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1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.02 3=============================================================================4Linux and the 3Com EtherLink III Series Ethercards (driver v1.18c and higher)5=============================================================================6 7This file contains the instructions and caveats for v1.18c and higher versions8of the 3c509 driver. You should not use the driver without reading this file.9 10release 1.011 1228 February 200213 14Current maintainer (corrections to):15 David Ruggiero <jdr@farfalle.com>16 17Introduction18============19 20The following are notes and information on using the 3Com EtherLink III series21ethercards in Linux. These cards are commonly known by the most widely-used22card's 3Com model number, 3c509. They are all 10mb/s ISA-bus cards and shouldn't23be (but sometimes are) confused with the similarly-numbered PCI-bus "3c905"24(aka "Vortex" or "Boomerang") series. Kernel support for the 3c509 family is25provided by the module 3c509.c, which has code to support all of the following26models:27 28 - 3c509 (original ISA card)29 - 3c509B (later revision of the ISA card; supports full-duplex)30 - 3c589 (PCMCIA)31 - 3c589B (later revision of the 3c589; supports full-duplex)32 - 3c579 (EISA)33 34Large portions of this documentation were heavily borrowed from the guide35written the original author of the 3c509 driver, Donald Becker. The master36copy of that document, which contains notes on older versions of the driver,37currently resides on Scyld web server: http://www.scyld.com/.38 39 40Special Driver Features41=======================42 43Overriding card settings44 45The driver allows boot- or load-time overriding of the card's detected IOADDR,46IRQ, and transceiver settings, although this capability shouldn't generally be47needed except to enable full-duplex mode (see below). An example of the syntax48for LILO parameters for doing this::49 50 ether=10,0x310,3,0x3c509,eth051 52This configures the first found 3c509 card for IRQ 10, base I/O 0x310, and53transceiver type 3 (10base2). The flag "0x3c509" must be set to avoid conflicts54with other card types when overriding the I/O address. When the driver is55loaded as a module, only the IRQ may be overridden. For example,56setting two cards to IRQ10 and IRQ11 is done by using the irq module57option::58 59 options 3c509 irq=10,1160 61 62Full-duplex mode63================64 65The v1.18c driver added support for the 3c509B's full-duplex capabilities.66In order to enable and successfully use full-duplex mode, three conditions67must be met:68 69(a) You must have a Etherlink III card model whose hardware supports full-70duplex operations. Currently, the only members of the 3c509 family that are71positively known to support full-duplex are the 3c509B (ISA bus) and 3c589B72(PCMCIA) cards. Cards without the "B" model designation do *not* support73full-duplex mode; these include the original 3c509 (no "B"), the original743c589, the 3c529 (MCA bus), and the 3c579 (EISA bus).75 76(b) You must be using your card's 10baseT transceiver (i.e., the RJ-4577connector), not its AUI (thick-net) or 10base2 (thin-net/coax) interfaces.78AUI and 10base2 network cabling is physically incapable of full-duplex79operation.80 81(c) Most importantly, your 3c509B must be connected to a link partner that is82itself full-duplex capable. This is almost certainly one of two things: a full-83duplex-capable Ethernet switch (*not* a hub), or a full-duplex-capable NIC on84another system that's connected directly to the 3c509B via a crossover cable.85 86Full-duplex mode can be enabled using 'ethtool'.87 88.. warning::89 90 Extremely important caution concerning full-duplex mode91 92 Understand that the 3c509B's hardware's full-duplex support is much more93 limited than that provide by more modern network interface cards. Although94 at the physical layer of the network it fully supports full-duplex operation,95 the card was designed before the current Ethernet auto-negotiation (N-way)96 spec was written. This means that the 3c509B family ***cannot and will not97 auto-negotiate a full-duplex connection with its link partner under any98 circumstances, no matter how it is initialized***. If the full-duplex mode99 of the 3c509B is enabled, its link partner will very likely need to be100 independently _forced_ into full-duplex mode as well; otherwise various nasty101 failures will occur - at the very least, you'll see massive numbers of packet102 collisions. This is one of very rare circumstances where disabling auto-103 negotiation and forcing the duplex mode of a network interface card or switch104 would ever be necessary or desirable.105 106 107Available Transceiver Types108===========================109 110For versions of the driver v1.18c and above, the available transceiver types are:111 112== =========================================================================1130 transceiver type from EEPROM config (normally 10baseT); force half-duplex1141 AUI (thick-net / DB15 connector)1152 (undefined)1163 10base2 (thin-net == coax / BNC connector)1174 10baseT (RJ-45 connector); force half-duplex