# DECchip 21041 Networking problems [SOLVED]

## nwskier

Well I've tried the past night to get my eth0 up after a clean install and reboot and can't seem to get anywhere. I have an old Digital Equipment Corp DECchip 21041 NIC. I scanned through teh forums and found people with similar problems... at first it was modules issue, then symlink and so on...

I finally got the modules to load.. there are 3 possible ones that could work with my card= tulip, de2104x and de4x5. I used lsmod with the livecd to check what modules it loaded and I found out that it loads two of them.. which I thought was quite weird as I've only heard of one being loaded before. My live-cd loads tulip and de2104x. 

So I loaded both of these modules and made them in the kernel (2.6.11-r6) and they successfully load when I start up my system. But when it comes time for the eth0 to be brought up I get 

```
Disabling IRQ #11
```

followed by the normal netmount failure code.

I've tried only loading de4x5 (tries to bring up the eth0 and hangs) tried only loading tulip (IRQ #11 warning and failure) tried only de2104x (same IRQ warning) and all three at the same time. Kinda reached the end of my wits with trying to get this to work because I have a feeling it has to do with motherboard BIOS and IRQ support and I would have no idea where to proceed.

If you need more info (you probably do) just ask and please try to give me the codes to run to get them.. I haven't used Gentoo in over a year and I'm trying to get my "linux-legs" back. THanks in advanceLast edited by nwskier on Sun May 08, 2005 6:33 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## NeddySeagoon

nwskier,

Boot with the liveCD and look at /proc/interrupts with 

```
less /proc/interrupts 
```

Boot normally and compare the /proc/interrupts with what you got before. In partictuar, besides eth0, what else is missing?

I suspect that IRQ 11 is being shared between your NIC and something else and the something else is causing  the IRQ to be disbaled.

Watch your boot messages (use shift and page-up to review them) Do you get a messsage that includes 

 *Quote:*   

>  ... irq 11 and Nobody Cared 

 during boot.

----------

## nwskier

thanks for the suggestions. I think I know what's wrong know.. I just don't know how to fix it.  Here are my two interupt lists

with live cd (show only IRQ differences)

```

9:   0     XT-PIC    acpi, ohci_hcd

11:  46    XT-PIC   eth0
```

and when I boot from HD:

```

9:        0  XT-PIC   acpi

11:   100000 XT-PIC  CS46XX
```

I don't think that the IRQ 9 will impact me (will it?) and I know that it has nothing to do with the current problem. The CS46XX module is my Santa Cruz Turtle Beach sound card. Apparently ALSA is telling it to use IRQ 11? 

I scrolled up to look for references to this in the boot and here's what I found:

```
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LINKB] enabled at IRQ 11

PCI: setting IRQ 11 as level-triggered

ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:00:0b.0[A] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11

ALSA device list:

   #0: Sound Fusion CS46xx at 0xe7000000/0xe7000000, irq 11
```

So now I need to change the ALSA's interpretation of the IRQ the sound card should be using? Would that be easier than changing the NIC's IRQ or about the same? Thanks for the help!

EDIT* The above info is correct but on further exams of the boot log I found this:

```
Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 8 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
```

that one kinda sticks out now, still don't know what to do about that though. Does it have something to do with me compiling out Serial support in the Kernel? and if so where is that located?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

nwskier,

Which IRQ is your eth0 on when you boot normally ?

PCI devices are supposed to be able to share IRQs, theres not a lot you can do to manually assign them.

Is there anything in your 

```
dmesg
```

about the network card ?

----------

## nwskier

NeddySeagoon,

                            the dmesg did it. At the top I found this:

```
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LINKF] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15) *0 disabled

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LINKG] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15) *0 disabled

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LINKH] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15) *0 disabled

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LINKI] (IRQs 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 15)
```

I've got IRQ #11 Nobody Cared!. Here's what the eth0 section of the printout says:

```

eth0: 21041 at 0xe8854000, 00:00:c5:0c:7c:39, IRQ 11

Linux Tulip driver version 1.1.13 (May 11, 2002)

eth0: enabling interface

eth0: set link 10baseT auto

eth0:    mode 0x7ffc0040, sia 0x10c4,0xffffef01,0xffffffff,0xffff0008

eth0:    set mode 0x7ffc0040, set sia 0xef01,0xffff,0x8

irq 11: nobody cared!

 [<c013a1aa>] __report_bad_irq+0x2a/0x90

 [<c0139b20>] handle_IRQ_event+0x30/0x70

 [<c013a29c>] note_interrupt+0x6c/0xd0

 [<c0139c86>] __do_IRQ+0x126/0x160

 [<c0105792>] do_IRQ+0x52/0x80

==================

 [<c0103c4e>] common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20

 [<c0121788>] __do_softirq+0x48/0xd0

 [<c01058c6>] do_softirq+0x66/0x70

==================

 [<c01218eb>] irq_exit+0x3b/0x40

 [<c0105799>] do_IRQ+0x59/0x80

 [<c0103c4e>] common_interrupt+0x1a/0x20

 [<c03db0b5>] _spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x5/0x30

 [<c885d81d>] de_init_hw+0x8d/0xa0 [de2104x]

 [<c885db78>] de_open+0x68/0x130 [de2104x]

 [<c0368a99>] dev_open+0x79/0x90

 [<c036ca54>] dev_mc_upload+0x24/0x40

 [<c036a081>] dev_change_flags+0x51/0x120

 [<c03db08d>] _read_unlock+0xd/0x30

 [<c03a3e86>] devinet_ioctl+0x246/0x5b0

 [<c03a629e>] inet_ioctl+0x5e/0xa0

 [<c03c79ae>] packet_ioctl+0x12e/0x160

 [<c035fd59>] sock_ioctl+0xb9/0x230

 [<c016c6c6>] do_ioctl+0x86/0xa0

 [<c016c8e5>] vfs_ioctl+0x65/0x1e0

 [<c016caa5>] sys_ioctl+0x45/0xa0

 [<c01032df>] syscall_call+0x7/0xb

handlers:

 [<c0353d50>] (snd_cs46xx_interrupt+0x0/0x1f0)

Disabling IRQ #11

eth0: link up, media 10baseT auto

eth0: disabling interface
```

and there was also a section saying that PCI Interrupts are no longer router automatically. and if a device stops workin it's because the driver failed to call pci_enable_device(). A temp workaround he says would be the "pci=routeirq" argument. 

