>> 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
>> deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/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:
>> wd0: 16-sector PIO, LBA, 9787MB, 20044080 sectors
>> wd0(wdc0:0:0): using BIOS timings
>> pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
>> midi0 at pcppi0:
>> 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
>
