Subject: NetBSD ate my onboard ethernet !
To: None <tech-kern@netbsd.org>
From: Dave Tyson <Dave.Tyson@liverpool.ac.uk>
List: tech-kern
Date: 11/28/2005 15:10:27
I have seen comments about NetBSD eating ethernet cards due bad EPROM upgrades 
but have never seen it myself  - until now may be... motherboard Pentium III 
(i815 chipset, onboard Intel NIC) We have a few of these in service without 
any problems - I just wanted to add an extra ethernet card to this one :-)

Install 2.1 and note:

NetBSD 2.1 (LIVSTD) #1: Fri Oct 21 21:38:28 BST 2005
root@dns5.liv.ac.uk:/usr/obj/sys/arch/i386/compile/LIVSTD
...
fxp0 at pci1 dev 8 function 0: Intel i82562 Ethernet, rev 1
fxp0: interrupting at irq 11
fxp0: WARNING: Disabling dynamic standby mode in EEPROM to work around a
fxp0: WARNING: hardware bug.  You must reset the system before using this
fxp0: WARNING: interface.
fxp0: new EEPROM ID: 0x49a0
fxp0: EEPROM checksum @ 0xff: 0xfa9b -> 0xfa9d
fxp0: Ethernet address 00:01:80:04:72:ac
inphy0 at fxp0 phy 1: i82562EM 10/100 media interface, rev. 0
inphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto

OK, fine. So reboot and everything looks OK:

fxp0 at pci1 dev 8 function 0: Intel i82562 Ethernet, rev 1
fxp0: interrupting at irq 11
fxp0: Ethernet address 00:01:80:04:72:ac
inphy0 at fxp0 phy 1: i82562EM 10/100 media interface, rev. 0
inphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto

ftp over 2.1_STABLE kernel - same config and update userland to STABLE.
No problems with network traffic, everything works perfectly

Shutdown and insert an extra PCI Intel card. Boot up new kernel:

NetBSD 2.1_STABLE (LIVSTD) #4: Mon Nov  7 19:59:59 GMT 2005
root@gdtpc:/usr/obj/sys/arch/i386/compile/LIVSTD
...
fxp0 at pci1 dev 8 function 0: Intel i82562 Ethernet, rev 1
fxp0: interrupting at irq 11
fxp0: Ethernet address 00:01:80:04:72:ac
fxp1 at pci1 dev 10 function 0: i82559 Ethernet, rev 8
fxp1: interrupting at irq 11
fxp1: Ethernet address 00:d0:b7:4c:22:22
inphy0 at fxp1 phy 1: i82555 10/100 media interface, rev. 4
inphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto

Ugh! fxp0 has no phy now - ifconfig whines when the media is set - ifconfig 
fxp0 shows media: ethernet none.

Assume something wrong with kernel - boot the 2.1 GENERIC - same problem. 
Pull the PCI card - still find fxp0 broken. Check BIOS settings - everything 
looks OK. 

I am struggling a bit now - It could just be a hardware fault has mysteriously 
developed on the onboard NIC but I wonder if the EPROM update somehow came 
undone up after the second reboot. Any suggestions how to fix it welcome!

(Of course I can just disable the on-board ethernet and add another PCI one,
but I would prefer to avoid that)

Dave

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