[Ubuntu 7.10] dmesg: "serial8250: too much work for irq11"

[Detlef Lechner]

After upgrading from Feisty to Gutsy I cannot access the LAN. I added a boot parameter 'irqpoll'. But this helped only a few days. dmesg reports > 60 times: "serial 8250: too much work for irq11. "
I have the same computer as http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=18243&view=next&sid=71a6fa8ae71801c8b3861efbfd05302c and obtain the same error message.
Interestingly enough, update-manager updated the DEB program package 'tzdata' successfully when I switched the computer on this afternoon.

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

detlef@Amilo7600:$ cat /proc/interrupts
                 CPU0
0: 63566 XT-PIC-XT timer
1: 135 XT-PIC-XT i8042
2: 0 XT-PIC-XT cascade
6: 3 XT-PIC-XT floppy
7: 4 XT-PIC-XT parport0
8: 2 XT-PIC-XT rtc
9: 1 XT-PIC-XT acpi
10: 2 XT-PIC-XT ohci_hcd:usb2, ohci1394, radeon@pci:0000:01:05.0
11:10477 XT-PIC-XT ohci_hcd:usb1, eth0, yenta, ALI 5451
12: 4186 XT-PIC-XT i8042
14: 5 XT-PIC-XT ide0
15 1538 XT-PIC-XT ide1
NMI: 0
LOC: 0
ERR: 0
MIS: 0

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

lspci | grep Ethernet
00:09:0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor C.., Ltd RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

uname -a
Linux Amilo7600 2.6.22-14-386#1 Sun Oct 14 22:36:54 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

I removed the boot parameter 'irqpoll'. The >60 dmesg errors "serial8250: too much work for irq11" disappeared. There is still no LAN access.
Now when starting the greetings sound will be played intermittendly 19 times.

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

I added the kernel option pci=nosplash. This did not help either.
dmesg reports:
"eth0: link up, 100 Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xde816800, (MAC address)
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8100B/8139D'.

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

I removed the 8139cp driver permanently. I removed temporarily the 8139too driver. Then I reinserted it. Then dmesg | tail obtains:
"[ 7645.000000] eth0: Tx descriptor 1 is 0008a113.
[ 7645.000000] eth0: Tx descriptor 2 is 0008a0fc.
[ 7645.000000] eth0: Tx descriptor 3 is 0008a113.
[ 7645.000000] eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
[ 7674.624000] 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.28
[ 7674.624000] PCI: Found IRQ 11 for device 0000:00:09.0
[ 7674.624000] PCI: Sharing IRQ 11 with 0000:00:0b.1
[ 7674.624000] eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xde840800, 00:02:3f:ba:b4:c8, IRQ 11
[ 7674.624000] eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8100B/8139D'
[ 7674.660000] eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1"
I still have no LAN access. I cannot ping my router.

[Amit Kucheria (amitk)]

Could you try changing your irq settings in your BIOS from Auto to something fixed.

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

@Amit Kucheria : No, I cannot. This is a laptop computer of type Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo 7600 or CY26. It has a Phoenix BIOS. This BIOS does not allow me to make any IRQ changes from Auto to 'fixed' by hand. May be this is possible using ACPI. I don't know.

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

*surprised*
A Gutsy Desktop CD starts only in Safe Graphics mode. If started in Safe Graphics mode Gutsy obtains LAN access (and thus ADSL access).

[Detlef Lechner (detlef-lechner)]

I finally gave up to repair the upgraded Ubuntu 7.10.
I installed Ubuntu 7.10 using a Ubuntu 7.10 desktop CD in safe graphics mode. The error does not appear any more.

[John Rose (johnaaronrose)]

I have the same issue. It's a Durion desktop without the ability n the BIOS to change the irq settings.

[C de-Avillez (hggdh2)]

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 if this is still an issue for you. Can you try with the latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

Also, I am rejecting the update-manager task, since this is related to the Linux kernel, not to update-manager.

[Amit Kucheria (amitk)]

This bug report is being closed because we received no response to the previous inquiry for information. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release, Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 - http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.