[geeks] FreeBSD/Ultra2 network adapter 'quitting'

[JP Hindin]

More ongoing saga with the not-Solaris-on-Ultra2 - if I start shovelling 
data through the NIC after a while it gives up and falls off the network. 
This feels like a bug in the FreeBSD network driver, but it sure seems 
like something someone should've found by now if it were.

I have a small network between my Dell laptop running Linux and the Ultra2 
running FreeBSD. I've tried it direct with a cross-over adapter and a 
single ethernet cable strung between the laptop and the Sun. Currently I 
have two completely different cables and a small 10/100 switch in between.

I can ping the Sun for hours on end without issue, but as soon as I start 
loading up the network (in my case with a 'dd if=/dev/da1') within about 
20 minutes the Sun falls off the network. The link light remains on, so 
it's not a physical link problem.

When this happens, the Sun can't actually ping itself reliably anymore - 
every so often it'll get an 'hmeX timeout' when I ping its hmeX interface.

This happens using either the onboard HME or the sbus QFE ports.

I believe the ports are running in 100MB FDX. I'd like to try negotiating 
it down to 10MB FDX to see if that helps, but I haven't figured out how to 
on the Ultra2 (although I think if I do on the laptop that'll work just 
the same).

At this point I'm just kind of... confused. I don't suppose anyone else 
has struck anything like it?


Cheers, as always;

  - JP