jim@syteke.be (Jim Sanchez) (02/18/91)
I have had the WIN/TCP package and ethernet card for my 3b1 for about nine months now and it has had problems from day one. I use it to transfer files from my DOS pc which runs FTP's TCP/IP package (version 2.03). With fairly high probability when I try transfering files to/from the 3b1 I get a kernel panic - something about a NMI. This means a reboot and it pretty frustrating. I have played around with the window values on the pc but going from 512 to 2048 doesn't seem to change anything. Any ideas will be appreciated. I have a combo card w/ram if that matters and use 3.51m version of unix. Thanks -- Jim Sanchez | jim@syteke.be (PREFERRED) Hughes LAN Systems | OR uunet!mcsun!ub4b!syteke!jim Brussels Belgium | OR jim@hls.com
dnichols@ceilidh.beartrack.com (DoN Nichols) (02/19/91)
In article <1792@syteke.be> jim@syteke.be (Jim Sanchez) writes: >I have had the WIN/TCP package and ethernet card for my 3b1 for >about nine months now and it has had problems from day one. I use >it to transfer files from my DOS pc which runs FTP's TCP/IP package >(version 2.03). With fairly high probability when I try transfering >files to/from the 3b1 I get a kernel panic - something about a NMI. >This means a reboot and it pretty frustrating. I have played around >with the window values on the pc but going from 512 to 2048 doesn't >seem to change anything. Any ideas will be appreciated. I have a >combo card w/ram if that matters and use 3.51m version of unix. Very like the experience that I had, except that I knew that it didn't have to be that way. I had been using the ethernet card, a floppy-tape card, and a combo card with 1.5MB of ram for a few months on my 7300. 3.51m. 1MB on the motheboard No problems. Then I put the Icus mod into a 3b1, and moved everything, including the disk contents, over to the 3b1. I started getting just such panics. A request to the net came up with some suggestions, the most usefull of which was to make sure that the ethernet driver was the last loaded into the system. This reduced the frequency of the panics, but they were still more probable than not for any transfer longer than a short e-mail message. I decided to concentrate my efforts on puting the Icus mod into the 7300, and when I switched the disks back to it (they were external to the chassis at this point, making the task easier). I also switched back the cards, in the same slots. The ethernet started behaving again. No problems. I still don't know why that one system gave problems, when the other didn't. One had 1MB on the motherboard, the other had 2MB, no other real differences (modulo possible factory mods in the systems). I've got another ethernet board now, so I'm going to try it in the 3b1, and see what behavior I get there. A third ethernet board is running without problem in another 3b1, with 2MB ram on the motherboard. That one does not have either a combo card or a tape card. >Thanks You're welcome. Hope you can find another motherboard to try. Good Luck DoN. -- Donald Nichols (DoN.) | Voice (Days): (703) 664-1585 D&D Data | Voice (Eves): (703) 938-4564 Disclaimer: from here - None | Email: <dnichols@ceilidh.beartrack.com> --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
thad@public.BTR.COM (Thaddeus P. Floryan) (02/19/91)
jim@syteke.be (Jim Sanchez) in <1792@syteke.be> writes:
I have had the WIN/TCP package and ethernet card for my 3b1 for
about nine months now and it has had problems from day one. I use
it to transfer files from my DOS pc which runs FTP's TCP/IP package
(version 2.03). With fairly high probability when I try transfering
files to/from the 3b1 I get a kernel panic - something about a NMI.
This means a reboot and it pretty frustrating. I have played around
with the window values on the pc but going from 512 to 2048 doesn't
seem to change anything. Any ideas will be appreciated. I have a
combo card w/ram if that matters and use 3.51m version of unix.
MS-DOS vadanya. :-)
Seriously, have you considered the possibilty the PC could be the culprit?
Most of the stuff in comp.protocols.tcp-ip and related newsgroups suggests
that PC-based Ethernet products suck dead bunnies through a straw.
You and I bought our Ethernet cards at the same time from the same source, and
I personally checked your card so I'm convinced your hardware is OK. The ONLY
difference between your setup and mine is that I have 3B1s, Amiga, and some
other CT products on my net, and your net has a 3B1 and the PC.
HOWEVER: I did have a lot of problems at first (tossed the WIN/3B sendmail
crap due to excessive defunct processes) and ported some of the 4.3BSD
networking stuff over to replace the "stock" stuff, but there is one more
thing you should check: the /etc/lddrv/drivers file. From my experience,
the "ether" MUST BE THE LAST ENTRY. NO EXCEPTIONS. My file is:
lipc
cmb
[...]
starlan
voice
ether
and the output of "/etc/lddrv/lddrv -s" is:
DEVNAME ID BLK CHAR LINE SIZE ADDR FLAGS
wind 0 -1 7 -1 0x9000 0x53000 ALLOC BOUND
lipc 1 -1 -1 -1 0x7000 0x360000 ALLOC BOUND
cmb 2 -1 -1 -1 0x3000 0x5c000 ALLOC BOUND
[...]
starlan 5 -1 11 -1 0x14000 0x3de000 ALLOC BOUND
voice 6 -1 13 -1 0xa000 0x33e000 ALLOC BOUND
ether 7 -1 14 -1 0x13000 0x348000 ALLOC BOUND
Absolutely NO OTHER COMBINATION would work on my system. I transfer over
1MB a day between systems over the Ethernet, and lookee here:
thadlabs ksh 7432/7652> date
Tue Feb 19 03:12:52 PST 1991
thadlabs ksh 7432/7652> who -b
. system boot Nov 12 03:44
thadlabs ksh 7432/7652> uptime
up 98 days 23:36:52 booted Mon Nov 12 03:36:08 1990
thadlabs ksh 7432/7652> ruptime
thadlabs up ??:??, 2 users, load 0.06, 0.05, 0.00
tlabs3 up 7+20:07, 0 users, load 0.01, 0.00, 0.00
tlabs4 up 19+31:23, 0 users, load 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
tlabs9 up 42+22:31, 0 users, load 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Sheesh, another bug in Wollongong software; I guess they never expected a
system could remain up so long. I thought I first saw that "??:??" shortly
after the 90-day period but forgot about it 'til just now. Sigh, guess I
gotta write my own ruptime (or find a 4.3BSD version).
Thad Floryan [ thad@btr.com (OR) {decwrl, mips, fernwood}!btr!thad ]jim@syteke.be (Jim Sanchez) (02/20/91)
I am pretty sure that the PC TCP/IP package is not causing the problem because it is a product WE sell and is OEM from FTP software. They are well known as a top quality product. I have tried messing around with the window parameters on the PC side as I said but nothing seems to work. I'll look in to the drivers stuff though. I suspect that the problem does NOT happen between 3b1s however. More to follow. -- Jim Sanchez | jim@syteke.be (PREFERRED) Hughes LAN Systems | OR uunet!mcsun!ub4b!syteke!jim Brussels Belgium | OR jim@hls.com -- Jim Sanchez | jim@syteke.be (PREFERRED) Hughes LAN Systems | OR uunet!mcsun!ub4b!syteke!jim Brussels Belgium | OR jim@hls.com