Dead loop on netdevice eth5, fix it urgently!

[Werner Brockhoven]

Hello,

We frequently see the subject message.

Does anybody know the cause of this message when seen on a dual CPU DL380G5 server, running linux kernel 2.4.18?

eth5 is

Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82546GB Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) (rev 03)

[Matti_Kurkela]

This message comes from linux/net/sched/sch_generic.c. It seems to be a warning about some sort of a locking problem in the driver/networking code.

At least in kernel 2.6.18 there was a kernel locking mistake that caused similar symptoms.
http://lists.openwall.net/linux-kernel/2006/07/19/117

Ensure you're up to date with kernel patches.

What's the name of the Linux distribution you're running?

[Werner Brockhoven]

It's a Check Point firewall appliance called SecurePlatform.

[Matti_Kurkela]

I think it would be best to take this up with CheckPoint's support people then.

It would seem that when this message is displayed, a packet might get dropped. I don't know enough about Linux kernel internals to be sure about that.