Re: [E1000-devel] Strange packet dropping problem with PCI-Express built-in Intel NIC

[cramerj <cr...@in...>]

In addition to the tcpdump, if you can send us a dump the EEPROM image
as well.

# ethtool -e ethX

Thanks,
-Jeb (UW '01...go huskies!)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: e10...@li... [mailto:e1000-devel-
> bo...@li...] On Behalf Of Auke Kok
> Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 2:21 PM
> To: Harry Edmon
> Cc: e10...@li...
> Subject: Re: [E1000-devel] Strange packet dropping problem with PCI-
> Express built-in Intel NIC
>=20
> Harry Edmon wrote:
> > I have having a strange problem with built-in Intel gigabit NICs on
new
> > motherboards with dual core processors.  I have had this problem
both on
> > a SuperMicro X7DVL-E dual-core Xeon based server and an HP dc7700
Core2
> > Duo workstation.  The problem occurs in Debian etch distribution
with
> > kernel versions 2.6.18, 2.6.18.1, and 2.6.19-rc1 with the included
e1000
> > driver and the latest driver (version 7.2.9).  It also occurs with
the
> > stock kernel on Centos 4.4.  It may occur with other kernels, but
those
> > are the ones I have tried.
> >
> > Here is where I see the problems.  I am running NIS (aka yellow
pages).
> > The systems with the problems are NIS clients connected to a
full-duplex
> > gigabit network.   The command that shows the problem is "id -G
> > <username>", where <username> is any of our users in the NIS
database.
> > Sometimes when this command is executed it returns with no error
> > messages.  But sometimes it prints:
> >
> > do_ypcall: clnt_call: RPC: Timed out
> >
> > one or more times with a 5 second delay between the messages before
the
> > command finally successfully returns.  In doing a tcpdump on the
server
> > and the client, what you see when this occurs is the NIS server
sends a
> > UDP packet that the  the client never sees.   After 5 seconds the
client
> > times out, it prints out the error message, asks the server for the
> > information again and this time it sees the packet. I have tried
many
> > different network switches and cables, none of the changes make any
> > difference.  I have tried it on the Supermicro Server with the
ioatdma
> > driver in and out, no difference.  I have also tried several
different
> > NIS servers (Sun Ultra 10, HP D310m), no difference.
> >
> > Now, for some more interesting information:
> >
> > 1. I tried putting a PCI Intel gigabit card into the SuperMicro
server.
> > When I use that card to connect to the network the problem does not
> > occur.  Thus it is not a problem with all Intel NICS.
> >
> > 2. I have a Dell Optiplex 745 with the Core2 Duo chips, but with a
> > Broadcom NIC.  The problem does not occur on this system.  Therefore
it
> > is not seem to be a problem outside of the Intel NIC.
> >
> > 3. "ifconfig -a" and "netstat -i" do not show any dropped packets.
> > There are no other error messages.
> >
> > Although the "id" command eventually returns the information, we
have
> > found cases where this delay in the NIS traffic causes our
applications
> > to fail.  Our current operating hypothesis is that their is a
problem
> > with the PCI-Express based Intel gigabit NICs.  Do you any reports
of a
> > similar problem?
>=20
> first things first:
>=20
> which on-board NIC's are we talking about? can you include `lspci -vv`
> output, `dmesg`?
>=20
> Feel free to raise a ticket in our tracker at e1000.sf.net.
>=20
> I'm unsure whether a driver or NIC problem is at hand, it appears so
but
> this is
> generally a very complex issue. Some distributions ship with default
> settings for e1000
> that we generally don't recommend at all. Check your /etc/modules.conf
or
> modprobe.conf,
> but also `dmesg` will tell us.
>=20
> This is the first report I've seen about this. It would be interesting
to
> see the
> tcpdumps if possible.
>=20
> Cheers,
>=20
> Auke
>=20
>
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