Limaunion wrote:
> hi all! I've been using OpenBSD during the last 2-3 years mainly running
> it as a firewall.
> 
> I've an old machine (486 + 48MB RAM) and yesterday decided to make
> some improvements: upgrade it from 4.0 to 4.2 (new installation) and
> replace the two NICs, switching from NE2000 clones (RTL8029) to 3C905B.
> The problem is that i'm getting ton of this messages which
> bring down the two interfaces:
> 
> xl0: reset didn't complete
> xl1: reset didn't complete
> xl0: command never completed!
> xl1: command never completed!
> 
> I found that man xl already has some information about 'command never
> completed' but in this case the driver does not continue to function
> normally. Is this problem a combination of old hardware with the xl
> interfaces ? or are this interfaces crap too ? switching to a newer
> machine (pentium 166) may help ? or should I buy another brand (which) ?

xl(4) devices are pretty far down the list as far as performance and
quality.  However, I haven't seen those messages in quite some time,
and never saw them as fatal failures as you are.

HOWEVER, that being said, I haven't seen a 486 with a good PCI bus in
a while, either.  Most of the "real" 486 systems with PCI busses
probably worked for something in some way on some OS, but not for me.
(I have a few AMD5x86-oriented boards that appear to have a very
functional PCI bus, but those were in the Pentium days.  Actually,
on closer examination, you may have one of those boards.)

SO, I'm going to guess it is a combination of a cranky driver in a
slightly non-standard PCI bus.

For a quick fix, let's look back to your RT8029 cards.  While the
RT8029 is probably about the worst performing NIC to ever go on a
PCI bus, it will handle most home-grade uses just fine.  I suspect
the PCI bus on the things will give them better performance than any
ISA card, and I've moved a lot of data through ISA cards in the past.

So, were you having a problem with the RT8029s, or just trying to
put in a "better" card?  Odds are, if you need the performance of a
100Mbps card, you may be needing a new computer (in which case, your
P166 is probably great).  If you didn't NEED the performance, put
the 8029-based cards back in.

Hm. Looking at your dmesg, I see
> pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
which I don't recall having seen before...might be worth checking
to see if the BIOS has a "PNP Aware OS" mode for the BIOS.  (heh,
just spot checked a couple machines, they both have this line, but
both say "(no bios)".  So much for my memory, which should lead one
to doubt my interpretation, but still might be an interesting test.

Once I get some space on a shelf, might have to plug one of my
similar looking boards in, see what it does. :)



> Thanks in advance for any help!.
> Jorge
> 
> PS: on 2006-01-06 I reported a keyboard problem with OpenBSD 3.8, the 
> problem is still present with 4.2:
> http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=113658848307726&w=2

Dang, I think I remember that.  Had me scratching back then, too.
Not doing any better now...

This might be a stinker of a MoBo.  We just don't have too many
keyboard problems reported...

Nick.

> 
> OpenBSD 4.2 (GENERIC) #375: Tue Aug 28 10:38:44 MDT 2007
>      [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
> cpu0: Intel 486DX (486-class)
> real mem  = 49905664 (47MB)
> avail mem = 39297024 (37MB)
> mainbus0 at root
> bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+ BIOS, date 07/25/94, BIOS32 rev. 0 @ 0xf7810
> apm0 at bios0: Power Management spec V1.0
> apm0: AC on, battery is unknown
> apm0: flags 30100 dobusy 0 doidle 1
> pcibios0 at bios0: rev 2.0 @ 0xf0000/0x10000
> pcibios0: pcibios_get_intr_routing - function not supported
> pcibios0: PCI IRQ Routing information unavailable.
> pcibios0: PCI bus #0 is the last bus
> WARNING: can't reserve area for I/O APIC.
> WARNING: can't reserve area for Local APIC.
> bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0x8000
> cpu0 at mainbus0
> pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
> xl0 at pci0 dev 13 function 0 "3Com 3c905B 100Base-TX" rev 0x30: irq 11,
> address 00:01:02:6e:c5:08
> exphy0 at xl0 phy 24: 3Com internal media interface
> xl1 at pci0 dev 14 function 0 "3Com 3c905B 100Base-TX" rev 0x30: irq 9,
> address 00:01:02:87:fc:88
> exphy1 at xl1 phy 24: 3Com internal media interface
> vga1 at pci0 dev 15 function 0 "ATI Mach64 GP" rev 0x5c
> wsdisplay0 at vga1 mux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
> wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (80x25, vt100 emulation)
> pchb0 at pci0 dev 16 function 0 "UMC UM8881F Host" rev 0x01
> pcib0 at pci0 dev 18 function 0 "UMC UM8886" rev 0x01
> isa0 at pcib0
> isadma0 at isa0
> pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
> pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
> pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
> wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
> wdc0 at isa0 port 0x1f0/8 irq 14
> wd0 at wdc0 channel 0 drive 0: <WDC AC310200R>
> wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA, 9787MB, 20044080 sectors
> wd0(wdc0:0:0): using BIOS timings
> pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
> midi0 at pcppi0: <PC speaker>
> spkr0 at pcppi0
> npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
> biomask f5fd netmask fffd ttymask ffff
> pctr: no performance counters in CPU
> dkcsum: wd0 matches BIOS drive 0x80
> root on wd0a swap on wd0b dump on wd0b

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