Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 08 Sep 1998 15:45:21 +1000
From:      Kevin Lam <kevla@studentmail.dis.unimelb.edu.au>
To:        freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG
Cc:        mcdougall@ameritech.net
Subject:   Slow 3C905A-TX under -SNAP
Message-ID:  <3.0.3.32.19980908154521.00990490@studentmail.dis.unimelb.edu.au>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
I seem to have a problem with the transmission rates to and from a FreeBSD
3.0-19980831-SNAP box using a 3Com 905A-TX NIC, and I was wondering if
anybody could possibly shed some light on the situation. 

10.144.144.1 is an NT workstation (*cough* excuse me ;) running a ftpd,
using a 3Com 905B-TX, with no problems. It's the nearest convenient test
box I could grab in a pinch :P 


For test purposes, I loaded the FreeBSD box with a well-supported generic
PCI Realtek NE2000-compatible NIC. All tests were performed with standard
Category 5 UTP cable and an SMC EtherEZ hub at 10Mbps half-duplex, this
setup hasn't caused any problems in other situations. 

ed1: <NE2000 PCI Ethernet (RealTek 8029)> rev 0x00 int a irq 10 on pci0.10.0
ed1: address 00:40:05:66:90:5d, type NE2000 (16 bit) 

10.144.144.1 sending to Realtek 8029 (device ed1) 

ftp> get ports.tgz
local: ports.tgz remote: ports.tgz
200 Port command okay.
150 Sending "/ports/ports.tgz" (6334320 bytes). Mode STREAM Type BINARY.
100% |**************************************************|  6185 KB    00:00
ETA
226 Transfer finished successfully. Data connection closed.
6334320 bytes received in 6.52 seconds (948.64 KB/s)

10.144.144.1 receiving from Realtek 8029 (device ed1)

ftp> get ports.tgz
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for 'ports.tgz' (6334320 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
6334320 bytes received in 5.61 seconds (1129.51 Kbytes/sec)

All seems well, SO FAR. Performance is roughly about what you'd normally
expect from 10BaseT Ethernet, as this test was made to ascertain. However,
the following results happen after I exchange the Realtek NIC for a
3C905A-TX, which is the NIC I hope to be using on a regular basis with the
FreeBSD box.

xl0: <3Com 3c905 Fast Etherlink XL 10/100BaseTX> rev 0x00 int a irq 10 on
pci0.10.0
xl0: Ethernet address: 00:60:97:37:93:3a
xl0: autoneg complete, link status good 

10.144.144.1 sending to 3C905A (device xl0) 

ftp> get ports.tgz
local: ports.tgz remote: ports.tgz
200 Port command okay.
150 Sending "/ports/ports.tgz" (6334320 bytes). Mode STREAM Type BINARY.
100% |**************************************************|  6185 KB    00:00
ETA
226 Transfer finished successfully. Data connection closed.
6334320 bytes received in 186.34 seconds (33.20 KB/s)

10.144.144.1 receiving from 3C905A (device xl0)

ftp> get ports.tgz
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for 'ports.tgz' (6334320 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
6334320 bytes received in 761.84 seconds (8.31 Kbytes/sec)


The network performs well until I switch the Realtek for the 3C905A in the
FreeBSD box, then it drops out of the bucket... somehow, I don't think
33KB/sec is what you'd realistically expect from 10BaseT ;) I have
previously used this particular 3C905A with FreeBSD -RELEASEs dating all
the way back to 2.2.5 last year, with no problems whatsoever, this has only
just become apparent in the move to the xl0 driver. I've already tried
downloading the newest versions of the drivers (September 6th) from
http://www.freebsd.org/~wpaul/3Com/3.0, and compiling a custom kernel with
them, but it doesn't seem to make any difference with kernel.GENERIC, the
stock 3.0-SNAP drivers, or the latest drivers. 

Hub lights indicate a very low level of activity, if at all. Traffic is
bursty, and very, VERY slow. 

However, the strangest thing is, I performed an FTP install under the same
conditions using the 3Com 905A and device xl0, and during the FTP
installation, I was getting normal Ethernet transfer rates - not 30KB/sec. 

I've attempted to revert to the vx0 drivers, which have served me well in
the past, but under 3.0 they apparently fail to detect the 905 series
(detection disabled in favor of xl0, I guess). 

--
K

To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3.0.3.32.19980908154521.00990490>