At 6:05 PM +0200 2/25/03, Arto Huusko wrote:
>On Tue, 2003-02-25 at 07:48, Michael G. Schabert wrote:
>>  >I'm running all the NICs in 100baseTX-FDX mode. The alpha is an
>>  >AlphaStation 500/266 and it runs a 1.6K kernel from mid-December.
>>  >The machines are connected to each other via a D-Link DES1008D
>>  >switch. There are no other machines currently connected to the
>>  >network.
>>
>>  My guess is that there is a duplex mismatch between your Alpha and
>>  your switch. You should never lock down the switch or the NIC to a
>
>OK, I guess this is correct. Setting the NIC to 100base-TX mode made
>it go fast, and with no error messages. Both receiving and sending
>data is OK.

But the question is...was that connection at full or half-duplex? 
Setting it to 100baseTX doesn't specify a duplex setting, but rather 
is letting it negotiate with the switch. It would be interesting to 
see what it negotiated as.

>
>What does this "duplex mismatch" exactly mean? Does it mean that there's
>something "wrong" between the switch and the NIC, that they can't do
>full duplex?

Not necessarily "wrong"...they just aren't both agreeing on the same 
setting. If one thinks it negotiated full and the other is at half, 
then that is a duplex mismatch condition. So when the FDX side is 
sending, the simplex side won't be listening, giving you the bad 
response. You can try switching cables and/or switching ports in the 
switch to see if that helps. For most installations, though, I would 
recommend just letting it stick with 1/2 duplex. I would be highly 
surprised if you could tell the difference in normal use.

Mike
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