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Re: Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

 
Ted Haining
New Member

Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

Hi,

I've installed SuSE 7.1 Professional Edition on an HP Netserver LH4. When running the SuSE-provided 2.2.18 version of the kernel, everything works fine.

When I attempt to run the 2.4.0 version of the kernel, I run into problems with the installed Intel EtherExpress NIC. (The same symptoms also apply for 2.4.3 and 2.4.4 kernels.)

The symptoms are:

- PCI probing by the kernel at startup produces a series of
messages:
PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 0 of device 01:02.0
PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 1 of device 01:02.0
PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 2 of device 01:02.0

- the kernel seems to discover twice the number of Ethernet devices as there are NICs (i.e. the kernel will print information about eth0 and eth1 during startup even though there is only one NIC).

- the information about the card that the driver produces is bad and is of the form:

eth0: Invalid EEPROM checksum 0xff00, check settings before activating this device!
eth0: OEM i82557/i82558 10/100 Ethernet, FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF, IRQ 11.

Has anyone else tried running a 2.4.x kernel on an LH4? Is this a PCI probing/BIOS problem? Is this an eepro100 driver problem?

I've looked at the three drivers for eepro100's that are out there and of the three, the Sevochkin driver produces doesn't work, the Intel driver causes the machine to hang, and I can't even get the Becker driver to compile properly.

Any thoughts? Any ideas? Any solutions? Is a 2.4.x even supported on an LH4?

Ted Haining
6 REPLIES 6
Vincenzo Restuccia
Honored Contributor

Re: Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

You have the hardware conflict in PCI bus.See the interrupt.
Vincenzo Restuccia
Honored Contributor
Chris Hawk
New Member

Re: Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

Any resolve to this issue, I'm having the same problem on an LXr Pro?
Gung Ho!
Ted Haining
New Member

Re: Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

Chris, I eventually did discover the reason behind the problem.

The LH4 has an Intel 450NX PCI bridge on the motherboard. The new 2.4.x kernels incorrectly perform some special initialization on this bridge.

To verify that you have the same problem, log in as root and run lspci. You should see lines like these:

00:10.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 450NX - 82451NX Memory & I/O Controller (rev 03)
00:12.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 450NX - 82454NX/84460GX PCI Expander Bridge (rev 02)

If you do, I've attached a patch which fixes the problem. This patch was created against a 2.4.4 kernel. It should be simple enough to recreate for other 2.4 versions.

I've sent an exact description of the problem with my fix to Martin Mares, the kernel PCI subsystem maintainer.
I haven't heard from him, so I don't know if the problem will be fixed. (Perhaps I didn't post it correctly?)
Chris Hawk
New Member

Re: Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

Ted, Thanks for your input & quick response. lspci outputs the following on our box:

00:19.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 50KX/GX [Orion] - 82454KX/GX PCI bridge (rev 06)
00:1a.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 450KX/GX [Orion] - 82454KX/GX PCI bridge (rev 06)

Slightly different from your config. Your guess on this patch working on a 2.4.8 kernel? I'll keep you posted. hawk@ssdi.net
Gung Ho!
Chris Hawk
New Member

Re: Linux 2.4.x kernel problems on Netserver LH4

Here's the whole lspci output:

00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 02)
00:0e.0 Non-VGA unclassified device: Intel Corporation 82375EB (rev 15)
00:0f.0 Class ff00: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 0008
00:14.0 RAM memory: Intel Corporation 450KX/GX [Orion] - 82453KX/GX Memory controller (rev 05)
00:19.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 450KX/GX [Orion] - 82454KX/GX PCI bridge (rev 06)
00:1a.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 450KX/GX [Orion] - 82454KX/GX PCI bridge (rev 06)
01:0a.0 Unknown mass storage controller: American Megatrends Inc. MegaRAID (rev 03)
01:0b.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7880U
01:0c.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7880U
01:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 02)
Gung Ho!