On Tue, 3 Nov 1998, Jason Thorpe wrote:

> [ I've added current-users@netbsd.org, because NetBSD users have seen
>   timeouts with the driver for the EPIC that I wrote, and I believe it
>   is a hardware problem... ]
> 
> With my 9432TX (in an AlphaStation 500 running NetBSD/alpha) I have seen
> these device timeouts.  Note, NetBSD's "epic" driver is NOT the same as
> FreeBSD's "tx" driver; I wrote "epic" from scratch.  However, I have NOT
> been able to find the source of these timeouts.  People have reported to
> me that they are more common in 10Mbps mode, apparently.  Sometimes the
> card just wedges completely, and I have to reboot to get it to come back.
> Sometimes, not even a reboot solves the problem.

Not long time ago, there was a problem with card. It hangs just after
initialization, on first outgoing packet. I have added check of
link status before queueing packets, and the problem (i hope) has
disappeared.

The problems often appear at slow computers (like 486-DX4 (100)) at
100Mbps under heavy load, like ping -f -s 65000 ... from some quicker
station. Internal buffer and rx ring overflow, sometimes following
with card shutup. Usually fixed with ifconfig tx0 down up. 

If only we can make driver spend less time in interrupt...
But at least we need to recopy received packet or allocate place
for new one.
 
> There is an application note which describes a hardware bug, and a work
> around for it.  Here is the workaround from my "epic" driver:
> ...
>

Application Note says that we need to set clock source only
at initialization... Thank you for pointing me on it, this
may be better solution that link checkup before transmition.

> I would be VERY interested to know the FreeBSD experience with this
> hardware, even given the completely different driver software being
> used.

They said that this card works fine both at 10 and 100 Mbps.
Even without timeouts. But sometimes it fails to autoselect
10Mbps modes, sometimes to force card to 10Mbps mode. I think
this is the bug(s) in PHY used (QS6612, have You seen another?).

I'll ask OpenBSD users too.

Thenk you.