mode1188 transceiver type and duplex mode taken from card's EEPROM config settings11912 10baseT (RJ-45 connector); force full-duplex mode120== =========================================================================121 122Prior to driver version 1.18c, only transceiver codes 0-4 were supported. Note123that the new transceiver codes 8 and 12 are the *only* ones that will enable124full-duplex mode, no matter what the card's detected EEPROM settings might be.125This insured that merely upgrading the driver from an earlier version would126never automatically enable full-duplex mode in an existing installation;127it must always be explicitly enabled via one of these code in order to be128activated.129 130The transceiver type can be changed using 'ethtool'.131 132 133Interpretation of error messages and common problems134----------------------------------------------------135 136Error Messages137^^^^^^^^^^^^^^138 139eth0: Infinite loop in interrupt, status 2011.140These are "mostly harmless" message indicating that the driver had too much141work during that interrupt cycle. With a status of 0x2011 you are receiving142packets faster than they can be removed from the card. This should be rare143or impossible in normal operation. Possible causes of this error report are:144 145 - a "green" mode enabled that slows the processor down when there is no146 keyboard activity.147 148 - some other device or device driver hogging the bus or disabling interrupts.149 Check /proc/interrupts for excessive interrupt counts. The timer tick150 interrupt should always be incrementing faster than the others.151 152No received packets153^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^154 155If a 3c509, 3c562 or 3c589 can successfully transmit packets, but never156receives packets (as reported by /proc/net/dev or 'ifconfig') you likely157have an interrupt line problem. Check /proc/interrupts to verify that the158card is actually generating interrupts. If the interrupt count is not159increasing you likely have a physical conflict with two devices trying to160use the same ISA IRQ line. The common conflict is with a sound card on IRQ10161or IRQ5, and the easiest solution is to move the 3c509 to a different162interrupt line. If the device is receiving packets but 'ping' doesn't work,163you have a routing problem.164 165Tx Carrier Errors Reported in /proc/net/dev166^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^167 168 169If an EtherLink III appears to transmit packets, but the "Tx carrier errors"170field in /proc/net/dev increments as quickly as the Tx packet count, you171likely have an unterminated network or the incorrect media transceiver selected.172 1733c509B card is not detected on machines with an ISA PnP BIOS.174^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^175 176While the updated driver works with most PnP BIOS programs, it does not work177with all. This can be fixed by disabling PnP support using the 3Com-supplied178setup program.179 1803c509 card is not detected on overclocked machines181^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^182 183Increase the delay time in id_read_eeprom() from the current value, 500,184to an absurdly high value, such as 5000.185 186 187Decoding Status and Error Messages188----------------------------------189 190 191The bits in the main status register are:192 193===== ======================================194value description195===== ======================================1960x01 Interrupt latch1970x02 Tx overrun, or Rx underrun1980x04 Tx complete1990x08 Tx FIFO room available2000x10 A complete Rx packet has arrived2010x20 A Rx packet has started to arrive2020x40 The driver has requested an interrupt2030x80 Statistics counter nearly full204===== ======================================205 206The bits in the transmit (Tx) status word are:207 208===== ============================================209value description210===== ============================================2110x02 Out-of-window collision.2120x04 Status stack overflow (normally impossible).2130x08 16 collisions.2140x10 Tx underrun (not enough PCI bus bandwidth).2150x20 Tx jabber.2160x40 Tx interrupt requested.2170x80 Status is valid (this should always be set).218===== ============================================219 220 221When a transmit error occurs the driver produces a status message such as::222 223 eth0: Transmit error, Tx status register 82224 225The two values typically seen here are:226 2270x82228^^^^229 230Out of window collision. This typically occurs when some other Ethernet231host is incorrectly set to full duplex on a half duplex network.232 2330x88234^^^^235 23616 collisions. This typically occurs when the network is exceptionally busy237or when another host doesn't correctly back off after a collision. If this238error is mixed with 0x82 errors it is the result of a host incorrectly set239to full duplex (see above).240 241Both of these errors are the result of network problems that should be242corrected. They do not represent driver malfunction.243 244 245Revision history (this file)246============================247 24828Feb02 v1.0 DR New; major portions based on Becker original 3c509 docs249 250