceforge for those users using
older kernels but need a newer version of the e1000 driver, and right
now, the kernel e1000 driver contains fixes and updates that we need
to implement in the stand-alone driver.

So in short, use the in-kernel e1000 for newer kernels.

-- 
Cheers,
Jeff