I have no idea (if this is even on the right track) of where to put it. Also I feel a bit stupid asking htis (because I'm sure I once knew the answer) I'd like to be able to give you the whole dmesg file, but I have no idea how to get that up to here without typing the whole thing out.  :Embarassed: 

----------

## nwskier

A big thankyou NeddySeagoon for helping me try and figure out what was going on with my IRQ problems. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have had any idea of where the problem was actually at and that aided me in searching the rest of the forums for solutions. I tried a couple, but in the end it turned out to be this:

```
 pci=noacpi 
```

 appended in the grub.conf or lilo.conf file and my nic card brought the eth0 up NO PROBLEM! it's always something simple, and I guess I only lost a day on this one, but I know how we all hate that, so I hope this helps someone else out there with similar problems.

nwskier

----------

## NeddySeagoon

nwskier,

You can copy and paste from the console if you 

```
emerge gpm
```

and your can send output to a file like this 

```
dmesg > dmesg.txt
```

Now you can move the file like any other.

----------

## marky9152

I am having a very similar problem and was hoping if you guys can help me out.  My ethernet card (DEC 21041) is using tulip driver with dhcp and is using IRQ #11.  Then ohci_hcd is using  IRQ #11 and then my ethenet card stops working.  I can ping the loopback address but cannot ping anywhere else.  I only have the livecd (gentoo universal 2005) and would like to have the internet working before i start.  I've tried booting without acpi (boot option) but it still had the error of Irq #11.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

marky9152,

Is your NIC an ISA card or a PCI card. They were made in both sorts

----------

## marky9152

PCI

----------

## NeddySeagoon

marky9152,

What does less /proc/interrupts show ?

----------

## marky9152

0:     107797      XT-PIC       timer

1:     56              XT-PIC         i8042

2:     0              XT-PIC       cascade

5:     59           XT-PIC      uhci_hcd,uhci_hcd,ohci_hcd

7:      1             XT-PIC      parport0

8:      0                XT-PIC       rtc

9:      0                XT-PIC      acpi

10:    0                XT-PIC     ehci_hcd

11:    100000       XT-PIC      ohci_hcd,eth0

12:    93              XT-PIC     i8042

13:    49               XT-PIC   ide0

14:    644            XT-PIC   ide1

NMI   0

LOC   0

ERR   0

MIS   0

Sorry it looks so bad im working on 2 different computers

----------

## NeddySeagoon

marky9152,

OK, You don't have the IRQ xx and Nobody Cared! problem.

Ypu do have a strange mix of USB ports though. Do you have motherboard USB 1.1 and a plug in USB card?

Loading both the uhci-hcd and ohci-hcd is normally asking for trouble.

PCI interrupt sharing should work. You say  

```
and then my ethenet card stops working
```

suggesting that it worked (or works) sometimes. When it stops working, does eth0 appear in 

```
ifconfig
```

and what does the output of 

```
route
```

 show?

Are you able to restart it with 

```
/etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart
```

----------

## marky9152

I believe after the boot up and hotplugging my etheenet card is trying to work but once i try to use it for anything DHCP fails and it dissapears.  I do have an onboard usb 1.1 and a 2.0 card (i needed it for an external hard drive).  when i try ifconfig only the loopback adress(127.0.0.0) appears.  Route shows Destination - loopback Gateway - livecd.gentoo Genmak - 255.0.0.0 Flags - UG Metric - 0 Ref - 0 Uses - 0 Iface - lo. when i use /etc/init.d/net.eth0 restart it says Bringing up eth0 via DHCP then after a while it says "eth0 timout expired stopping DMA" also how could i stop my computer from accessing the usb 1.1 ports?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

marky9152,

As you have the hardware to support both types of USB 1.1 ports you should be OK.

Do you expect to get an Ethernet address via DHCP or did you have to run the 

```
net-setup eth0
```

on the liveCD abd enter a static address?

How is your computer connected to the internet?

I am looking for a diagram of your network with IP addresses if possible.

----------

## marky9152

my computer relies on DHCP, my ISP is Comcast. my computer is connected (rj 45) to the router(192.168.254.254) and from the router to the cable modem.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

marky9152,

Your network setup looks straightforward, so lets start from the beginning.

Boot the liveCD and run the 

```
lspci 
```

command. Post the line that shows your Ethernet card.

Now run the 

```
lsmod
```

 command, can you spot the modules for your network card?

There may be two. If you are at all unsure, post the list of names, the nimbers don't matter just now.

While you are here, run 

```
ifconfig
```

 and check the line 

```
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:26:54:0B:C6:C6
```

make a note of your HWaddr. Its unique to your card, so it will be diferent to my example.

Boot your own kerenl and repeat the above tests. Do not attempt to use your network card until you have competed the above tests.

You can capture results to a file by doing 

```
/some/command > file.name
```

which will allow you to save results for later posting.

It would also be useful for me to examine your entire dmesg output and kernel config file, as produced when you boot your own kernel. Post them on the web if you have some web space or PM me if not. They are a little on the large side for posting all at once.

----------

