|  | Documentation/networking/vortex.txt | 
|  | Andrew Morton | 
|  | 30 April 2000 | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | This document describes the usage and errata of the 3Com "Vortex" device | 
|  | driver for Linux, 3c59x.c. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver was written by Donald Becker <[email protected]> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Don is no longer the prime maintainer of this version of the driver. | 
|  | Please report problems to one or more of: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Andrew Morton | 
|  | Netdev mailing list <[email protected]> | 
|  | Linux kernel mailing list <[email protected]> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Please note the 'Reporting and Diagnosing Problems' section at the end | 
|  | of this file. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Since kernel 2.3.99-pre6, this driver incorporates the support for the | 
|  | 3c575-series Cardbus cards which used to be handled by 3c575_cb.c. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This driver supports the following hardware: | 
|  |  | 
|  | 3c590 Vortex 10Mbps | 
|  | 3c592 EISA 10Mbps Demon/Vortex | 
|  | 3c597 EISA Fast Demon/Vortex | 
|  | 3c595 Vortex 100baseTx | 
|  | 3c595 Vortex 100baseT4 | 
|  | 3c595 Vortex 100base-MII | 
|  | 3c900 Boomerang 10baseT | 
|  | 3c900 Boomerang 10Mbps Combo | 
|  | 3c900 Cyclone 10Mbps TPO | 
|  | 3c900 Cyclone 10Mbps Combo | 
|  | 3c900 Cyclone 10Mbps TPC | 
|  | 3c900B-FL Cyclone 10base-FL | 
|  | 3c905 Boomerang 100baseTx | 
|  | 3c905 Boomerang 100baseT4 | 
|  | 3c905B Cyclone 100baseTx | 
|  | 3c905B Cyclone 10/100/BNC | 
|  | 3c905B-FX Cyclone 100baseFx | 
|  | 3c905C Tornado | 
|  | 3c920B-EMB-WNM (ATI Radeon 9100 IGP) | 
|  | 3c980 Cyclone | 
|  | 3c980C Python-T | 
|  | 3cSOHO100-TX Hurricane | 
|  | 3c555 Laptop Hurricane | 
|  | 3c556 Laptop Tornado | 
|  | 3c556B Laptop Hurricane | 
|  | 3c575 [Megahertz] 10/100 LAN  CardBus | 
|  | 3c575 Boomerang CardBus | 
|  | 3CCFE575BT Cyclone CardBus | 
|  | 3CCFE575CT Tornado CardBus | 
|  | 3CCFE656 Cyclone CardBus | 
|  | 3CCFEM656B Cyclone+Winmodem CardBus | 
|  | 3CXFEM656C Tornado+Winmodem CardBus | 
|  | 3c450 HomePNA Tornado | 
|  | 3c920 Tornado | 
|  | 3c982 Hydra Dual Port A | 
|  | 3c982 Hydra Dual Port B | 
|  | 3c905B-T4 | 
|  | 3c920B-EMB-WNM Tornado | 
|  |  | 
|  | Module parameters | 
|  | ================= | 
|  |  | 
|  | There are several parameters which may be provided to the driver when | 
|  | its module is loaded.  These are usually placed in /etc/modprobe.conf | 
|  | (/etc/modules.conf in 2.4).  Example: | 
|  |  | 
|  | options 3c59x debug=3 rx_copybreak=300 | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you are using the PCMCIA tools (cardmgr) then the options may be | 
|  | placed in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts: | 
|  |  | 
|  | module "3c59x" opts "debug=3 rx_copybreak=300" | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | The supported parameters are: | 
|  |  | 
|  | debug=N | 
|  |  | 
|  | Where N is a number from 0 to 7.  Anything above 3 produces a lot | 
|  | of output in your system logs.  debug=1 is default. | 
|  |  | 
|  | options=N1,N2,N3,... | 
|  |  | 
|  | Each number in the list provides an option to the corresponding | 
|  | network card.  So if you have two 3c905's and you wish to provide | 
|  | them with option 0x204 you would use: | 
|  |  | 
|  | options=0x204,0x204 | 
|  |  | 
|  | The individual options are composed of a number of bitfields which | 
|  | have the following meanings: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Possible media type settings | 
|  | 0	10baseT | 
|  | 1	10Mbs AUI | 
|  | 2	undefined | 
|  | 3	10base2 (BNC) | 
|  | 4	100base-TX | 
|  | 5	100base-FX | 
|  | 6	MII (Media Independent Interface) | 
|  | 7	Use default setting from EEPROM | 
|  | 8       Autonegotiate | 
|  | 9       External MII | 
|  | 10      Use default setting from EEPROM | 
|  |  | 
|  | When generating a value for the 'options' setting, the above media | 
|  | selection values may be OR'ed (or added to) the following: | 
|  |  | 
|  | 0x8000  Set driver debugging level to 7 | 
|  | 0x4000  Set driver debugging level to 2 | 
|  | 0x0400  Enable Wake-on-LAN | 
|  | 0x0200  Force full duplex mode. | 
|  | 0x0010  Bus-master enable bit (Old Vortex cards only) | 
|  |  | 
|  | For example: | 
|  |  | 
|  | insmod 3c59x options=0x204 | 
|  |  | 
|  | will force full-duplex 100base-TX, rather than allowing the usual | 
|  | autonegotiation. | 
|  |  | 
|  | global_options=N | 
|  |  | 
|  | Sets the `options' parameter for all 3c59x NICs in the machine. | 
|  | Entries in the `options' array above will override any setting of | 
|  | this. | 
|  |  | 
|  | full_duplex=N1,N2,N3... | 
|  |  | 
