[BlueOnyx:02963] Re: Suspected Ethernet problem with r8169 driver

[Greg Kuhnert]

Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet wrote:
> Greg Kuhnert wrote:
>  
>> I have a server with the same chipset. amd I've been dealing with 
>> problems ever since. This relates to a known bug in the drivers for 
>> this card. A fix has been posted back in October last year....
>>
>> http://userweb.kernel.org/~romieu/r8169/2.6.27-rc9/20081007/0009-r8169-fix-RxMissed-register-access.patch 
>>
>>
>> Its a shame that no-one has integrated this into the official Centos 
>> kernel code yet. I also have a server with this problem. Rather than 
>> running custom unsupported kernels, I have a small script that runs 
>> to detect and recover from the problem. Basically, it pings the 
>> default gateway. If the response time is greater than 50 msec on 
>> average, it does a ifdown / ifup for that interface. I run this every 
>> 15 minutes in /etc/cron.quarter-hourly
>>     
>
> Is there a reason that running such a script is preferable to using a 
> better-supported NIC?
>   
Unfortunately, yes. The geometry of my chassi in one server prevents 
easy NIC card insertion, so I need the one on the motherboard. Thus, the 
reason for the workaround script.

Ideally of course, I'd like the patch rolled into the Centos kernel so 
the problem goes away completely.

Regards,
Greg.

-- 

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