Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 00:38:04 -0700 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: Kevin Lam <kevla@studentmail.dis.unimelb.edu.au> Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG, mcdougall@ameritech.net, wpaul@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Slow 3C905A-TX under -SNAP Message-ID: <199809080738.AAA15575@word.smith.net.au> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 08 Sep 1998 15:45:21 %2B1000." <3.0.3.32.19980908154521.00990490@studentmail.dis.unimelb.edu.au>
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(Bill, not sure if you're on -hardware)
It would be useful to start by seeing the interface stats ('netstat
-i') with the 905, in case you're seeing lots of noise. Also the
output of 'ifconfig xl0'.
> 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
>
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--
\\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith
\\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au
\\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org
\\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com
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