Broadcom BCM4401 100Base-T driver module freezes ethernet connection, then reinitializes the device

[David Anes]

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.15-26-k7

Current driver being used: Driver: b44.c:v0.97 (Nov 30, 2005) shipped with Ubuntu Dapper Drake.

Using the Broadcom in-kernel shipped driver, the ethernet device reinitializes itself when operates at a sostained high transfer rate. At about 200-300KB max speed is reached without errors/reinitiazations, but a 100Mbit ethernet device can go up to 8MB transfer rates approximately.

I do not know why this happens. Two years ago, a similar problem was happening with something called Watchdog:

NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth0: transmit timed out
eth0: Link is down.
eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex.
eth0: Flow control is off for TX and off for RX.

I've tried the latest available driver from the Broadcom webpage, and still happens. This has started with recent drivers. 6 months before, this was not happening. I noticed this recently, I was thinking the errors where from the University switches where I work, but I've isolated the error to the Broadcom driver.

MORE INFO:

Kernel Info:
=======================================================================
kraptor@krmobile:~$ uname -a
Linux krmobile 2.6.15-26-k7 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Sep 8 20:38:34 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux

Loaded modules info
=======================================================================
kraptor@krmobile:~$ sudo lsmod
Module Size Used by
vmnet 40740 13
vmmon 117708 0
binfmt_misc 13192 1
rfcomm 44244 0
l2cap 29184 5 rfcomm
bluetooth 54372 4 rfcomm,l2cap
ppdev 10052 0
radeon 119200 2
drm 78292 3 radeon
cpufreq_stats 6912 0
tc1100_wmi 7172 0
video 16644 0
acpi_sbs 20556 0
battery 10308 1 acpi_sbs
i2c_acpi_ec 5440 1 acpi_sbs
container 4928 0
button 6992 0
pcc_acpi 12736 0
sony_acpi 5900 0
ac 5508 1 acpi_sbs
dev_acpi 11652 0
hotkey 11812 0
ext3 148424 1
jbd 65684 1 ext3
dm_mod 63640 1
md_mod 76244 0
cpufreq_userspace 6816 1
cpufreq_powersave 2240 0
cpufreq_ondemand 8104 0
cpufreq_conservative 9256 0
powernow_k7 9192 0
freq_table 5152 2 cpufreq_stats,powernow_k7
sr_mod 18276 0
sbp2 25540 0
scsi_mod 145736 2 sr_mod,sbp2
lp 12612 0
af_packet 25224 4
snd_ali5451 27084 3
snd_ac97_codec 99296 1 snd_ali5451
snd_ac97_bus 2688 1 snd_ac97_codec
joydev 10688 0
parport_pc 38340 1
parport 39560 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
snd_pcm_oss 56352 0
snd_mixer_oss 20800 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 96772 5 snd_ali5451,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 27204 1 snd_pcm
snd 60068 10 snd_ali5451,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
pcmcia 42108 0
psmouse 40132 0
serio_raw 8132 0
b44 28108 0
ipw2200 113836 0
i2c_ali1535 7812 0
i2c_ali15x3 8388 0
i2c_core 23168 3 i2c_acpi_ec,i2c_ali1535,i2c_ali15x3
mii 6528 1 b44
soundcore 11040 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 11592 1 snd_pcm
pcspkr 2564 0
ieee80211 40072 1 ipw2200
ieee80211_crypt 6848 1 ieee80211
ieee80211_1_1_13 41096 0
ieee80211_1_1_13_crypt 7360 1 ieee80211_1_1_13
yenta_socket 30092 1
rsrc_nonstatic 14784 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 45528 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
ati_agp 9932 1
agpgart 37072 2 drm,ati_agp
shpchp 49312 0
pci_hotplug 30916 1 shpchp
tsdev 8320 0
evdev 10432 2
usbhid 42912 0
reiserfs 284400 1
ide_generic 1792 0
ehci_hcd 36104 0
ohci_hcd 22788 0
usbcore 139012 4 usbhid,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
ohci1394 37684 0
ieee1394 307160 2 sbp2,ohci1394
ide_cd 36228 0
cdrom 41504 2 sr_mod,ide_cd
ide_disk 19520 4
alim15x3 13196 0 [permanent]
generic 5444 0
thermal 14088 0
processor 27208 2 powernow_k7,thermal
fan 5124 0
capability 5256 0
commoncap 7616 1 capability
vga16fb 14344 1
vgastate 10304 1 vga16fb
fbcon 44640 72
tileblit 3072 1 fbcon
font 8640 1 fbcon
bitblit 6592 1 fbcon
softcursor 2752 1 bitblit

PCI Data info
=======================================================================
kraptor@krmobile:~$ sudo lspci -vvv
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc AGP Bridge [IGP 320M] (rev 13)
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64
        Region 0: Memory at d4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Region 1: Memory at d0400000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Region 2: I/O ports at 8090 [disabled] [size=4]
        Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0
                Status: RQ=16 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
                Command: RQ=1 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ AGP+ GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=x4

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc PCI Bridge [IGP 320M] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 99
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=68
        I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff
        Memory behind bridge: d0100000-d01fffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e0000000-efffffff
        BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA+ VGA+ MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-

0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV]
        Subsystem: ALi Corporation ALI M1533 Aladdin IV ISA Bridge
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 0
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 1
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR+ <PERR+
        Latency: 64 (500ns min, 6000ns max)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: I/O ports at 8400 [size=256]
        Region 1: Memory at d0006000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:09.0 Modem: ALi Corporation M5457 AC'97 Modem Controller (prog-if 00 [Generic])
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2027
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 5
        Region 0: Memory at d0007000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Region 1: I/O ports at 8800 [size=256]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 168, Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
        Region 0: Memory at ffbfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=05, sec-latency=176
        Memory window 0: 20000000-21fff000 (prefetchable)
        Memory window 1: 22000000-23fff000
        I/O window 0: 00001000-000010ff
        I/O window 1: 00001400-000014ff
        BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- ISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset+ 16bInt+ PostWrite+
        16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

0000:00:0a.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI4410 FireWire Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64 (750ns min, 1000ns max), Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
        Region 0: Memory at d000b000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        Region 1: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 1
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:0c.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG (rev 05)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 2702
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64 (750ns min, 6000ns max), Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
        Region 0: Memory at d0008000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=1 PME-

0000:00:0d.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64 (250ns min, 10500ns max), Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: Memory at d0009000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:0d.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64 (250ns min, 10500ns max), Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: Memory at d000a000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:0d.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 04) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 132 (4000ns min, 8500ns max), Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: Memory at d000b800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort+ <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
        Region 0: Memory at d0004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
        Expansion ROM at 24000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-

0000:00:10.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c4) (prog-if fa)
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 0 (500ns min, 1000ns max)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 0
        Region 4: I/O ports at 8080 [size=16]
        Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

0000:00:11.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
        Subsystem: Rioworks: Unknown device 2029
        Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-

0000:01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility U1 (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Subsystem: Rioworks eMachines M5312 builtin Video
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping+ SERR- FastB2B+
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 66 (2000ns min), Cache Line Size: 0x10 (64 bytes)
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
        Region 0: Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Region 1: I/O ports at 9000 [size=256]
        Region 2: Memory at d0100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Expansion ROM at d0120000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [58] AGP version 2.0
                Status: RQ=48 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW- AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4
                Command: RQ=16 ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ AGP+ GART64- 64bit- FW- Rate=x4
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

[Sebastian Rode (sebastian-ro-deactivatedaccount)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest updates?
Thanks in advance.

[David Anes (kraptor)]

This was fixed long time ago, and forgot to tell here.