|  | Similar to bit 9 of 'options'.  Forces the corresponding card into | 
|  | full-duplex mode.  Please use this in preference to the `options' | 
|  | parameter. | 
|  |  | 
|  | In fact, please don't use this at all! You're better off getting | 
|  | autonegotiation working properly. | 
|  |  | 
|  | global_full_duplex=N1 | 
|  |  | 
|  | Sets full duplex mode for all 3c59x NICs in the machine.  Entries | 
|  | in the `full_duplex' array above will override any setting of this. | 
|  |  | 
|  | flow_ctrl=N1,N2,N3... | 
|  |  | 
|  | Use 802.3x MAC-layer flow control.  The 3com cards only support the | 
|  | PAUSE command, which means that they will stop sending packets for a | 
|  | short period if they receive a PAUSE frame from the link partner. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver only allows flow control on a link which is operating in | 
|  | full duplex mode. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This feature does not appear to work on the 3c905 - only 3c905B and | 
|  | 3c905C have been tested. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The 3com cards appear to only respond to PAUSE frames which are | 
|  | sent to the reserved destination address of 01:80:c2:00:00:01.  They | 
|  | do not honour PAUSE frames which are sent to the station MAC address. | 
|  |  | 
|  | rx_copybreak=M | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver preallocates 32 full-sized (1536 byte) network buffers | 
|  | for receiving.  When a packet arrives, the driver has to decide | 
|  | whether to leave the packet in its full-sized buffer, or to allocate | 
|  | a smaller buffer and copy the packet across into it. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This is a speed/space tradeoff. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The value of rx_copybreak is used to decide when to make the copy. | 
|  | If the packet size is less than rx_copybreak, the packet is copied. | 
|  | The default value for rx_copybreak is 200 bytes. | 
|  |  | 
|  | max_interrupt_work=N | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver's interrupt service routine can handle many receive and | 
|  | transmit packets in a single invocation.  It does this in a loop. | 
|  | The value of max_interrupt_work governs how mnay times the interrupt | 
|  | service routine will loop.  The default value is 32 loops.  If this | 
|  | is exceeded the interrupt service routine gives up and generates a | 
|  | warning message "eth0: Too much work in interrupt". | 
|  |  | 
|  | hw_checksums=N1,N2,N3,... | 
|  |  | 
|  | Recent 3com NICs are able to generate IPv4, TCP and UDP checksums | 
|  | in hardware.  Linux has used the Rx checksumming for a long time. | 
|  | The "zero copy" patch which is planned for the 2.4 kernel series | 
|  | allows you to make use of the NIC's DMA scatter/gather and transmit | 
|  | checksumming as well. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver is set up so that, when the zerocopy patch is applied, | 
|  | all Tornado and Cyclone devices will use S/G and Tx checksums. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This module parameter has been provided so you can override this | 
|  | decision.  If you think that Tx checksums are causing a problem, you | 
|  | may disable the feature with `hw_checksums=0'. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you think your NIC should be performing Tx checksumming and the | 
|  | driver isn't enabling it, you can force the use of hardware Tx | 
|  | checksumming with `hw_checksums=1'. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver drops a message in the logfiles to indicate whether or | 
|  | not it is using hardware scatter/gather and hardware Tx checksums. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Scatter/gather and hardware checksums provide considerable | 
|  | performance improvement for the sendfile() system call, but a small | 
|  | decrease in throughput for send().  There is no effect upon receive | 
|  | efficiency. | 
|  |  | 
|  | compaq_ioaddr=N | 
|  | compaq_irq=N | 
|  | compaq_device_id=N | 
|  |  | 
|  | "Variables to work-around the Compaq PCI BIOS32 problem".... | 
|  |  | 
|  | watchdog=N | 
|  |  | 
|  | Sets the time duration (in milliseconds) after which the kernel | 
|  | decides that the transmitter has become stuck and needs to be reset. | 
|  | This is mainly for debugging purposes, although it may be advantageous | 
|  | to increase this value on LANs which have very high collision rates. | 
|  | The default value is 5000 (5.0 seconds). | 
|  |  | 
|  | enable_wol=N1,N2,N3,... | 
|  |  | 
|  | Enable Wake-on-LAN support for the relevant interface.  Donald | 
|  | Becker's `ether-wake' application may be used to wake suspended | 
|  | machines. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Also enables the NIC's power management support. | 
