e1000e hangs during netbind - Add support for 82579LM Gigabit

[Gabriele Gamba]

Lenovo Thinkpad T420 is equipped with Intel 82579LM Gigabit NIC (8086:1502).
It seems to me that the chipset is supported in recent version of e1000e module in linux. It would be great having this available for OS/2 too!

Thanks and bye
Gabriele

[jojo]

This NIC is supported by the current Linux e1000e code: ​http://hardware4linux.info/component/45362/

[jojo]

The same NIC is also present in the ThinkPad T510. Would be nice if an updated Intel E1000E driver could be built.

[landb]

The NIC is also present in new Intel motherboards eg DH67BL which seem to be the current offering for high spec systems.

[Gabriele Gamba]

Still no go with latest December version:

IBM OS/2 LANMSGDD [05/21/04] 6.00 is loaded and operational.
IBM OS/2 LAN Netbind
PRO0021: A general failure occurred when the program tried to bind TCPIP_NIF to E1000E_NIF.

(as expected: 8086:1502 is still not listed)

[jojo]

Another request for this chipset came in via the support ticket:

I'm testing eCS with our new standard desktop, which is an HP compaq 8200 Elite SFF.
It has got an integrated 8086 / 1502 MAC Network card. This one is not covered by the latest eCS E1000E driver. Is there a possibility to extend the eCS E1000E driver?

As it seems this is a popular chipset, we really need to update the Intel code...

[Gabriele Gamba]

Same with 0.1.8 version, "A general failure occured...". It seems OS/2 on this PC will live forever in Virtual Box :-)

[Gabriele Gamba]

With version 0.2.1, boot loading stops indefinitely after netbind.exe. It is not properly an hang, because Ctrl-Alt-Canc works fine.

[David Azarewicz]

Can your system do a trap dump? How much RAM do you have?

[Gabriele Gamba]

Hi David,

I have 4 GB on the laptop. No idea about the trap dump: can you give me some instructions? I can arrange a dedicated partition if needed.

[David Azarewicz]

Trap dump information is at: ​http://88watts.net/ecsindex.html
Since you have more than 2GB of RAM you will need to install the DUMPFS package. There is a link to the DUMPFS information on the trap dump page.

Does your system have a serial port, and if yes, do you have a way of capturing serial port output?

[Gabriele Gamba]

I've read DUMPFS instructions. I'm a bit worried by:

The current os2dump requires that AHCI capable controllers run in
compatibility mode and be operated by DANIS506.ADD.

If I move back to compatibility mode, can this affect the Windows 7 installation? Unfortunately no serial port on this laptop.

By the way: I don't think a TRAP is happening here: Ctrl-Alt-Del reboots the system fine and the file system is not dirty...

[jojo]

Wouldn't it be easier to remove 2 of the 4 GB RAM? In that case you do not need to use DUMPFS.

Joachim

[Gabriele Gamba]

I changed Bios to compatibility mode, but system doesn't boot with Danis506, so I'm forced to use OS2AHCI. So ok, I'll try to remove the extra memory (btw, I've just realized that eCS just see 512 Mb of RAM!)

[jojo]

Hi Gabriele,

how did you check that eCS only sees 512 MB? By issueing the command 'mem'? Which kernel do you use?

Joachim

[Gabriele Gamba]

Sorry, no go: I can't remove 2 GB of RAM as the slot for additional RAM is empty. There is probably a single 4 GB stick.
I was able to run eCS in Compatibility mode with Danis506 /!BIOS, but DUMPFS doesn't work: pressing Ctrl+Alt+F10+F10, system immediately reboots and the dump partition remains empty.

Joachim: 512 MB reported both by the xcenter widget and "mem" command. The kernel is the default one for eCS 2.0. Latest version if ACPI installed.

[jojo]

Wow - 4 GB preinstalled... Anyway, you should be using the SMP kernel in this case and you should be able to detect and use 'close to' 4 GB of RAM.

I don't know how to fix the DUMPFS problem, we have heard similar reports istrc.

Maybe David can assist...

Joachim

[Gabriele Gamba]

Hi Joachim,

this is really going off-topic, but... kernel is already 14.105 SMP. I just attached hardware.log. It also says:

[CPU info - 1 CPU(s) found]

while there are 2. With Hyperthread enabled, I see 4 CPUs in the xcenter :-)

[jojo]

Well,

there actually is just 1 CPU, but it has 2 cores, and hyperthreading. So the hardware log is correct in that respect. I am a bit surprised by the misdetected amount of memory though.

Thanks for the report.

Joachim

[David Azarewicz]

Sometimes trapdump just doesn't work. I am working on alternative ways of getting debug information.

FYI, you should not have hyperthreading enabled. It may work, but it may cause problems. With OS/2 there is no advantage to enabling it.

[Gabriele Gamba]

Replying to dazarewicz:

Sometimes trapdump just doesn't work. I am working on alternative ways of getting debug information.

I would be happy to buy a docking station if it doesn't cost too much, but the ones I've seen DON'T have a serial port inside! Let me know for the alternative ways: OS/2 installation on this laptop is just experimental, so I can heavily test on it without problems.

FYI, you should not have hyperthreading enabled. It may work, but it may cause problems. With OS/2 there is no advantage to enabling it.

I know (it is in the ACPI readme :-), but currently this machine just runs Windows 7 (and eCS in Virtual Box) and maybe Windows 7 uses it. When eCS will be usable on this laptop, I'll disable Hyperthread.

Thanks!
Gabriele

[David Azarewicz]

I assume that since you helped me test this driver, it works for you so, I will close this ticket.

[Gabriele Gamba]

Replying to dazarewicz:

I assume that since you helped me test this driver, it works for you

Yes, Version 0.2.2 works fine!