Ian Millsom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all, > > > My first posting to this list so go easy.. > > I have a debian 2.2 (woody) box which has trouble keeping its ethernet > connection. > > It runs a adaptec 2100s running raid 5 Pent4 1.5GHZ Processor 1gb > Memory and rtl8139 network cards. > > (Some people may complain about the network cards, but I have installed > over 100 of these machines this year, with the same dsl carrier and not > had a problem.) > > The problem that I am having is about every 2-3 minutes, the ethernet > connection drops out. I have written a link checker script which will > restart the networking when the connection dies. > > Now this is only a temp fix, its still a pain in the bum as connections > are terminated. > > Does anybody have a fix for this? or do I have to provide more > information? > > > Regards > > Ian Millsom
Ian, This seems to be a persistant problem for this chipset. Personally, I have been running cards using this chipset for about 2 years without any problems in my home LAN. The problem seems to occur more frequently under heavier loads than I routinely experience at the house. I suggest you look at the Realtek-Bug Archive of the mailing list and search on the "Subject" category. There are entries there as late as Sep 01 on this topic. The URL is: http://www.scyld.com/pipermail/realtek-bug/. This will show you that you are not alone, and will perhaps a better place to get answers. There seems to be a running debate about which is best between the "rtl8139.o" driver module written by Don Becker, and the "8139too.o" driver by someone else. Don has some strong opinions (http://www.scyld.com/network/rtl8139.html#mail)..... Anyway, depending on which module you are using, you might want to try the other one. Both work for me, and I believe both are available in the current 2.2.19 kernels from Debian. The 8139too.o is the "module of choice" in the 2.4.X kernels. A card with a different chipset may be required if you cannot "live with it" or find a better fix. I can't offer much more, except sympathy...sorry! Cheers, -Don Spoon-