|  |  | 
|  | global_enable_wol=N | 
|  |  | 
|  | Sets enable_wol mode for all 3c59x NICs in the machine.  Entries in | 
|  | the `enable_wol' array above will override any setting of this. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Media selection | 
|  | --------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | A number of the older NICs such as the 3c590 and 3c900 series have | 
|  | 10base2 and AUI interfaces. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Prior to January, 2001 this driver would autoeselect the 10base2 or AUI | 
|  | port if it didn't detect activity on the 10baseT port.  It would then | 
|  | get stuck on the 10base2 port and a driver reload was necessary to | 
|  | switch back to 10baseT.  This behaviour could not be prevented with a | 
|  | module option override. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Later (current) versions of the driver _do_ support locking of the | 
|  | media type.  So if you load the driver module with | 
|  |  | 
|  | modprobe 3c59x options=0 | 
|  |  | 
|  | it will permanently select the 10baseT port.  Automatic selection of | 
|  | other media types does not occur. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Transmit error, Tx status register 82 | 
|  | ------------------------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | This is a common error which is almost always caused by another host on | 
|  | the same network being in full-duplex mode, while this host is in | 
|  | half-duplex mode.  You need to find that other host and make it run in | 
|  | half-duplex mode or fix this host to run in full-duplex mode. | 
|  |  | 
|  | As a last resort, you can force the 3c59x driver into full-duplex mode | 
|  | with | 
|  |  | 
|  | options 3c59x full_duplex=1 | 
|  |  | 
|  | but this has to be viewed as a workaround for broken network gear and | 
|  | should only really be used for equipment which cannot autonegotiate. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Additional resources | 
|  | -------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Details of the device driver implementation are at the top of the source file. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Additional documentation is available at Don Becker's Linux Drivers site: | 
|  |  | 
|  | http://www.scyld.com/vortex.html | 
|  |  | 
|  | Donald Becker's driver development site: | 
|  |  | 
|  | http://www.scyld.com/network.html | 
|  |  | 
|  | Donald's vortex-diag program is useful for inspecting the NIC's state: | 
|  |  | 
|  | http://www.scyld.com/ethercard_diag.html | 
|  |  | 
|  | Donald's mii-diag program may be used for inspecting and manipulating | 
|  | the NIC's Media Independent Interface subsystem: | 
|  |  | 
|  | http://www.scyld.com/ethercard_diag.html#mii-diag | 
|  |  | 
|  | Donald's wake-on-LAN page: | 
|  |  | 
|  | http://www.scyld.com/wakeonlan.html | 
|  |  | 
|  | 3Com's DOS-based application for setting up the NICs EEPROMs: | 
|  |  | 
|  | ftp://ftp.3com.com/pub/nic/3c90x/3c90xx2.exe | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Autonegotiation notes | 
|  | --------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The driver uses a one-minute heartbeat for adapting to changes in | 
|  | the external LAN environment if link is up and 5 seconds if link is down. | 
|  | This means that when, for example, a machine is unplugged from a hubbed | 
|  | 10baseT LAN plugged into a  switched 100baseT LAN, the throughput | 
|  | will be quite dreadful for up to sixty seconds.  Be patient. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Cisco interoperability note from Walter Wong <[email protected]>: | 
|  |  | 
|  | On a side note, adding HAS_NWAY seems to share a problem with the | 
|  | Cisco 6509 switch.  Specifically, you need to change the spanning | 
|  | tree parameter for the port the machine is plugged into to 'portfast' | 
|  | mode.  Otherwise, the negotiation fails.  This has been an issue | 
|  | we've noticed for a while but haven't had the time to track down. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Cisco switches    (Jeff Busch <[email protected]>) | 
|  |  | 
|  | My "standard config" for ports to which PC's/servers connect directly: | 
|  |  | 
|  | interface FastEthernet0/N | 
|  | description machinename | 
|  | load-interval 30 | 
|  | spanning-tree portfast | 
|  |  | 
|  | If autonegotiation is a problem, you may need to specify "speed | 
|  | 100" and "duplex full" as well (or "speed 10" and "duplex half"). | 
|  |  | 
|  | WARNING: DO NOT hook up hubs/switches/bridges to these | 
|  | specially-configured ports! The switch will become very confused. | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | Reporting and diagnosing problems | 
