Subject: Re: Realtek 8139 problem on 486.

From: Nikolai Zhubr <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 30 May 2021 03:49:03 +0300

Hi all,

30.05.2021 0:44, tedheadster:
>> This driver hasn't seen functional changes for ages. Any previous kernel
>> version that works fine so that you could bisect? It will be hard to
>> find any developer who has test hw, especially as your issue seems to be
>> system-dependent.
>> Please provide a full dmesg log, maybe it provides a hint.
>
> I have a few active 80486 test systems (the 5.12.7 kernel works fine
> on 80486) that I might be able to help test with too.

Unfortunately I don't have any proven-to-work-well previous kernel for 
this specific hardware config, and dmesg does not show anything even 
slightly usefull.

However, I've just installed Debian Woody (kernel 2.2.20, gcc 2.95) and 
got something interesting. There are two interfaces shown in ifconfig:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:6B:32:85:74
           inet addr:192.168.0.3  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
           ......
           Interrupt:9 Base address:0x6000

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:6B:32:85:74
           inet addr:192.168.0.4  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
           ......
           Interrupt:9 Base address:0x8000

whereas actually only one physical network card present. One can notice 
HWaddr and Irq is the same, although base addr is not.

lspci says:
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139 
(rev 10)

Now as soon as ip configuration is done preperly, I can ifup any of them 
successfully.
And, eth0 shows some familiar misbehaviour: I can do ssh, but scp large 
file fails with subsequent communication breakdown. On the other hand, 
eth1 works fine, scp and iperf3 (both as a client and as a server) show 
quite regular operation. I'm puzzled a bit. But at least it looks like a 
possible starting point.

Thank you,

Regards,
Nikolai

> - Matthew