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To: mike@sentex.net
cc: questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: fxp on 2.1-STABLE ? 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 15 Dec 1997 22:01:07 PST."
             <199712160601.WAA26956@hub.freebsd.org> 
From: David Greenman <dg@root.com>
Reply-To: dg@root.com
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 23:23:14 -0800
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>	I was just wondering if there are any caveats using the fxp driver on
> 2.1-STABLE ?  Unfortunately I am unable to upgrade the machine at this time
> to 2.2-STABLE, but I need more speed off the ethernet on this particular
> machine.  

   Yes, there is a rare problem caused by a bug in the 82557 chip that can
cause the receiver to lock up if it gets certain types of garbage (such as
might happen when a hub or switch is power cycled). The problem will also show
up even without garbage when used in 10Mbps half duplex mode. I have a work
around in the 2.2/3.0 version of the driver which doesn't exist in the 2.1
version. It would difficult to back-port the fix, so it hasn't been done.
Wcarchive ran for 6 months with 2.1+fxp without ever having the problem show
up, so I don't consider it serious.

-DG

David Greenman
Core-team/Principal Architect, The FreeBSD Project