|  | --------------------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Maintainers find that accurate and complete problem reports are | 
|  | invaluable in resolving driver problems.  We are frequently not able to | 
|  | reproduce problems and must rely on your patience and efforts to get to | 
|  | the bottom of the problem. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you believe you have a driver problem here are some of the | 
|  | steps you should take: | 
|  |  | 
|  | - Is it really a driver problem? | 
|  |  | 
|  | Eliminate some variables: try different cards, different | 
|  | computers, different cables, different ports on the switch/hub, | 
|  | different versions of the kernel or of the driver, etc. | 
|  |  | 
|  | - OK, it's a driver problem. | 
|  |  | 
|  | You need to generate a report.  Typically this is an email to the | 
|  | maintainer and/or [email protected].  The maintainer's | 
|  | email address will be in the driver source or in the MAINTAINERS file. | 
|  |  | 
|  | - The contents of your report will vary a lot depending upon the | 
|  | problem.  If it's a kernel crash then you should refer to the | 
|  | REPORTING-BUGS file. | 
|  |  | 
|  | But for most problems it is useful to provide the following: | 
|  |  | 
|  | o Kernel version, driver version | 
|  |  | 
|  | o A copy of the banner message which the driver generates when | 
|  | it is initialised.  For example: | 
|  |  | 
|  | eth0: 3Com PCI 3c905C Tornado at 0xa400,  00:50:da:6a:88:f0, IRQ 19 | 
|  | 8K byte-wide RAM 5:3 Rx:Tx split, autoselect/Autonegotiate interface. | 
|  | MII transceiver found at address 24, status 782d. | 
|  | Enabling bus-master transmits and whole-frame receives. | 
|  |  | 
|  | NOTE: You must provide the `debug=2' modprobe option to generate | 
|  | a full detection message.  Please do this: | 
|  |  | 
|  | modprobe 3c59x debug=2 | 
|  |  | 
|  | o If it is a PCI device, the relevant output from 'lspci -vx', eg: | 
|  |  | 
|  | 00:09.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX [Fast Etherlink] (rev 74) | 
|  | Subsystem: 3Com Corporation: Unknown device 9200 | 
|  | Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 19 | 
|  | I/O ports at a400 [size=128] | 
|  | Memory at db000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128] | 
|  | Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] [size=128K] | 
|  | Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2 | 
|  | 00: b7 10 00 92 07 00 10 02 74 00 00 02 08 20 00 00 | 
|  | 10: 01 a4 00 00 00 00 00 db 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 | 
|  | 20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 b7 10 00 10 | 
|  | 30: 00 00 00 00 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 01 0a 0a | 
|  |  | 
|  | o A description of the environment: 10baseT? 100baseT? | 
|  | full/half duplex? switched or hubbed? | 
|  |  | 
|  | o Any additional module parameters which you may be providing to the driver. | 
|  |  | 
|  | o Any kernel logs which are produced.  The more the merrier. | 
|  | If this is a large file and you are sending your report to a | 
|  | mailing list, mention that you have the logfile, but don't send | 
|  | it.  If you're reporting direct to the maintainer then just send | 
|  | it. | 
|  |  | 
|  | To ensure that all kernel logs are available, add the | 
|  | following line to /etc/syslog.conf: | 
|  |  | 
|  | kern.* /var/log/messages | 
|  |  | 
|  | Then restart syslogd with: | 
|  |  | 
|  | /etc/rc.d/init.d/syslog restart | 
|  |  | 
|  | (The above may vary, depending upon which Linux distribution you use). | 
|  |  | 
|  | o If your problem is reproducible then that's great.  Try the | 
|  | following: | 
|  |  | 
|  | 1) Increase the debug level.  Usually this is done via: | 
|  |  | 
|  | a) modprobe driver debug=7 | 
|  | b) In /etc/modprobe.conf (or /etc/modules.conf for 2.4): | 
|  | options driver debug=7 | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2) Recreate the problem with the higher debug level, | 
|  | send all logs to the maintainer. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 3) Download you card's diagnostic tool from Donald | 
|  | Becker's website <http://www.scyld.com/ethercard_diag.html>. | 
|  | Download mii-diag.c as well.  Build these. | 
|  |  | 
|  | a) Run 'vortex-diag -aaee' and 'mii-diag -v' when the card is | 
|  | working correctly.  Save the output. | 
|  |  | 
|  | b) Run the above commands when the card is malfunctioning.  Send | 
|  | both sets of output. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Finally, please be patient and be prepared to do some work.  You may | 
|  | end up working on this problem for a week or more as the maintainer | 
|  | asks more questions, asks for more tests, asks for patches to be | 
|  | applied, etc.  At the end of it all, the problem may even remain | 
|  | unresolved. |