[gentoo-user] How To Set NIC? (Was: Rx Errors on NIC)

[Drew Tomlinson]

On 12/29/2005 3:33 PM Drew Tomlinson wrote:

> I have a AMD Athlon 2800+ processor running on a Asus A7N8X Deluxe
> motherboard.  This motherboard uses the Nvidia NForce2 chipset.  It
> has both an Nvidia and a 3Com 100 mbps network adapter integrated.
>
> Initially I used the Nvidia network adapter but noticed a lot of Rx
> errors.  The "errors" and the "frame errors" matched exactly.  I did
> the standard testing to try and isolate the problem.  I tried known
> working patch cables and known working hub ports.  Then when the
> errors persisted, I even moved the box to a known working cable run.
> The errors remained.
>
> So I figured that the actual port on the motherboard must be bad.  I
> recompiled my kernel with 3Com networking support and began using the
> 3Com port but I am still getting errors.  Here's my current 'ifconfig'
> output:
>
> eth2      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:26:54:0C:60:8D          inet
> addr:192.168.1.6  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
>          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
>          RX packets:131785 errors:481 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:760
>          TX packets:168955 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
>          RX bytes:27189676 (25.9 Mb)  TX bytes:169280962 (161.4 Mb)
>          Interrupt:18 Base address:0xb000
>
> The errors have changed a little in that now the "frame errors" exceed
> the "errors".  How can that be?  I must not understand the output.
> Anyway, I'm starting to think I may have some configuration issues as
> I find it hard to believe that both ports are bad.  I'm a Gentoo
> newbie and started with kernel 2.11.  I've upgraded once to 2.13-r5
> which is where I'm at now.  I have not changed any networking
> parameter from their defaults as far as I recall.  Any ideas on what
> might be going on?


I'm still having this issue.  A networking guy told me that framing 
errors can typically come when the two ends of the connection (card and 
switch) are not set to the same parameters such as half-duplex vs. 
full-duplex.  He suggested I try forcing both ends to be the same and 
see if the errors go away.

However this is just a cheap 8 port TrendNet switch that doesn't have 
any management capability.  Thus I thought I'd try forcing the NIC to 
one way or the other and see if the errors are resolved.  I've Googled 
for information on how to (a) find out the current setting and (b) 
change the setting but have been unsuccessful.  Can any one point me in 
the right direction?

Thanks,

Drew

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